The ruling class. Power in Italy (2012)

The image of the Italian ruling class that emerges from the research carried out by Eurispes in partnership with Who’s Who in Italy is that of a veritable hierontocracy in which the elderly monopolise power: 4 out of 5 powerful people are over 50 years old. Women account for only 15% and young people up to 35 years of age represent only 3% of the entire ruling class.
Even a comparative analysis of the elites in power in 1992 and those in power today shows a picture of stagnation and closure that has lasted twenty years. The physiological processes of generational change and circulation of elites have failed and, at the same time, the virtuous mechanism of knowledge transmission has jammed. In short, over the last twenty years, power seems to have “aged” along with the people in power.
The data also highlights the phenomenon of the “brain drain” and a concentration of power distribution mainly in Rome and Milan, with the consequent marginalisation of the southern and more peripheral regions.