ABSTRACT
In Italy’s so-called first republic mass political parties dominated the political scene, giving Italians a partial sense of national identity. As the regime collapsed, old local and anti-state identities re-emerged, most strongly in the north. Between 1990 and 1994, these identities were mobilised into a political movement, the Northern Leagues led by Umberto Bossi, and it seemed for a while that they might lead the country in the formation of the second republic. The 1994 elections, however, revealed the fragility of localism in Italy: Italians chose the ‘national’ values expressed by the party (and even more by the personality) of the TV magnate Silvio Berlusconi. In a certain sense, this period marks the transition of Italy from a party-nation (a society which is dominated by the party-political system) to an information-nation (a society which is dominated by information and the media). This chapter seeks to explore the complexities of Italian national identity and to illuminate the recent transformation.
