ABSTRACT
In this chapter, we will review our findings and contextualise them in a broader European perspective, examining the extent to which general lessons can be learned from the Italian case. We will conclude with a discussion of implications for democracy in general as well as more specifically for Italy. In previous chapters, we have argued that the success of the Italian right is
related to a set of concurrent factors that can be summarised as a set of favourable political opportunities – such as the collapse of the previous party system and the growing relevance of migration issues – agency factors related to the strategies of parties and the charismatic leadership of Silvio Berlusconi and, to a lesser extent, of other centre-right leaders and particular public communication dynamics rooted in Berlusconi’s ownership of a large swathe of the Italian generalist media. Clearly, many of these factors are only relevant to Italy but, in this chapter, we would argue that there are findings that can be usefully considered in a broader context as they appear to manifest themselves in other European countries. With reference to the literature, we will first locate the Italian right in the European context.
