The Russia-Ukraine war has shattered the Italian far right

Abstract

ABSTRACT The contemporary political landscape of the Italian extreme right is characterized by the presence of two main movements: CasaPound Italia (CPI) and Forza Nuova (FN). These two movements are often referred to alternately and synonymously as extreme right or neofascism. The Russia-Ukraine war shattered this area of political radicalism and brought out the relevance of cultural and political circles such as National Bolshevism and Eurasianism. Adopting Zeev Sternhell's (Sternhell, Z. (1983). Ni droite ni gauche. Editions du Seuil; Sternhell, Z. (1993). Nascita dell’ideologia fascista. Baldini & Castoldi; Sternhell, Z. (1997). La Destra rivoluzionaria. Le origini francesi del fascismo 1885-1914. Corbaccio) definition of fascist ideology as a reference, it is important to understand the distinction between the extreme right and neofascism after the ideological upheavals produced by the conflict and its geopolitical implications. Through a qualitative multimethodological approach composed of thematic and political analysis and using open-source archival data it emerges that the war has split the political area of the Italian far right/neofascism into three clusters: the pro-Western and Atlanticist extreme right, nostalgic and pro-Putin neofascism, and an ideological evolving area composed of National Bolshevists and Eurasianists.