Employing primary sources and interviews with protagonists of the rebellion of the Italian North, this book explores the invention of the Padanian nation and the construction of identity politics in Northern Italy. It reveals for the first time the connection between the ethnic wave in European party politics in the 1970s and the rise of a new radical right nationalism in the 1990s. The author highlights the way in which the discourse of national minorities was instrumental in the rise of a new political agenda that links territory, identity and cultural rights to create new boundaries of exclusion. In addition to clarifying the connection between the new nationalism and racism by demonstrating how cultural distinctiveness is constructed in contemporary European politics, this unique book also explores the dynamics of new party mobilization and the symbolic resources of nationalist rhetoric. This book presents for the first time data on political participation - both party elites and members - and the real dimension of the party organization.

This book is the first full-length study available in English to trace the extraordinary history of the Italian Northern Leagues during the 1980s and 1990s. At a time when the postwar First Republic entered a crisis amid corruption scandals, the Leagues acted as one of the main protest actors and grew at an unprecedented rate. Drawing on electoral and survey data, existing research, eyewitness accounts of protest events and interviews with activists and leaders, this book provides the definitive account of the movement. Damian Tambini analyses why the movement was so successful in mobilising support, and focuses on its most novel aspect: its use of nationalism. The new regionalist movements in Northern Italy, which were unified into the Northern League in 1990, had a huge influence on Italian politics during the period. Written for scholars interested in nationalism, ethnicity and citizenship; and for specialists in European Studies, Italian and ethnic studies, Nationalism in Italian Politics draws on the best Italian and international research to thoroughly analyse the movement, and update classic studies of nationalism in the age of media spectacle.

Vital Subjects: Race and Biopolitics in Italy is an interdisciplinary study of how racial and colonial discourses shaped the “making” of Italians as modern political subjects in the years between its administrative unification (1861-1870) and the end of the First World War (1919). This title was made Open Access by libraries from around the world through Knowledge Unlatched.

When southern Italians began emigrating to the U.S. in large numbers in the 1870s-part of the "new immigration" from southern and eastern rather than northern Europe-they were seen as racially inferior, what David A. J. Richards terms "nonvisibly" black. The first study of its kind, Italian American explores the acculturation process of Italian immigrants in terms of then-current patterns of European and American racism. Delving into the political and legal context of flawed liberal nationalism both in Italy (the Risorgimento) and the United States (Reconstruction Amendments), Richards examines why Italian Americans were so reluctant to influence depictions of themselves and their own collective identity. He argues that American racism could not have had the durability or political power it has had either in the popular understanding or in the corruption of constitutional ideals unless many new immigrants, themselves often regarded as racially inferior, had been drawn into accepting and supporting many of the terms of American racism. With its unprecedented focus on Italian American identity and an interdisciplinary approach to comparative culture and law, this timely study sheds important light on the history and contemporary importance of identity and multicultural politics in American political and constitutional debate.

This book focuses on the politics of national identity in Italy. Only a unified country for just over 150 years, Italian national identity is perhaps more contingent than longer established nations such as France or the UK. The book investigates when, how and why the discussions about national identity and about immigration became entwined in public discourse within Italy. In particular it looks at the most influential voices in the debate on immigration and identity, namely Italian intellectuals, the Catholic Church, the Northern League and the Left. The methodological approach is based on a systematic discourse analysis of official documents, interviews, statements and speeches by representatives of the political actors involved. In the process, the author demonstrates that a 'normalisation' of intolerance towards foreigners has become institutionalised at the heart of the Italian state. This work will be of particular interest to students of Italian Politics, Nationalism and Comparative Politics.

This edited collection explores the continuing appeal of nationalism around the world. The authors’ ground-breaking research demonstrates the ways in which national priorities and sensibilities frame an extraordinary array of activities, from classroom discussions and social media posts to global policy-making, as well as identifying the value that can come from feeling part of a national community, especially during times of economic uncertainty and social change. They also note how attachments to nation can often generate powerful emotions, happiness and pride as well as anger and frustration, which can be used to mobilize substantial numbers of people into action. Featuring contributions from leading social scientists across a range of disciplines, including sociology, geography, political science, social psychology, media and cultural studies, the book presents a number of case studies covering a range of countries including Russia, Germany, New Zealand, Serbia, Japan, Azerbaijan, Greece and the USA. Everyday Nationhood will appeal to students and scholars of nationalism, globalization and identity across the social sciences as well as those with an interest in understanding the role of nationalism in shaping some of the most pressing political crises- migration, economic protectionism, populism - of the contemporary era.

Bound by Distance takes its place among a growing body of scholarship the goal of which is to challenge the kind of thinking that reproduces the "West" as a stable and homogenous political and discursive entity. The Italian nation, with its peculiar process of formation, the continuous tensions between its own northern and southern regions, and its history of emigration, provides an important case for complicating and reassessing concepts of national, racial, economic, and cultural dominance. The author analyzes the interactive space of the history of Italian state formation, Italian subaltern literature, Italian emigrant writing, and the current situation of North African and Asian immigrants to Italy, in order to contest the "feigned homogeneity" of the Italian nation and to complicate and reassess concepts of national, racial, economic, and cultural dominance.