ABSTRACT
This introductory chapter outlines the rationale, methodological approach, and structure of the book. The chapter introduces the reader to the origin of the title of the book, which was an assertion by the Lega Nord's founder, Umberto Bossi, that a 1950s autonomist movement in Piedmont (the MARP) was a ‘Father of the Lega Nord.’ While certainly not subscribing to Bossi's comments which were couched in his typically simplistic style, this chapter puts forward the argument that the significance of Italy's post-war regionalist movement has been underestimated. I contend that this is symptomatic of the insistence on viewing the Lega, which emerged in the 1980s, as a uniquely ‘new’ political actor rather than the second wave of North Italian regionalism in the history of the Italian Republic. The following pages therefore propose a reconceptualisation of the Italian political phenomenon which became known as leghismo (‘leagueism’). This reconceptualisation requires, on the one hand, a dual theoretical lens of historical sociology and political studies and, on the other hand, a Discourse Historical Approach to Critical Discourse Studies.
