ribaltone
English translation: overthrow
| 14:19 Dec 14, 2010 |
| Italian to English translations [PRO] Social Sciences - Government / Politics / parliamentary majorities | |||||
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|  Selected response from: James (Jim) Davis Seychelles Local time: 22:09 | ||||
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| Discussion entries: 5 | |
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Answers
7 mins confidence: 
sudden change in political alliances Explanation: you may say in this way although in Italy many people have another idea about what happened today in Montecitorio |
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52 mins confidence:
unelected coalition Explanation: The term is not easy to translate into English. It refers to politicians shifting the political goalposts without going to the country, which is less of a sin in English-speaking countries where MPs are (were?) regarded as having a personal mandate for the duration of the legislature. The "fuoriusciti" would be referred to as "floor-crossers". |
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1 hr confidence:
| i campioni del ribaltone Masters of strategic defection Explanation: Seems to get the gist. So far I can't come up with anything approaching the catchiness of the Italian. Something like "flip-flop" would be ideal but that usually refers to individual policies, not (semi)permanent loyalties. |
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17 hrs confidence:
a sudden shift/overturn in party alliances Explanation: - |
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10 mins confidence:
overthrow Explanation: If there was a simple translation, you wouldn't be asking and there isn't. The didn't "turn the tables" on the government the "revolt" was "unsuccessful" and so was the "mutiny" unlike Bossi's attemp in 1994 when the word was used a lot too. -------------------------------------------------- Note added at 34 mins (2010-12-14 14:53:30 GMT) -------------------------------------------------- Got the context wrong. -------------------------------------------------- Note added at 42 mins (2010-12-14 15:01:42 GMT) -------------------------------------------------- IN view of the new context. "Champions of the reshuffle". In the UK this is a prime minister reshuffling his ministers, rather than his majority, but its close. -------------------------------------------------- Note added at 2 hrs (2010-12-14 16:19:59 GMT) -------------------------------------------------- In journalistic terms generally it has now come to mean any change in alliances which affects the majority, however it is performed. The current failed "ribaltone" occurred when Fini left the coalition and moved a confidence motion. It failed because deputies from Fini's party voted with the goverment against the no confidence motion. This answer was based on today's events. Not Prodi's. However, if this is the article: http://www.lettera43.it/articolo/254/prigionieri-del-ribalto... then this author is (at times) using ribaltone as a synonym for "chi cambia bandiera", while the Bossi-Berlusconi ribaltone in the 90s was a simple change of alliances by Bossi's party. -------------------------------------------------- Note added at 3 hrs (2010-12-14 17:25:14 GMT) -------------------------------------------------- Have to see it in historical context. The original meaning is to turn something upside down in a big way. Has been used (according to the wiki page) since the beginning of the last century, but probably went unused in the post-war years with 40 odd years of more or less the same majority. Then in March 1994 the Lega Nord, Forza Italia and AN (Fini's old party) formed an alliance and won the elections. In December 1994 Lega Nord pulled out of the coalition moving a no confidence motion which (unlike today's) passed. That was the first real RIBALTONE in many many years and I think important in the history of the word. Bossi really turned the tables on Berlusconi. Much of the reason, if I remember rightly was due to predictable friction between Fini and Bossi. Then Berlusconi's Treasury Minister crossed the floor to become prime minister of a government supported by the left and Lega Nord. Now Ribaltoni are so interweaved with people crossing the floor as it were, that the word is developing. However, the word still retains its non political meaning. I'd hardly call Mastella's action a Ribaltone. I mean he didn't exactly capsize the ship. -------------------------------------------------- Note added at 18 hrs (2010-12-15 09:13:10 GMT) -------------------------------------------------- Not really. 1994 marked the end of an era. The Christian Democrats had ruled the country since the war. The opposition had never won an election. In 1994 the Christian Democrat Party collapsed and nobody really knew what would happen next. The expectation was that the communists would win because there was nobody else to vote for. Then Berlusconi created Forza Italia to fill the gap stating he would rather go with the Fascists (AN di Fini) than with the communists. So a very right wing alliance (AN Forza Italia e Lega Nord) came to power after 40 years of a right wing government. Then in December the Lega Nord changed sides and a communist led coalition came to power. That was a tectonic shift a real ribaltone in the ordinary figurative and non technical sense of the word and it was then that the word was revived by political journalists. |
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1 day 17 hrs confidence:
flip flop Explanation: per indicare un improvviso cambio di opinione Reference: http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0708/11535.html |
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