Italy became a Republic after a referendum held on 2 June 1946. Atter it, Victor Emmanuel III’s son, Umberto II, was forced to abdicate and exiled. The Republican Constitution was approved on 1 January 1948. In 1949 Italy became a member of NATO. The Marshall Plan helped revive the italian economy in the late 1960s. In 1957, Italy was founding member of the European Economic Community. Which in 1993 changed the name to the European Union.
From the late 1960s until the early 1980s, the country experienced many social conflicts and terrorist massacres carried out by opposing extremist groups with the involvement of the US and Soviet Union. These years culminated with the assassination of the Democrat leader Aldo Moro in 1978 and a massacre in the railway station of Bologna where 85 people died.
During the 80s both the liberals and the socialists governed. The elections of 1992 were characterized by the failure of the major parties. Italian citizens demanded radical reforms since so many where the scandals that involved all major parties but especially those in the government.
The party that was most affected was the Christian Democracy, which had governed for more than 50 years. The Communists and the Social Democrats benefited from this situation.
During the 1990s and the 2000s, the centre-right, dominated by Silvio Berlusconi and the centre-left, dominated by the university professor Romano Prodi alternately governed the country.