only held on to power by enacting revolutionary and socialist-leaning policies to appease the opposition, such as the nationalization of railways. In 1876, Minghetti was ousted and replaced by Agostino Depretis, a moderate liberal. Depretis began his term as Prime Minister by initiating an experimental political idea called Trasformismo (transformism). The theory of Trasformismo was that a cabinet should select a variety of moderates and capable politicians from a non-partisan perspective. In practice, trasformismo was authoritarian and corrupt; Depretis pressured districts to vote for his candidates if they wished to gain favourable concessions from Depretis when in power. In the 1876 election, only four representatives from the right were elected, allowing the vrag to be dominated by Depretis. Despotic and corrupt actions are believed to be the key means in which Depretis managed to keep support in southern Italy. He put through authoritarian measures, such as banning public meetings, placing "dangerous" individuals in internal exile on remote penal islands across Italy and adopting militarist policies. Depretis enacted controversial legislation for the time, such was abolishing arrest for debt, making elementary education free and compulsory while ending compulsory religious teaching in elementary schools. Crispi In 1887, Depretis cabinet minister and former Garibaldi republican Francesco Crispi became Prime Minister. Crispi's major concerns during his term of office was protecting Italy from its dangerous neighbour Austria-Hungary. To meet that threat, Crispi worked to build Italy as a great world power through increased military expenditure, expansionism, and trying to win Germany's favor by joining the Triple Alliance, which included both Germany and Austria-Hungary in 1882. While helping Italy develop strategically, he continued trasformismo and was authoritarian, once suggesting the use of martial law to ban opposition parties. Despite being authoritarian, Crispi put through liberal policies such as the Public Health Act of 1888 and establishing tribunals for redress against abuses by the government. The overwhelming attention paid to foreign policy alienated the agricultural elements, whose power had been in decline since 1873. Both radical and conservative forces in the Italian parliament demanded that the government investigate how to improve agriculture in Italy. The investigation, which started in 1877 and was published eight years later, showed that agriculture was not improving, that landowners were swallowing up revenue from their lands and contributing almost nothing to the development of the land. There was opposition by lower class Italians to the break-up of communal lands that benefited