State In Italy Research Articles

The Neo-Weberian State in Italy: Understanding the Influence of Populist Government, EU Administrative Reform Support Policy, and Digitalization

The Neo-Weberian State in Italy: Understanding the Influence of Populist Government, EU Administrative Reform Support Policy, and Digitalization

Michelangelo Antonioni, Tourist Snapshots, and the Politics of the ‘Backward Scene’ in 1970s China

In 1972, Radio Televisione Italiana, Italy's state broadcaster, commissioned famed director Michelangelo Antonioni to film a documentary in the People's Republic of China, following the resumption of diplomatic relations between the two nations. Socialist China, in the throes of the Cultural Revolution, was a subject of intense Western fascination at the time. Radical activists worldwide were drawn to Maoism, and references to the Cultural Revolution abounded in European popular culture. Against this backdrop, Antonioni's Chung kuo/Cina found a receptive audience in Europe and North America. Yet by early 1974 the director's ‘anti-China film,’ which had not yet had a public screening in the nation, became the subject of strident condemnation in China's state media, caught up in struggles between competing political factions. This article presents a close reading of Chung kuo/Cina, and examines how the campaign condemning the film spilled over into stricter management of foreign tourists and the production of new forms of tourist literature by state publishers. Examining how notions of China's ‘backwardness’ implicated photographic practice, this article explores how Chinese officials regulated tourist photography, how foreign tourists understood those regulations, and how guides and ordinary Chinese citizens entered into the visual discourse of tourism on their own terms.

‘Bastion of Italian-ness’: the nationalization of welfare and the changing meaning of rehabilitation in post-war Italy (1945–59)

ABSTRACT The article analyses social welfare programmes set up by the Italian state to manage and provide assistance to refugees coming first from Dalmatia, then from Istria and finally by the territories near Trieste, between the immediate post-war period and the late 1950s. It connects the literature on these refugee flows and the historiography of the Italian welfare state by providing new insights into how the recognition of minority rights deeply affected the organization of the social welfare system throughout the 1940s and the 1950s. The article focuses on the shifting meaning of the term ‘rehabilitation’, an outcome of post-war transnational circulations of ideas about the renewal of welfare. It identifies three chronological sections: the aftermath of the war, when social assistance to refugees was organized in Italy in the context of a project to renew the state and its relations with the individual and society; the period after the signing of the Luxembourg Peace Treaty, when in response to the emergency but also out of purely political considerations public authorities significantly changed the guidelines of the entire social welfare system’s development; and finally, the policies set up in the 1950s, which aimed not only at providing stable accommodation for refugees but also at other geopolitical, socio-cultural, social engineering and electoral objectives. Thus, this contribution not only explains how the construction of the welfare state in Italy has been shaped by the problem of refugees, but also shows another side of the same issue: the role of welfare provision in constructing social groups, which in this case took on a strong ethnic and political character.

Popular culture and totalitarianism: Accounting for propaganda in Italy under the Fascist regime (1934–1945)

Throughout history both democratic and totalitarian States have sought to take advantage of the possible political contributions of art and culture. This study presents the first in-depth historical study of the relationship between accounting and culture in a totalitarian State; the Fascist State in Italy between 1934 and 1945. Accounting documents in the form of budgets and reports provided by the Fascist government, along with other accounts prepared by the Fascists, were used to build a narrative that identified the ways in which the Fascist regime sought to win the committed allegiance of the Italian people in unseen ways. Accounting documents and the cultural activities to which they relate show the ways in which the Fascists developed their own conception of popular culture and sought control of cultural organisations and intellectuals in spreading their values and beliefs through cultural artefacts. The study documents the importance of accounting records as a less obvious, often underscored source for social history. It also adds to the growing literature that has explored the place of accounting in totalitarian regimes by focusing on the unexplored context of Fascist popular culture and identifying the contributions of accounting to the management of propaganda activities.

Albanian state in Italy

Albanian state in Italy

The rise of the shareholding state in Italy: A policy-oriented strategist or simply a shareholder? Evidence from the energy and banking sectors’ privatizations

The shareholding state in Italy emerges following the partial privatizations of State-Owned Enterprises (SOEs) in the 1990s. As today, it is still debated whether the Italian state is using its controlling stakes in former SOEs to pursue policy objectives, or if it is acting passively as other financial shareholders. The limited contributions in this field of study find that states retaining a minority stake are unlikely to influence corporate strategies, while the opposite occurs when a majority stake is held. This paper suggests that minority stakes may also serve state interests even if the company's statute does not envisage the state to play an active role. The issue is explored through a case study of the partial privatizations of CDP, in which the state retains a majority stake, and Eni, in which the state retains a minority (albeit predominant) stake, and that operate respectively in the banking and energy sectors. Their different level of financialization unveils the diversified strategies adopted by the Italian state to preserve national interests.

The plight of racialised minorities during a pandemic: migrants and refugees in Italy and Australia

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to draw on data from interviews with six Italian migrant service providers and media stories in Italy and Australia to weave a comparative snapshot of the plight of precarious migrant and refugee communities in these two countries during the COVID-19 pandemic.Design/methodology/approachThe article draws attention to prejudicial shortcomings towards vulnerable migrant communities enacted by the states of Italy and Australia in response to COVID-19.FindingsWhile the unequal ecology of the pandemic has flared up the need for the State to strengthen participation and inclusion policies, it has also provided opportunities to foreground the disadvantages vulnerable communities face that also demand policy attention and sustained funding. Governments in migrant-receiving countries like Australia and Italy need to articulate culturally sensitive and inclusive responses that foreground agencies give vulnerable migrants, asylum seekers and refugees clear, supportive messages of solidarity leading to practical solutions.Originality/valueThis paper relays preliminary data from the coalface (migrant service providers) and media as the pandemic evolved in the two countries, whose support mechanisms had never before been critically compared and evaluated through the lens of racial inequality in the face of a health and social crisis.

Disciplinary effects of capital accumulation: Exploring the steering and fiscal capacity of the state in Italy and Spain

Calls against austerity have entered the political agenda of very different actors in the political spectrum – from social democratic to right-wing populist parties. In this article, we argue that the main failures in realizing these claims and thus overcoming austerity can hardly be explained only in terms of (lacking) political will. We rather approach this problem complex in the two emblematic cases of Italy and Spain by foregrounding the disciplinary effects of capital accumulation in both the countries through a long-term historical reconstruction of the fiscal and steering capacity of their respective state institutions. Despite key specificities in the respective fragile accumulation regimes, the main findings point to the fact that the structure of accumulation has imposed strong constraints in both Italy and Spain. An unstable and crisis-prone capital accumulation characterized by low productivity, a lack of sectoral diversity, regional fragmentation, as well as high levels of exposure and dependency within variegated capitalism have restricted state capacity – a tendency only ruptured in temporary boom-cycles. This, we argue, entails some major implications, first, to address the present failures of social democratic forces and second, to gauge the concrete transformative potential at the politico-economic level of populist calls for ‘breaking the chains’ of austerity.

Different Scenarios of Electric Mobility: Current Situation and Possible Future Developments of Fuel Cell Vehicles in Italy

The diffusion of electric vehicles in Italy has started but some complications weight its spread. At present, hybrid technology is the most followed by users, due particularly to socioeconomic factors such as cost of investment and range anxiety. After a deep discussion of the Italian scenario, the aim of the paper is to recognize whether fuel cell technology may be an enabling solution to overcome pollution problems and respect for the environment. The opportunity to use fuel cells to store electric energy is quite fascinating—the charging times will be shortened and heavy passenger transport should be effortless challenged. On the basis of the present history and by investigating the available information, this work reports the current e-mobility state in Italy and forecasts the cities in which a fuel cell charging infrastructure should be more profitable, with the intention of granting a measured outlook on the plausible development of this actual niche market.

Civil Wars under the Sign of Vendetta. The Concept of the “Republican Triennium” in Italy 1796—1799 by Gabriele Turi

Italian researcher Gabriele Turi proposed a new concept of the history of revolutionary changes and the struggle against the French invaders in the states of Italy at the end of the 18th century. This historian focuses on the issues of mutual perception of political and military opponents, the birth of a new political language, the formation of groups of Democrats and Republicans — “patriots”, collaboration of elites in the era of the invasion of the French republic armies, regional features of popular uprisings in Tuscany, Lazio, Calabria, Basilicata and other areas of Italy. The Insorgenzebeing the people's war against the French troops and Italian “patriots”, is presented by Professor Turi as part of the civil wars that swept the Apennine peninsula after 1796. Professor Turi offers the original answers to the debated questions about the “republican triennium”, about the theory of the “passive” revolution, the reasons for the fall of the sister republics, the collective psychology of the participants of the anti-revolutionary movement.

Separating Church and State in Italy

In 1852 King Victor Emmanuel’s ministers proposed legislation to recognize civil marriages in the Kingdom of Sardinia (Piedmont). This proposal was opposed by Pope Pius IX and other Catholic apologists who argued that it would result in undermining the official status of the Catholic Church and one of the church’s sacraments. Even worse it would mean that Jewish and Protestant marriages would be recognized. This legislation coincided with Mormon missionaries proselytizing in Torino and the public announcement that the church practiced polygamy. Catholic opponents of this legislation argued that even Mormon polygamous marriages would be recognized if the legislation passed. During fierce debates that took place Catholic apologists also claimed that Mormons formed alliances with other Protestant “sects” to push through the civil marriage litigation. The specter of Mormon plural marriages in a civil marriage system continued to be mentioned until civil marriages were finally recognized in 1865.

The rise of the ethical state in Italy. Neapolitan Hegelians and Risorgimento political thought (1848–1871)

ABSTRACTThe article examines the idea of the Ethical State in Italy within the context of the Risorgimento and of Neapolitan Hegelianism. The article first analyses the Neapolitan Hegelians’ idea of nationality and its relationship to the concept of “national character”. Then it focuses on the differences between Hegel’s and Spaventa’s concepts of the State. Finally, it places Silvio and Bertrando Spaventa’s liberalism within Risorgimento debates after 1848, pointing to differences with moderate liberals such as Cesare Balbo or Vincenzo Gioberti. By delineating the context of ideas such as nationality, national character, ethics, and the state, the article sheds new light on the relationship between liberalism and nationalism in nineteenth-century European political thought.

Social Solidarity for All? Trade Union Strategies, Labor Market Dualization, and the Welfare State in Italy and South Korea

Challenging the new political-economic “mainstream” that considers trade unions to be “complicit” in labor market dualization, this article’s analysis of union strategies in Italy and South Korea, most-different union movements perceived as unlikely cases for the pursuit of broader social solidarity, shows that in both countries unions have successively moved away from insider-focused strategies and toward “solidarity for all” in the industrial relations arena as well as in their social policy preferences. Furthermore, unions explored new avenues of political agency, often in alliance with civil society organizations. This convergent trend toward a social model of unionism is ascribed to a response of unions to a “double crisis”: that is, a socioeconomic crisis, which takes the form of a growing periphery of the labor market associated with growing social exclusion, and a sociopolitical crisis, which takes the form of an increasing marginalization of the unions from the political process.

Cardinals and the War of Ferrara

The bestowal of a red hat can turn even the most humbly born cleric into an ecclesiastical prince, but whereas few cardinals of the modern era have been born princely, most of those created in the Renaissance period could claim to be of noble lineage and a few, from the second half of the fifteenth century onwards, were the sons of ruling princes. Those who were born to fight were obliged to become those who prayed, but where did their allegiances lie when the states of Italy were at war with a belligerent pope such as Sixtus IV? The War of Ferrara (1482–4) presents an opportunity to survey the responses of cardinals from the ruling dynasties of Mantua, Milan, Montferrat, and Naples, together with their counterparts from the republics of Genoa, Siena, and Venice.

Nordic welfare in post-war Italy

The present article deals with some of the main issues concerning the perception of the Nordic welfare state in Italy. First the article describes how and why socialist and communist leftists oppose the Nordic model. Then it shows how, around 1980, more factually informed and less ideologically biased descriptions changed this picture. In this positive evolution, more critical views focusing on (albeit mild) Nordic eugenic practices are also taken into account. Finally, the article focuses on the new image of the Nordic model as modernized welfare states (Schumpeterian states, as some scholars define them) effectively coping with enhanced globalized competition and therefore chosen as the benchmark of EU welfare reform. The concluding remarks also deal with the contradictions and setbacks of this ‘Europeanization’ of the Italian welfare debate.

What Intercultural Competencies do Italian Primary Teachers Need?

193 different nationalities are represented among the pupils in Italy's state schools. 9% of school pupils in Italy (802,844) come from a migrant background. The data reveal a deep-rooted disparity in these pupils’ academic trajectory compared to that of indigenous students. With a view to gathering data that might assist in understanding which factors contribute to the disadvantages faced by students of n.I.n., this research has sought to reveal the terms in which teachers who have taught in multicultural, primary-level classes for at least five years, most commonly represent diversity, albeit, in terms of the number of participants (thirty), the sample used is non-representative. The investigation was also designed to generate information regarding the behaviours, expertise and operational skills that the same group of teachers employs in teaching multicultural classes, and to determine whether the practices they describe indicate the possession of intercultural competencies.What representations of diversity are most familiar to teachers? Do teachers possess intercultural competencies that enable them to assist integration and learning in students from migrant backgrounds? The data analysis methodology was based on grounded theory. “Diversity”, the analysis revealed, is understood in various ways: the expression of each person's uniqueness; cultural difference; the prevalence of problems (special needs, learning difficulties, hyperactivity). The stories told revealed various competencies, which were grouped into two types: first-level intercultural competencies (already inherent to good teaching practice), and second-level intercultural competence required/acquired in multicultural classes.Based on these data, the study paints a varied portrait of Italian primary teachers’ professional competence. This admittedly limited set of interviews suggests a heterogeneous reality, with some teachers having responded to a changing school population by acquiring new intercultural competences, and others seemingly stuck with an outdated outlook.

The problem of the ‘guasto legnaggio’ in Leopardi’s ‘Sopra il monumento di Dante’

Amid shallower reactions to the cenotaph to Dante in Florence, Giacomo Leopardi’s ‘Sopra il monumento di Dante’ presents a symptomatic reading of how the empty tomb is emblematic of the weakened cultural state of Italy in the early 19th century. The central issue of the poem is the past's discontinuation; a lack of respect for ‘fathers’ and ‘ancestors,’ and therefore, failed ‘sons.’ In this light, a pair of key indicators of a broken cultural genealogy which were brought up by Leopardi himself in the poem are discussed: Dante had been principally forgotten in the 17th century, and more recently Italy had been subjected to Napoleonic rule. These, along with this lack of a Florentine monument to Dante, pointed toward Italy’s discontinuous relationship with its own cultural history during this time. Unlike most of the celebrations surrounding the moment when Dante’s cenotaph was erected – including Melchiorre Missirini’s essay in which he misuses this very poem – Leopardi’s analysis is truly an intrinsic one. As for how he suggests Italy might mend this problem, however, especially as indicated in particular works of prose written around the same time as this poem, it may be that the young Leopardi, at this early stage of his intellectual development, was still somewhat wanting in a broader realization of what cultural genealogies can and should be.

Sport for All: Italian Model

The many fragmentation of the scientific research and the lack of dialogue between the disciplines that compose the Sport Sciences in Italy have weakened the scientific-epistemological sport aim. In this context, is necessary to clarify the meaning of the term “sport for all” because during the last thirty years it has been used with more emphasis suggesting different situations and conceptions. Does the sport for all really exist or it is just a regulative goal, an utopian ideal? Through this study it is pretended to introduce the actual research state in Italy, clarifying how the sport, educationally founded and made structurally accessible from its basis, could be a cultural vehicle for the inclusion, peace and equality in accordance with the own particularity by being opened and addressed to all. The research presents the “sport for all” model developed by the research group from the Special Education Laboratory of Rome University “ForoItalico”, which attempts to establish a dialogue between the requests of the Special Education area and the Physical Activity and Sport field since more than fifty years ago, highlighting the theoretical and practical implications.

From tolerance to the secular State in Italy

The discourse on tolerance began over two centuries ago and yet is still unfinished. Was Voltaire in 1763 with his “Treatise on Tolerance”, condemned religious intolerance persuaded by religious fanaticism of the judgment of the Court of Toulouse. Although the idea of tolerance was born in Europe, it saw and still sees intolerance. Intolerance of yesterday reminds us wars, inquisitions and crusades, instead the modern Europe shows that even between globalization and multiculturalism often proves incapable of “import” different cultures. But from the legal point of view the term tolerance is far from that of secularism. It follows that individuals in a system that tolerates doesn’t enjoy equality their fundamental rights, because they are not legally placed on the same level. Legal Italian tolerance experience has been for many years a condition for the cults other than Catholic. The Albertine Statute in 1848 welcomed it in the article 1, and it was the task of the new Constitution outlining the principles of a State not only secular but also pluralistic.

L’Italia: un modello concordatario nell’epoca del pluralismo

The relationship between the Catholic Church and state in Italy is a long journey that has marked the history of the country.Also according to this history today in the Italy Catholic Church continues to enjoy a public role.In the age of pluralism and secularization as it is possible to combine the Italian prominent role of the Catholic Church with a modern democracy and a state called to be secular and neutral in the religious field?Briefly we retrace the history of the relationship between state and religion in Italy since the unification national to the present day. In parallel, we will examine the main mode of relationship between state and religions in Europe to better contextualize the Italian case and to verify or refute the recurring idea of his alleged exceptionality. Finally, through a reconstruction of some illustrative cases and legal analysis of survey data, we will evaluate the health status of the current system of church-state relations.