ABSTRACT
In this chapter, the book turns its attention to defining the central regionalist and federalist ideology of the Movements for Regional Autonomy (MRAs) and the Lega. Returning to the concept of ‘crisis,’ the chapter examines two significant moments of crisis and transition. The first was the fall of fascism and the transition to a democratic and – ostensibly – regionally based Republic founded on anti-fascist values. The second was the crisis of the Italian political institutions between 1989 and 1994 caused by the fall of the Berlin Wall, the Tangentopoli Scandals, and electoral reform, leading to a transition between the First and the so-called Second Italian Republic. Three case studies on anti-fascism, Risorgimento, and Europe help illustrate the change and continuity in the discourse of the MRAs and the Lega relating to representations in the political discourse of each wave of activism and how these related to an emerging notion of a separate northern state of ‘Padania,’ introduced in chapter 3. These case studies bring the chapter to the conclusion that while the MRAs’ aim was to promote regional autonomy and, to a certain extent, federalism as a way of strengthening the Italian nation-state, the Lega promoted a different type of neo-federalism and ethno-nationalism which aimed to divide the nation-state.
