ABSTRACT
The year 1994 was an extraordinarily important year for the Italian Social Movement (MSI), not only for the fact that it was the last year for that traditional designation. The National Alliance, which formally took the place of the MSI after the January 1995 congress, cannot seriously be considered a new party, since it is the product of the absorption, into the old neo-fascist stump, of "loose cannon"-type parties which retain no autonomous political character. And so Italy continues to lack a liberal democratic Right comparable to those existing in other European countries. In centers of population with more than 15,000 eligible voters, the MSI was the strongest party, with 14.4 percent of voters. It was the voters who promoted the Flame to the role of protagonist in the Italian government. The MSI had managed to enlarge the size of the ghetto, but it had not yet found anyone on the outside willing to open the gates.
