Nationalism has always played a close role in Italian politics. We can see the impact Benito Mussolini’s nationalistic movement had on Modern-day Italy. The rise of fascism and isolationism from the world during WWII still has negatively impacted today’s political movements. With newly-elected PM Giorgia Meloni has moved farther right than any Prime Minister before. She has grown large support to go back to Christian/Catholic principles that they once came from. This excludes minority groups; Muslims, Jews, Hindus, and Buddhists from political discourse in the country. Polarized by the media and political leaders, the expansion of rights for “all” could possibly be diminished. Nationalistic/Fascist governments will only further polarize anyone seen as different in such homogenous countries like Italy.
Before the unification of Italy, the country was broken up into provinces. Provinces clashed against one another in an effort to control territories. Italy’s struggle with nationalism can even be seen between these provinces. Different groups of people have established an identity differentiating from other parts of the group. People in Naples have a communal feeling of patriotism/nationalism making them not like people from Bologna. That is just one specific example. We can see Nationalism played out in this country. Patriotism also plays into the idea of nationalism too. It’s a collective feeling of pride in a specific region. Patriotism has served as a great tool to mislead the general public into thinking Populists know what’s best for the nation. Fighting for the underdogs’ to gain political support. Patriotism gives people a blind eye to issues.
Nationalism, patriotism, and fascism all correlate with one another. The more Nationalist/patriotic a country leans, the higher likelihood it could be closer to an authoritative, centralized government with collective ideas to supposedly better the country. We will see what role Giorgia Meloni plays with the Nationalist movement “Fratelli di’talia” and its socioeconomic impact on the region.
Sources:
https://www.wantedinrome.com/news/italian-nationalism-explained.html
https://news.yahoo.com/a-century-after-mussolini-seized-power-giorgia-meloni-looks-to-steer-italy-back-toward-nationalism-183116834.html