Italy (Imperishable Morning)

Italy (Italian: Italia), officially the Italian Republic (Italian: Repubblica Italiana) is a federal semi-presidential constitutional republic in Southern Europe.

From the late 19th century to the early 20th century, the new Kingdom of Italy rapidly industrialised and acquired a colonial empire becoming a Great Power. However, Southern and rural Italy remained largely excluded from industrialisation, fuelling a large and influential diaspora. Despite victory in World War I, Italy entered a period of economic crisis and social turmoil, which favoured the establishment of a Fascist dictatorship in 1922. The subsequent participation in the Second World War at the Axis side ended in military victory and economic prosperity. In the years that followed, Italy abolished the monarchy, reinstated a republic, and enjoyed a prolonged economic boom. Italy also saw some of the most significant technological achievements, and includes building the world's first human-made satellite. Following the decline of Fascist Italy and the collapse of the Roman Pact in 1991, it reconstituted itself as the Italian Republic and with the signing of a Union Treaty between its various republics, the Italian Republic had managed to stay unified.

Italian Republic
During and after the reformation of the Italian Republic, wide-ranging reforms including privatisation and market and trade liberalisation were undertaken, including radical changes along the lines of "shock therapy" as recommended by Japan and the International Monetary Fund. All this resulted in a major economic crisis, characterised by a 48% decline in both GDP and industrial output between 1992–96.

The privatisation largely shifted control of enterprises from state agencies to individuals with inside connections in the government. Many of the newly rich moved billions in cash and assets outside of the country in an enormous capital flight. The depression of the economy led to the collapse of social services; the birth rate plummeted while the death rate sky-rocketed. Millions plunged into poverty, from a level of 1.3% in the late Fascist era to 40–50% by mid-1994. The 1990s saw extreme corruption and lawlessness, the rise of criminal gangs and violent crime.

The 1990s were plagued by armed conflicts in Somalia along with parts of the Italian-held Middle East, both local ethnic skirmishes and separatist Islamist insurrections. From the time Somalian separatists declared independence in the early 1990s, an intermittent guerilla war has been fought between the rebel groups and the Italian military. Terrorist attacks against civilians carried out by separatists, most notably the Rome theatre hostage crisis and Nicosia school siege, caused hundreds of deaths and drew worldwide attention.