“Shifting Roles and Contested Agencies: Italian Women at the End of the Second World War”

Conditions of Democracy in German Austria and Hungary, 1918–1919

This article analyzes the creation of new political arenas in the Brazilian health sector as well as shifts in power relations among state and social political actors in the context of public health system reform, focusing on the last two decades. The three main conclusions are the following: The creation of forums in which government actors can establish agreements that allow the shared national, State, and municipal coordination of management measures have strengthened the positions of these actors in the health political arena. Social actors, led by representatives of professional health societies, were both urged (and also took the initiative) to submit their demands and proposals through participatory forums that dealt mainly with secondary political issues, thus steadily losing the capacity to influence the real decision-making process in the sector. Market stakeholders took little part in the participatory forums, rather preferring to exert their influence directly on public decision-makers and to implement adaptive strategies to increase their profits.

Women’s experiences during the First World War have received considerable scholarly attention but the fates of emigrant women have remained understudied. This article focuses on Italian emigrant women in the Americas, Europe and North Africa and uncovers how their experiences differed both from those of women in Italy and from those of other women in their adopted countries. The female emigrants most affected by the war were the wives of the 300,000 reservists who returned to Italy for their military service, which plunged many families into crisis. The difficulties faced by all wives of mobilised soldiers were exacerbated for female Italian emigrants. As Italian men had been the only emigrant group to depart en masse for service at home, the case of Italian women is unique. As non-citizens, they were generally not entitled to state aid. In addition, the Italian government subsidy was entirely insufficient abroad and many families were ineligible for support. This article thus explores how the Italian government and private charity abroad responded to this unfolding crisis in Italian emigrant communities and how the women themselves experienced the war and the new challenges of being an emigrant on a foreign home front.

This dissertation examines the Italian women's movement from the founding of theNational Council of Italian Women (Consiglio Nazionale delle Donne Italiane - CNDI) in 1903 through the International Woman Suffrage Alliance (IWSA) conference held in Rome under Fascist rule in 1923. This study focuses on the two decades leading up to the Rome Congress, examining the development of women's organizations amid Italy's turbulent transition to modernity -- a transition marked by political clashes between left and right, a delayed and contested entry to World War I, and ultimately the rise of Fascism. In doing so, it demonstrates the deep connections between feminist activisms and World War I, as the war provided women an unprecedented political visibility and voice in national and international debates. By placing Italian organizations at the center, the study also shows that integral components of Italian history cannot be understood outside their international and transnational contexts. Lastly, with its concentration on the development of women's activisms nationally and transnationally to meet the social, political, and economic challenges of the war years, it reveals feminism's role in shaping the lived experience of war in Italy and worldwide. My dissertation research was conducted at the Central State Archives in Rome (Archivio Centrale dello Stato - ACS), the National Women's Union in Milan (Unione Femminile Nazionale - UFN), and the Sophia Smith Collection at Smith College in Northampton, Massachusetts. The primary source documents held in the ACS and UFN archives include unpublished reports, correspondences, and ephemera generated or collected by the two primary Italian women's organizations at the center of this study, the CNDI and UFN. By analyzing these documents alongside published materials such as books, newspapers, and magazines written by4 influential Italian feminists, my dissertation reconstructs the multiple forms of activism undertaken by Italian women at the regional, national, and international levels to achieve political and social objectives designed to improve the standing of women in Italian society. Comparing feminist activity in Italy and through international and transnational feminist networks before, during, and after the First World War, I argue that Italian women amplified their activist work to meet the needs of their national and international communities. My approach to women's feminist activism in the periods of 1903-1911, 1912-1918, and 1919-1923 analyze different branches of the women's movement, separating the leftist branch, the practical feminist sector centered in Milan through the UFN, and the moderate and nationalist segments centered in Rome from one another. By treating each separately, I will demonstrate that the political and organizational affiliations shaped the divergent experiences of activist women over the course of the war and in its wake. Beginning with the Italian entry to the war in 1915, practical feminist women adapted their existing social programs to fit in a national wartime framework that increased access to state resources and minimized state interference against dissenters. Interventionist individuals and groups developed new means of engaging with national discourse, expanding their conception of the feminine national role through their propaganda efforts. Finally, leftist feminists concentrated in the Italian Socialist Party (Partito Socialista Italiano- PSI) became the primary voice of dissent, aligned with the Socialist Women's International that strongly opposed the war and operated within the constraints of the PSI's position of neither supporting nor sabotaging the war effort.--Author's abstract

Religion as Resistance: Negotiating Authority in Italian Libya

Starting from a conceptualization of structural change as an uneven phenomenon punctuated by technological revolutions that give rise to long-term movements of real and monetary variables, i.e. long waves, this paper puts forth an explanation of radical technical change. Then, drawing upon Post-Keynesian theory, the neo-Schumpeterian school of techno-economic paradigms, and the work of Luigi L. Pasinetti, we suggest guidelines for economic policy to manage structural change and its consequences. While economic policy cannot by itself fully tame the dynamics of structural change, it can ameliorate its disruptive effects, firstly by helping us to manage the stagnation phase of the long wave in order to avoid a deep depression; secondly by preparing the way for a new long-wave and, thirdly, by facilitating the establishment of the institutional conditions for the diffusion of the new technological paradigm. The paper concludes by comparing these suggested policies with those pursued by the dominant western economies after the Second World War. We find that three broad factors—a misdiagnosis of the nature of the crisis that began in the 1970s; a shift in power relations that was strongly unfavorable to the working class; and the rise of neoliberal ideology—led to the adoption of policies that had disastrous social and economic consequences.

Disasters play a key role in debates about climate change, environmental stress, and security. A qualitative comparative analysis (QCA) investigates how major climate-related disasters shape the dynamics of ongoing armed conflicts. Quantitative and qualitative data are presented for twenty-one cases across Africa, Asia, and the Middle East. After climate-related disasters, 29 percent of these armed conflicts escalated, 33 percent de-escalated, and 38 percent did not change. Furthermore, only countries highly vulnerable to disasters experienced changes in conflict dynamics. Armed conflicts tend to escalate when the disaster induces shifts in relative power, whereby one conflict party (usually the rebels) subsequently scales up its military efforts. But if at least one conflict party is weakened by a disaster and the other lacks the capability to exploit this change, armed conflict intensity declines. Findings provide empirical support for a proposed power differential mechanism connecting climate-related disasters to armed conflict dynamics via short-term shifts in power relations between the conflict parties. Climate change can also act as a threat reducer by temporarily causing lower conflict intensity.

This paper argues that the Dreyfus affair, as a national and then international discursive event, registers a general shift in power relations taking place at the turn of the century, from discipline to governmentality as the dominant mode for the exercise of power. Michel Foucault developed the notion of governmentality in his later works to grapple with the problematic of the government of self and others; he defined it as a form of power operating to foster the life of the one and the many, of each individual and of the population as a whole. Enmeshing issues of security and nation, of population and race, the Dreyfus affair forced governments, intellectuals, media, and what we now refer to as the ‘new social movements’ into wide-ranging debates and strategic interventions that forged new relations among them. Throughout, each group felt compelled to identify itself, to position itself in relation to this military trial turned political scandal: feminists, socialists, workers’ unions, anti-Semitic groups, revolutionary right-wing coalitions all needed to ‘come out,’ as it were, and in the process, the ever shifting norms of the acceptable and the deviant were redrawn. Perhaps more importantly, new modes of power and knowledge relations were being developed and normalized. Using the Dreyfus affair as a particularly telling case of a more general pattern, this paper presents an analytical model that could be transferred to different disciplinary inquiries; the play of power and resistance, the calculation of the normal and the deviant, and the determination of identity and subjectivity, are of particular importance.

122 ■ NEW YORK HISTORY developed, in part as a consequence of the author’s preoccupation with the question of Robinson’s identity. For the newspapermen who kept the mystery before the public, Robinson’s veil could only be imagined as concealing a genteel woman who had fallen into disgrace. During and after the trial, we learn, Robinson was linked to a prominent Troy family, including a former student of Troy Female Seminary. Adler considers this claim at length, before exploring the more plausible scenario that Robinson was in fact an Anglo-Irish immigrant. But Robinson’s association with fallen gentility, rather than the immigrant Irish she lived among and killed, suggests a fascinating if unexplored class politics at work, both in Robinson’s history and the history of her notoriety. Likewise, it would have helped had Adler extended her investigation into Troy’s Irish immigrant community. Indeed, there are several missed opportunities for historical analysis here. This volume might have been a gritty exploration of antebellum political culture, the urban Irish, the immigrant underworld, and conceptions of crime, madness, and sexuality; instead, Adler’s discussion of such topics serves to illuminate the trial and support her investigation into Robinson’s identity. Yet, despite these shortcomings, this remains a fascinating story, one that will be of interest to scholars of urban life, crime, politics , and gender in nineteenth-century America. Living the Revolution: Italian Women’s Resistance and Radicalism in New York City, 1880–1945. By Jennifer Guglielmo, Chapel Hill: The University of North Carolina Press, 2010. 432 pages, $41.95 Cloth. Reviewed by Denise Lynn, Assistant Professor, History, University of Southern Indiana. Jennifer Guglielmo’s Living the Revolution seeks to highlight the silences in the historical literature about Italian immigrant women engaged in radical politics in the United States from 1880 to 1945. This activism was lost to us because historians have focused primarily on English-language sources and contemporaries believed Italian women were “unorganizable” and shackled by male authority. Additionally these women were caught Book Reviews 123 up in what Guglielmo describes as a diaspora that included South America and frequent and sometimes permanent return to Italy. This activism did not resemble the radical politics of other women or even Italian men. For one, these women did not seek inclusion into the United States polity nor did they initially work within established working-class organizations, like trade unions. Rather they drew on strategies adopted from Italy that included mutual aid, neighborhood organization, and direct action. Guglielmo argues that Italian radicalism is rooted in the upheavals of late nineteenth-century Italy where women became leaders in local protests against authority and industrial abuse. Meanwhile Italian men frequently migrated to the United States or South America to find work; leaving women to fend for themselves and their children. This allowed them to push the boundaries of appropriate female behavior. Many women also migrated and had to take on work that their families depended on for survival. In America, Italian women’s skilled labor, specifically sewing, became associated with unskilled, menial, and thus low-waged labor creating a “fabricated absence.” Meaning, Italian women were portrayed in the press as physically able to do hard labor yet they were docile; so their demanding and demeaning work was slandered and devalued (77). Guglielmo argues that radical activism was also racialized. Southern Italians were portrayed as primitives in Italy. In the United States racialization took on a different form vis-à-vis nonwhites. Italians were considered whites, but inferior whites. This racialization was also gendered as Italian women were painted as victims; in contrast, Chinese and AfricanAmerican women were more often viewed as perpetrators. Therefore, middle-class, white, female reformers, who were challenging gender conventions , found Italian women worthy of rescue. This racialization meant that while Italians were still believed to be inferior they could claim white status and enjoy the benefits of citizenship and state protection. Employers also used this ethnic conflict to their advantage to ensure worker discipline and reduce turnover. Guglielmo devotes the first half of the text to contextualizing Italian immigrant women’s roots in Italian radical politics and their place in immigration history, thus the volume’s title is somewhat misleading...

Energy transitions are fundamental to achieving a zero-carbon economy. This book explains the urgently needed transition in energy systems from the perspective of the global political economy. It develops an historical, global, political and ecological account of key features of energy transitions: from their production and financing, to how they are governed and mobilised. Informed by direct engagement in projects of energy transition, the book provides an accessible account of the real-world dilemmas in accelerating transitions to a low carbon economy. As well as changes to technology, markets, institutions and behaviours, Power Shift shows that shifts in power relations between and within countries, and across social groups and political actors, are required if the world is to move onto a more sustainable path. Using contemporary and historical case studies to explore energy transitions, it will be of interest to students and researchers across disciplines, policymakers and activists.

Energy transitions are fundamental to achieving a zero-carbon economy. This book explains the urgently needed transition in energy systems from the perspective of the global political economy. It develops an historical, global, political and ecological account of key features of energy transitions: from their production and financing, to how they are governed and mobilised. Informed by direct engagement in projects of energy transition, the book provides an accessible account of the real-world dilemmas in accelerating transitions to a low carbon economy. As well as changes to technology, markets, institutions and behaviours, Power Shift shows that shifts in power relations between and within countries, and across social groups and political actors, are required if the world is to move onto a more sustainable path. Using contemporary and historical case studies to explore energy transitions, it will be of interest to students and researchers across disciplines, policymakers and activists.

Strategy for Victory: The Development of British Tactical Air Power, 1919-1943examines the nature of the inter-Service crisis between the British Army and the RAF over the provision of effective air support for the army in the Second World War. Material for this book is drawn primarily from the rich collection of documents at the National Archives (UK) and other British archives. The author makes a highly original point that Britain's independent RAF was in fact a disguised blessing for the Army and that the air force's independence was in part a key reason why a successful solution to the army's air support problems was found. The analysis traces why the British army went to war in 1939 without adequate air support and how an effective system of support was organized by the RAF. As such, it is the first scholarly survey of the origins and development of British air support doctrine and practice during the early years of the Second World War. The provision of direct air support was of central importance to the success enjoyed by Anglo-American armies during the latter half of the Second World War. First in North Africa, and later in Italy and North-West Europe, American, British and Empire armies fought most if not all of their battles with the knowledge that they enjoyed unassailable air superiority throughout the battle area. This advantage, however, was the product of a long and bitter dispute between the British Army and the Royal Air Force that began at the end of the First World War and continued virtually unabated until it was resolved in late 1942 and early 1943 when the 2nd Tactical Air Force was created. Battlefield experience and, in particular, success in North Africa, combined with the hard work, wisdom and perseverance of Air Marshals Sir Arthur Tedder and Arthur Coningham, the active co-operation of General Bernard Montgomery, and the political authority of Prime Minister Winston Churchill, produced a uniquely British system that afforded the most comprehensive, effective and flexible air support provided by any air force during the war. The book is divided into two equal parts of five chapters. Part one surveys how the British Army went to war in 1939 without adequate air support, and part two explains how an effective system of air support was organized by the middle years of the war. The analysis traces Britain's earliest experience with aircraft in the Great War 1914-1918, the inter-war period of doctrinal development and inter-Service rivalry, and the major campaigns in France and the Middle East during the first half of the Second World War when the weaknesses in Army-RAF co-operation were first exposed and eventually resolved. As such, it is the first scholarly survey of the origin and development of British air support doctrine and practice during the early years of the Second World War.

Paradigm and power shifts in the gender clinic

The relationship of individuals to groups has been central, and problematic, to the construct of creativity since it emerged in the 19th and early 20th centuries. Psychological research has often used the idea of creativity to differentiate and/or advocate constructs of the individual as creator, but has used a sociocultural criterion— eminence—to assure validity. Researchers and creative practitioners are then caught in a contradiction in psychology’s own terms: using extrinsic outcomes at the level of culture as the starting point to conceptualize individual activities characterized by intrinsic motivation. Even research that focuses on everyday creativity often identifies creativity only through judgment of products. Sociocultural approaches go further, defining creativity as social judgment of individuals’ works. But what does the eminence of relatively few individuals indicate about social questions (changes in discourse and power relations) or about psychological questions (the people in the system)? This article explores an alternative approach, using Foucault’s analysis of the author function, technologies of self and the related technology typology (production, signs, power and self). Comparing Foucault’s analyses to the psychological discourse demonstrates advantages of integrating Foucault’s ideas into the study of creativity. Analyzing the functions of creativity, rather than its ontology or location, provides a unifying framework for the wide array of approaches psychologists have developed. Within that framework individual experiences can be examined in relation to the distorting nature of the author function, needs for production and shifts in power relations, rather than conflated with them.

In interviews with privileged individuals such as academics, power relations become particularly salient and explicit. Investigating how shifts in power relations are manifested in the interview allows us to understand the workings of power in academia as well as in the research process. This article presents a close analysis of selected segments of interviews with academics in elite positions to illustrate this. Comparisons between collaborative and non-cooperative interaction in the interview show interactional features that characterise such dynamics. By providing a reflexive and detailed analysis of interview episodes that characterise both cooperation and a refusal to cooperate, the article illustrates the significance of understanding discursive and contextual factors that are relevant to the management of interviews.