Rearticulating the Italian right’s perception of Russia: legitimacy and rupture in the post-invasion landscape

Abstract

ABSTRACT Russia’s renewed aggression against Ukraine caught many by surprise. This is especially true among those on the centre and far-right of the political spectrum who had previously referred to Russia as a patron of social conservatism and a paradigm of strong leadership and independent actorship in the sphere of international relations. Such a view had been especially prevalent among the right-wing parties in Italy. This article seeks to elucidate how the Italian right has rearticulated its relationship with Russia in the first 100 days after the onset of full-scale war with Ukraine through a critical engagement with the concepts of discursive rupture, legitimacy, and empty signifiers in its logic. By arguing that Russia’s previous position as a referent sign of social conservatism and traditionalism has become unfixed in this post-war paradigm, this article posits that those electorally viable actors of the Italian right who were once amenable to Russia in the past will not employ it as a discursive reference for legitimacy in the future, while those on the fringes of the political spectrum will redouble their legitimation of Russia. These findings carry broader implications within the milieu of the European right, as other political actors grapple with analogous challenges of redefining their positions towards Russia.