Silvio Berlusconi has just annnounced his resignation as Prime Minister of Italy. Berlusconi had promised to resign once the Italian parliament had passed debt reforms. A new coalition government is expected to form under former EU commissioner Mario Monti. MSNBC is calling Berlusconi’s resignation an “end of an era.”

I’m not so sure. Even in the best of times, most Italian governments have a life of a year. Since the end of WWII, Italy has had 60 coalition governments. I don’t expect this new coalition under Monti to last appreciably longer than its predecessors. In fact, I expect to see several coalition governments come and go over the next 18 to 24 month. In which case, it would come as no shock to me if Berlusconi were to make his way back into power.