Corporate Social Involvement by Michael Marinetto

Author:Michael Marinetto [Marinetto, Michael]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Social Science, General, Sociology
ISBN: 9780429873034
Google: moyADwAAQBAJ
Barnesnoble:
Goodreads: 7065402
Publisher: Routledge
Published: 1998-01-01T00:00:00+00:00

The new wave of benevolent institutions

Our attention now turns to the early years of the nineteenth century. This was a period of momentous political change which saw the emergence of new civic associations, including socially oriented commercial institutions. The new decade marked the start of Napoleon’s reign as Emperor of Italy — a mantle which he assumed after a prolonged war between revolutionary France and monarchal Austria over Italian territory. This war raged from 1792 to 1804 and saw Napoleon rise from director over colonial policies in Italy to dictator of France. In 1804, four years after capturing Italy’s northern territories from the Austrians, Napoleon declared himself Emperor of the Kingdom of Italy.

From this omniscient position, Napoleon was able to impose his form of governmental authority throughout Italy. The ushering in of this new political order, according to Putnam (1993), involved officials in France and Italy keeping close scrutiny over, and sometimes actively suppressing, organised forms of sociability; even innocuous associations such as working men’s clubs. In Napoleonic law, there was an in-built distrust of institutions that were not formally recognised by the state. Hodson observes: ‘the development of law was profoundly influenced by the principle that the supremacy of the democratic State should not be impoverished by unregulated power given to private institutions’ (1991, p. x). Despite Napoleon’s undemocratic and imperialist tendencies, he installed an efficient administrative system and occasionally imposed enlightened monarchal rulers over Italian territories.

Once France’s claims over Italy were secure, Napoleon began to pursue his imperial ambitions in Eastern Europe. Early successes were gained over the coalition powers of Austria, Prussia and Russia throughout the 1805–7 period, and later over Austria at the Battle of Wagram (1809). But then France took the ill-advised step of invading Russia, incurring significant losses for the French army in the ensuing battles. In March 1813 Prussia and Austria went to war against France, with Italy once again providing the battlefield location. Eventually, Napoleon’s army was defeated at the four-day battle of Leipzig (Hearder, 1983).

The settlement of 1815 incorporated the treaties of Vienna and Paris. Metternich, the Austrian Foreign Minister, made no secret of his aspirations that Italy should come under Austria’s sphere of influence. His wishes were largely fulfilled: the north-east and much of the remainder of Italy came under Austrian control; monarchal dynasties were installed at Genoa and Venice; and the Treaty of Vienna placed Lombardy, Tuscany and Modena under the Habsburg monarchies.

Once in power, the Austrians were loath to dismantle the effective administrative system brought in by Napoleon, or even sack appointed officials. Instead, they used this system to encourage economic development and mutual assistance throughout the peninsula. In fact, they helped revive the tradition of social banking — first seen in the monti di pieta — through the formation of savings banks (casse di risparmio) at the hands of Conte Franz von Saurau, the Interior Minister of the Austrian government. The first group of such banks was established between January and February 1822 in Venice, Padua, Udine, Treviso, and Rovigo.

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