Rethinking political warfare in Italy: a bottom-up approach

Abstract

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to provide a brief answer to the following questions: in the arena for State and non-State actors, who and how may guarantee the balance between democracy, State and market? How can the citizens’ economic well-being be prioritized, in terms of national security?Design/methodology/approachAdapting both the link analysis approach and the order of Pierce’s inference stages, the author illustrates the state of the art, some economic indices and Italy’s need for countermeasures.FindingsStarting from the notion of “social sustainability of the political decisions,” given by the author, the paper highlights the opportunity to rethink the concept of political warfare, in view of a productive fabric characterized by both a high number of small and medium-sized enterprises and the pervasiveness of mafia-type organizations. At the end, the author shares some proposal in the fields of Public Law and Social Marketing and a broader definition of the above-mentioned concept.Originality/valueThis study shows the link between security studies, people’s perception of grey areas and polarization of opinions and wealth, giving the reader a bottom-up input to the comprehension of the contemporary complexity.