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Analysis of the main political events in Italy in the year 2004

Giovanni Gozzini and Renzo Martinelli (1998) Storia del Partito comunista ‘italiano. VII. Dall'attentato a Togliatti all'VIII Congresso (Turin: Giulio Einaudi Editore), pp. i‐xviii, 1–659, 80,000 lire. The publication of the seventh volume of the ‘History of the Italian Communist Party’ is a noteworthy event. In the party's often tumultuous history, few periods were as difficult as the one covered in this volume: 1948–56 embraces the crushing defeat of the Left in the 1948 elections, and covers the depth of the Cold War, when the PCI's subjugation to the Soviets was never seriously in question. The Journal of Modern Italian Studies therefore believes that it is more than justified to devote more attention than usual to this volume. The result is a series of extended reviews by four students of various aspects of Italian Communism. Stephen Hellman underscores the insights that the work provides concerning the party organization, and notes how basically unflattering is the portrait of Palmiro Togli...

This article analyses the recent transformation of the Italian neo‐Fascist party (Movimento Sociale Italiano‐ Italian Social Movement). The new party established by the former MSI, Alleanza nazionale (National Alliance), has been defined by its founders and many observers as a ‘post‐Fascist’ party. This article tries to highlight the continuities and the changes that are manifested in the new party. This goal is achieved by framing the recent events in the long history of the MSI and by analysing the party manifestos, documents and survey data on the party cadres’ attitudes, collected in the last two national congresses.

This chapter analyses the military operations undertaken by the Italian armed forces in Afghanistan, Iraq and Lebanon. The three case studies provide a detailed description of the Italian MOA in the post-9/11 world.

After the end of the Cold War, one of the factors that has contributed the most to the significant increase in the number of PSOs around the world has been a ‘benevolent’ or ‘positive’ image that public opinion in nearly every country has of peacekeeping. It is therefore not surprising that peacekeeping operations have quite often become the most visible tool of foreign policy, particularly in advanced democracies (Strachan, 2005; Howard, 2006; Forster, 2006; Gaenzle and Sens, 2007; Daniel, Taft and Wiharta, 2008).1 However, as has already been noted, ‘the mode of UN peacekeeping that evolved during the Cold War — lightly equipped troops, deployed in generally benign environments and reliant on host state consent — was poorly suited to meet the challenges faced by UN forces in the former Yugoslavia, Somalia and Rwanda in the early 1990s’ (Military Balance, 2009: 462). Moreover, the fact that ‘95% of global illicit “hard” drug production takes place in conflict zones’ further complicates intervention by third parties in such areas (Military Balance, 2009: 466).

This chapter focuses on the MOA undertaken by the Italian armed forces in the 1990s. From the end of the Cold War to the beginning of the twenty-first century, Italian troops have been constantly engaged in MOA, deploying soldiers in a growing number of regional crises. Nowadays Italy is one of the most significant contributors to the UN peacekeeping operations.1 As has been emphasized in previous chapters, Italy has promoted its international credibility through PSOs, assuming new responsibilities in the global scenario. The inactive and purely defensive approach of the bipolar era has been definitively altered. The end of the constraints caused by the Cold War and the overall reform of the military played a crucial role in the transformation process. For instance, conscription has been abolished, the overall size of the army has been reduced and many other organizational innovations have been introduced in recent years.2

Chapter 1 highlighted the interaction between the domestic, deep-rooted and shared values concerning Italy’s role in the world and the Cold War’s international constraints. Only when the internal ideological divide that had long juxtaposed communists and centrists (including socialists from the 1960s) started closing in the late 1970s did Italy show a certain degree of self-confidence in the international arena. Its participation in the military operations in Lebanon (1982–4) represented a crucial step in two respects: first, it assessed the evolution of the Italian armed forces towards new responsibilities beyond national boundaries as well as its more consistent integration into the NATO structure; and, second, all political parties in Parliament approved the action. However, international, bipolar cleavage still cut through Italian politics. In fact, when Syria, the Soviet Union’s staunchest ally in the region, increased its presence in Lebanon, the parliamentary consensus ended: the PCI declined to support the mission, demonstrating how sensitive to Soviet pressure it still was. Thus, in the mid-1980s, the fissures imposed by the Cold War structure were still relevant for the main parties’ foreign policy.

In this chapter we analyse post-war IFP since 1861, when Italy was constituted. Decisions taken by national rulers at crucial junctures will be scrutinized on the basis of their congruence with the preferences, values, images and ideas that were forged during the journey that led Italy, one of the oldest European nations, to finally become a fully fledged nation-state. The elites’ national identity and visions for the role of the new state provided them with the social norms which defined the appropriate behaviour in every circumstance, and especially in the crafting of foreign policy.

This article analyses, adopting the well-known approach of Katz and Mair, the issue of organizational change within Italian political parties since 1990. In addition to an account of trends in membership, local units, finances, staff, and of changes in party statutes, the article aims at testing the widespread view in the literature that organizational resources–hence power–are becoming more and more concentrated in the hands of party and/or parliamentary leaders, and correspondingly that the territorial presence of parties is declining. The analysis of the change over time of Katz and Mair's party organisational ‘faces’ leads to the confirmation, to a large extent, of the overall hypothesis of a decline of the party at ground level, and a concentration of party resources in the central office, and above all in the party in public office.

This article has two aims. The first attempts to define the ‘extreme right’political family. The three criteria adopted — spatial, historic-ideological, attitudinal-systemic — have led us to identify two types of the extreme right party. One type comprises parties with a fascist imprint (old right-wing parties); the other comprises recently-born parties with no fascist associations, but with a right-wing antisystem attitude (new right-wing parties). The second aim of this article is to explain the recent ‘unexpected’rise of the new right-wing parties. Changes in the cultural domain and in mass beliefs have favoured radicalization and system polarization on one side, and the emergence of attitudes and demands not treated by the established conservative parties on the other one. These two broad changes have set the conditions for the rise of extreme right parties.

IntroduzioneIl recente passaggio da partito comunista a partito democratico della sinistra costituisce un interessante case study del mutamento di partito. In questo lavoro cercheremo di rispondere a due interrogativi di fondo: come si è sviluppata e chi ha favorito la trasformazione e quali sono i tratti valoriali caratterizzanti dei quadri intermedi al momento dell'accettazione del mutamento del Pci in Pds.

Analysis of the main political events in Italy in the year 2007

Italy, politics, elections, parties

This chapter examines the development of right-extremism in Germany. It identifies a third wave of right extremism, which reflects the latent needs of a society emerging from structural/economic and value modification. The emergence of a ‘new axis of conflict,’ representing a non-material agenda ranging from national identity to authoritarianism, from xenophobia to moral traditionalism, has provided a non-ephemeral base on consent for the extreme right. Despite the failure of the extreme right in the electoral arena, it is still present in street level activity, especially in the East.

This chapter explores the development of the extreme right in France. It discusses the rise of the Front National (FN), the political party perceived by other parties and its own voters and cadres as being the right extreme of the right-left continuum. It is argued that the extreme right has fallen back to its tradition of fragmentation and internal quarrels. The two parties pursue diverging strategies, confrontational for the FN and bargaining-oriented for the Mouvement National Republicain. However, none of these have produced results.

This chapter discusses major developments in right extremism in Europe between late 2000 and mid-2002. It highlights the successes of the following parties: FN in France, the FRPn in Norway, DFP in Denmark and Fortuyn in the Netherlands. It also provides brief updates on extreme right parties in Austria, Italy, Belgium and Germany.

The extreme right has consolidated its presence across Western Europe. This book presents a compilation of studies on the ideological meanings and political/partisan expressions of the extreme right, their post-war evolution, and the reasons behind the success and failure of various parties. It highlights the rise of a new type of parties that are anti-system rather than neo-fascist.

This chapter explores the ideology and evolution of the extreme right. Historians and political philosophers have attributed the ideologies of ‘counter-revolutionism’ and ‘fascism’ to this term. However, in the 1980s, a new set of ideas entered the political discourse of the right; fascism and its variants no longer remained the unique cultural sources. Two types of extreme right parties have emerged: traditional extreme right parties, and post-industrial parties.

This chapter explores the extreme right in Belgium. Both the Walloon and Flemish extreme right parties advocate a strong state with a harsher penal code, ‘law and order’ enforcement, restoration of traditional moral values and sex roles, and radical opposition to the political system and established parties. However, these parties maintain different views on the issue of ethnic nationalism, and both refuse to be labelled as ‘fascist.’

This chapter explores the lack of success of the extreme right in Great Britain. Fascist leanings were kept in check in the 1930s, when a fascist party was formed, and in the post-war years when right extremists tried to obtain political relevance. Right extremist parties never benefited from full political legitimacy, and their attachment to the traditional fascist mould precipitated their demise.

This chapter explores the lack of success of extreme right parties in the Netherlands. Extreme right parties failed to take partly due to organizational weakness and lack of leadership. Counter-mobilisation against the extreme right was also very strong, both in the streets and in institutions.

This chapter explores the rise of extreme right political parties in Scandinavia. The parties that occupy the extreme right positions in the political sphere are the Fremskridtsparti and the Dansk Folkeparti in Denmark, and the Fremskrittsparti in Norway. The inclusion of these parties in the category of extreme right remains debatable and problematic. However, their features qualify for inclusion in this political family, although their anti-system profile is limited compared to that of their European counterparts.

This chapter explores the evolution of fascism in Italy. Fascism found its complete and lasting realisation in inter-war Italy from 1922 until 1943-45. No other extreme right party succeeded in post-war Italy. In the 1990s, a new party, the (Lega Nord) Northern League, has been credited with anti-system and right-extremist credentials.

This chapter explores the Left-Right dichotomy and the meaning of the term ‘Right.’ It discusses how the terms Left and Right entered the political domain, and concludes that the changing paradigm of the political space reinforces the Left-Right divide rather than marginalizing it. It argues that ‘images’ of the Right have multiple facets at the mass public level, while different styles of thought of the Right have appeared in the realm of political ideologies.

The extreme right grew significantly in the last two decades of the 20th century, as evidenced by the advent of new parties, rise of formerly small and marginal organisations, and radicalisation of former ‘moderate-conservative’ parties. The most striking feature of the present ‘wave’ of right extremism is the dispersion of extreme right parties across Europe, compared to its concentration in Italy and Germany in the previous decades. Although majority of these parties reject any reference to fascism, their ideological core contains elements depicting a right extremist ideology or ‘mentality.’

The extreme right never took hold in Spain, Portugal, and Greece. Their relatively new democratic regimes as well as socio-economic change eliminated the foundations of right-extremist values, and distanced the public from its traditional authoritarianism and neo-fascist heritage. Moreover, the extreme right did not provide sufficient organisational and political articulation for the populist anti-system protest during the mid-1980s, thus failing to attract a sizeable audience.

This chapter aims at surveying the current terminology of the “extreme/radical/populist right parties,” stipulating criteria for the identification of such parties as a “party family” with its internal differiations, and underlining a set of hypotheses on these parties’ development with particular emphasis on the “political factors” and the general (Europe-wide) and particular (country-specific) timing.

An analysis of the European party system shows that extreme right-wing political parties were basically nonexistent until the beginning of the 1980s. Looking at the results of the first European elections in 1979 (see table 10.1), only one extreme right-wing party entered the European Parliament: the Movimento Sociale Italiano (MSI). Other parties participated in those elections: the Parti des Forces Nouvelles (PFN) in France, the Nationaldemokratische Partei Deutschlands (NPD) in West Germany, the National Front (NF) in Great Britain, the Vlaams Blok (VB) in Belgium, and the Fremskridtsparti (Progress Party, FRP) in Denmark. Whether this Danish party, along with its Norwegian counterpart, should be included in the extreme right, however, remains debatable; and the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP), created in 1971 by the Presbyterian pastor Ian Paisley, is more the result of an ultraconservative and intransigent Protestant movement than of the extreme right.