Edizioni FrancoAngeli - Last issue of MEMORIA E RICERCA (41/2012)

Introduzione

Sat, 15 Feb 2013 8:00:00 GMT

Maurizio Ridolfi

Right and Left in French politics

Sat, 15 Feb 2013 8:00:00 GMT

Vincent Duclert
The recent presidential elections in 2012 have shown that left-right cleavage was still dominant in France. The redistribution of political forces, strongly awaited by the center (but also by the extremes) did not take place. At the same time, the major issues, such the European unification, the future of the nation, the future of the Republic, the role of the state, continue to cross left and right fields, revealing other cleavages that meet other historical or philosophical contingencies. However, the left-right opposition in France structured contemporary political life, organizing political families, determining the meaning and practice of institutions. Thence, the question is to understand what defines these two political fields and what history brings to their knowledge since the French Revolution, or they are implemented

Right and Left in Spain: the case of II Republic

Sat, 15 Feb 2013 8:00:00 GMT

Jorge del Palacio
In this paper it is studied the formation of left and right political spaces in Spain during the twentieth century, especially on two stages: the ’30s, since the proclamation of the Second Republic in 1931 until the end of Civil War in 1939 (the terms left and right are then normally incorporated in the partisan denominations); and the democratic transition of current Spain from 1975 to 2012. Both cases emphasize the difficulty to develop a centre political space and a certain polarization. In the first case this situation led to war. In the second case has articulated a permanent opposition which, although it has changed in nature, it is still ruled by the right-left axis.

Beyond Left and Right? Traditions and political cultures during the Italian Republic

Sat, 15 Feb 2013 8:00:00 GMT

Maurizio Ridolfi
A sharp contrast between left and right arose in Italy especially after World War Two, as a legacy of the conflict between fascism and anti-fascism, which had developed between the two wars. However, at this cleavage was added the majority and hegemonic centre pole represented by Christian Democracy (both anti-fascist than anti-communist), which would make more mobile the identity boundaries and more marked the dissonances between the reality of political-administrative life and the self-representation of left and right widespread cultures. A history of politics truly attentive to the social and cultural factors, contribute to overcome the dissociations between a limited political representation of an ungraspable right and the wider circulation of languages and images of identity (in the moderate and populist press, in the youth field, in the silent majority).

Left and Right in Greece from the 20th into the 21st century

Sat, 15 Feb 2013 8:00:00 GMT

Nikos Marantzidis, Rori Lamprini
Left and Right in Greece from the 20th into the 21st century The article explores the evolution of left/right division in Greece, drawing upon macro sociological theories regarding social and political cleavages. It analyses the major historical divisions that have given meaning to the left/right dichotomy and have structured Greek party system over a century. Among a series of wars, civil quarrels, economical and political crises, which have taken place throughout the Twentieth century, two civil conflicts have marked political rivalries and configured political identities: the National Schism (1915-1917) and the Civil War (1943-1949). They have established a three-camp party system, which had endured until the 1967-1974 military dictatorship. The democratization of the country and the liberalization of political institutions in the post-junta era gave birth to new coalitions and political formations, which established a two-party system on the basis of right/anti-right dichotomy. The outbreak of economic crisis in 2010 and the austerity measures that came as a consequence have divided society and politics in two camps: the advocates and opponents of the Memorandum. The political stances regarding the management of the crisis has magnified the significance of pro/anti-memorandum cleavage and, thus, weakened the importance of the left/right division.

Right and Left in Croatia: a possible dichotomy?

Sat, 15 Feb 2013 8:00:00 GMT

Emanuela Costantini
The designations of left and right assumed different meanings in Croatia during the Twentieth century. Before the Second World War the national problem was a focal point in Croatian politics. It cut across the political system since it was the focus of action of very different parties. Issues traditionally identifying right and left, such as social action or ideology, emerged very slowly only in the Twenties. In the Communist period right and left were not present in Croatia as alternative political parties, but the use of the two categories was very important for Communist regime. Its self-representation as the left implied rejecting everything that was considered right. In a way, right and left were nevertheless present within the Communist Party, as a reformist wing conflicted with the old group in power. The breaking up of Yugoslavia was accompanied by the creation of a multiparty system in Croatia. At that time, a competition between left and right seemed possible. Given the regional conflicts Croatia was involved in, the national issue became central again. While the left tried to show its difference from the past by adopting Western patterns, the right brought back old values and almost exclusively focused on the national issue. The war deeply influenced Croatia’s transition to a multiparty system, turning it into a de facto blocked political structure. Things were to change only after the death of the cumbersome Croatian President Tudjman in 1999.

Right and Left in Europe: crisis and redefinition of political families

Sat, 15 Feb 2013 8:00:00 GMT

Sante Cruciani, Massimo Piermattei
The aim of the paper is to retrace the evolution of "Right" and "Left", and the political cultures linked to them within the European integration process, after the "Fall of the Wall" in Berlin. The paper started with an overview about the milestones of political struggle between Left and Right from the first Community to the direct elections of EP, showing origin and development of parties’ role within the EEC/EU, and the building - with its peculiarities - of a supranational level even in the field of political competition. The main part of the paper is focused about the impact - and the central role - of Maastricht Treaty and the developments of European integration process over Left and Right political cultures emphasizing their attempts to search new, original and modern strategies to deal with challenges such Economic and Monetary Union, Eastern and Central Europe enlargement, and the framework of international relations following the attack of 9/11.

Drifting images. Pictorial migrations between Right and Left

Sat, 15 Feb 2013 8:00:00 GMT

Luciano Cheles
Parties frequently appropriate propaganda images from other movements, which all too often belong to the opposite end of the political spectrum. This article considers the main forms of visual appropriation and illustrates them with examples drawn from Italian and French post-war propaganda. It argues that the phenomenon is widespread especially among right-wing parties, which tend to adopt the imagery created by well-established political organisations to legitimate themselves, to present themselves to the voters in a more modern and appealing way or to attempt a dialogue with them. The technique of imitation may also be used to create a sense of confusion with the ultimate aim of neutralising the messages of other parties, or to steal votes from their natural constituencies. Left-wing parties too at times mimic the images (and slogans) of the right, but usually with parodying intentions which can escape the public at large.

Risorgimento and Exile. New studies and new questions: a discussion

Sat, 15 Feb 2013 8:00:00 GMT

Patrizia Audenino
The paper is a review of some recent books concerning Italian exiles at the time of "Risorgimento". The approach to the subject used by these studies is discussed in first place: in Isabella’s research the focus is mainly in the intellectual consequences of the exile, while Bistarelli’s work has the declared aim to provide a social history of the Risorgimento exiles, adopting a collective biographical approach, and Verdecchia is interested in the London’s Nineteenth century’s refugees mixed community. In second place, geography and itineraries of the Italian exiles are discussed as reconstructed by these studies. Both Isabella and Bistarelli point out that Spain was chosen as the main destination for the first wave of Italian exiles. The Trienio Liberal 1830-1823 provided some durable teachings: the faith in the promises of the revolution, the link between Spanish struggle and the freedom of all Europe, the new strategy of the guerrilla. Other destinations investigated by Isabella’s book, Greece, Latin America and Great Britain are analysed in order to identify the origin of the most important guidelines of Risorgimento’s project. Isabella and Verdecchia discuss the role of London as the most important destination of European exiles, and as unsurpassed example of the benefits of freedom, adopting different questions and different methodological approaches. Finally the paper points out as the many important results of these studies lead to more questions about social history of Risorgimento’s exiles, while showing the persistently poor connection between the findings and the questions of the migration studies and those of political history.

Case d’Italia in France: organisation, activities and representation of fascism abroad

Sat, 15 Feb 2013 8:00:00 GMT

Caroline Pane
This article questions the definition of a fascist organization settled abroad: the Casa d’Italia - House of Italy -, analyzing its institutional and constitutional development. The author reviews the political affair which brought to the creation in the ’20s of the fasci all’estero - Fascist abroad - and to the elaboration of the "Case d’Italia" in the ’30s. She focuses on the creation of the "Direzione degli italiani all’estero" - Directions of Italians abroad - at Foreign ministry, that institutionalized and gave definition and centralization to the "Case d’Italia". In France (country of the analysis), more than fifty "Case d’Italia" were built from 1928 to 1938. But most of them were not achieved in terms of organisation, services and structures. The most complete ones are located along the Italian border and in the areas of Italian high emigration. The Casa d’Italia was not only a place where Italian expatriates could looking for assistance, but it also became the symbol of Fascist Italy abroad and reached a new dimension that transformed it into a "temple" of fascist ideology through decorations, architectures, symbols and festivities.

The intellectual legacy of Alan S. Milward

Sat, 15 Feb 2013 8:00:00 GMT

Frances M.B. Lynch, Fernando Guirao
Alan S. Milward was a contemporary historian who combined the political historian’s method of consulting the written record with the economic historian’s use of statistical data and the social scientist’s preference for general theory. On the strength of the resulting research methodology he produced a series of original histories of Nineteenth and Twentieth century Europe which tackled the big historical issues of his time: the nature of Nazism; of total war; of economic development in Nineteenth and Twentieth century Europe; and the reasons for the sustained economic boom in western Europe after 1945 and for the origins of European integration. In so far as his conclusions on each separate theme challenged the dominant theories, they stimulated considerable debate. Indeed, his implicit theories of historical change and European integration continue to resonate in the current political and economic crises facing Europe. Unlike neo-classical economists, European federalists and many integration theorists, Milward argued that economic and monetary union would not necessarily lead to a democratic political union in Europe and the end of nation-state. Indeed he predicted in 2000 that if the European Monetary Union was beset by asymmetric shocks, it would weaken progressively until its desired effect had been so reduced as to defeat the Union’s original purpose. As we live through such asymmetric shocks, Milward’s predictions seem to carry more force than any of teleological theories of European integration.

Una discussione su Alan S. Milward

Sat, 15 Feb 2013 8:00:00 GMT

A cura di Federico Romero. Contributi di Paolo Tedeschi, Mark Gilbert, René Leboutte, Jean-Marie Palayret

Abstracts

Sat, 15 Feb 2013 8:00:00 GMT