Abstract

MALVINA CALCEGLIA, Inés. Pap.polit. [online]. 2006, vol.11, n.2, pp.647-682. ISSN 0122-4409.

Starting from the assumption that there was a similar social context showing a ‘deficit in democracy’ both in Italy and Argentina in the nineties, we will analyze the evolution of the Italian judiciary since the postwar years in order to determine which factors contributed to the emergence of a growing judicial activism behaviour, which has been gradually evidenced by the struggle against terrorism and the Mafia, and has reached its highest point with the performance of the Milanese initiative mani pulite [Italian for ‘clean hands’] and its investigation into cases of corruption. A synthesis of the historical evolution of the Italian judicial system focusing on the internal debate over its organization allows us to consider Argentine magistrates institutional behaviour vis-à-vis the Italian one, in view of the fact that the comparison of both processes would lead us to a more thorough understanding of Argentine judges’ historical role as well as their conduct during the nineties. Thus, four points of discussion are put forward: (1) the internal debate in the judiciary -its existence or non-existence; (2) the general legislative framework; (3) the judiciary as an exponent of a society and its cultural values; and (4) the handing over of responsibilities from the political sphere to the judicial one.

Keywords : Judiciary; corruption; comparative law.

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