Southern Italian Peripheries at the Ballot Box. Continuity and Innovation in Electoral Behaviours in Three Southern Italian Cities during Post-Crisis Decade (2008–2019)

Abstract

ABSTRACT The article explores the social and political geography of three southern Italian cities – Bari, Napoli and Reggio Calabria – and investigates inside their centre–periphery cleavage, highlighting whether and how peripheral conditions affect electoral behaviours. It provides a multidimensional statistical analysis based on I.S.T.A.T. data on Italian cities and suburbs and on the results of the political and European elections during the post-economic crisis decade (2008–2019). The study highlights a growing predictive power, after the 2008 crisis, of the peripheral condition on the electoral behaviour, the weakening of the centre-left parties and the specular political success of 5-Star Movement (M.5.S.) in deprived urban areas.