Synopses & Reviews
Today, in an atmosphere of political corruption and economic upheaval, the condition of Italian national identity appears more fragile than ever. In this fascinating political, economic, sociological, and cultural history, Manlio Graziano traces Italy's notorious difficulties with the task of nation-building. As he shows, even after the nominal creation of the Italian state in the nineteenth century, Italy never became truly unified, and its political history has been defined by this fundamental failure. Offering provocative insights to non-Italian readers, this book is an invaluable guide to understanding both modern Italian politics and the ongoing struggles of the European Union.
Review
"[One of] the two most serious attempts to grapple with Italy's first 150 years." -
The Economist'Manlio Graziano's ambitious The Failure of Italian Nationhood seeks to get to the heart of the problem, examining crisis after crisis in the past century and a half in search of some recurrent behavior pattern that might explain Italy's troubles.' - The New Yorker
'Graziano adopts an interdisciplinary approach and opens various windows on the political, economic, sociological, and cultural history of Italy since its unification. He weaves a thick and rich cloth on which he also presents various shiny pearls in the form insights, images, and references. It is a rich and erudite book that makes an important contribution to the recent debate on 'the absence of an Italian nation'—a debate on which Graziano builds but which he also carries forward.' - Forum Italicum
'Silvio Berlusconi's Italy is heir to a long and convoluted history. Manlio Graziano navigates nimbly through this labyrinth and suggests why the country has again fallen easy victim to weak government and feeble institutions.' - David Willey, BBC Rome Correspondent
'This is a rich and erudite book. It makes an important and interdisciplinary contribution to the debate on 'the absence of an Italian nation' on which it builds and carries forward. Manlio Graziano has managed to weave a thick and rich cloth on which he has also set various shiny pearls.' - Osvaldo Croci, Professor, Department of Political Science, Memorial University, Canada
'A very informative and enlightening study about a country often discussed, rarely understood.' - Sergio Romano, historian, columnist, and author of Vademecum di storia dell'Italia unita
'Manlio Graziano lucidly diagnoses the problem of Italian national identity as both anomalous and inextricably rooted in its European context. His fluent and richly informed book has important implications for our broader understanding of nationhood in a globalized world.' - Francis X. Rocca, Vatican Correspondent, Religion News Service
'Here you learn how a failed State may last at least 150 years.' - Lucio Caracciolo, Editor of Limes: Italian Review of Geopolitics and Heartland: Eurasian Review of Geopolitics
Synopsis
This book provides a political, economic, sociological, and cultural history of Italy that looks at its difficulties with the task of nation-building.
Synopsis
This book explains Italy s endless political instability and its historical, cultural and economic roots. It also illustrates why, even after the creation of the Italian state, Italy was never really unified. Piero Gobetti described fascism once as the "autobiography" of the Italian nation. This book explains why today it is possible to describe "berlusconism" - a cultural, political and social phenomenon in Italy- as the most recent version of this country s autobiography.
Synopsis
This deeply considered political, economic, sociological, and cultural history offers a compelling analysis of Italy's difficulties with nation-building. While Piero Gobetti once described fascism as the 'autobiography' of the Italian nation, Manlio Graziano explains that today it is possible to describe 'Berlusconi-ism' as the most recent iteration of Italian identity. In clear prose, Graziano provides non-Italians with provocative insights into modern Italian politics and explains why, even after the creation of the Italian state, Italy was never truly unified.
About the Author
Manlio Graziano teaches Geopolitics at Paris IV La Sorbonne, at the American Graduate School in Paris, and at Skema Business School, all in France. His previously published books include Identité catholique et identité italienne, Il secolo cattolico and Essential Geopolitics.
Table of Contents
1. How Premature Development Became a Factor of Backwardness
2. The Phantom Nation
3. The Northern Question
4. Inventing Ancestors
5. The Unhappy Consciousness of Italian Development
6. A Culture without a Nation
7. The Difficult Italianization of the Piedmont
8. The Difficult Piedmontization of Italy
9. The Moderate Social Bloc
10. Transformism
11. Internationalization Crises and Transformism
12. Emerging Sectors and Transformism
13. The Southern Question
14. A Counter-Reformist Identity
15. A Civil 'Guelph' Religion
16. The Quest for a Civil Italian Religion
17. A Petit-Bourgeois Fatherland
18. A Country of Limited Sovereignty
19. Identity and Development
20. The Failure of 'Democratic Nationalization'
21. Italian Metamorphoses
22. Between Europe and the Mediterranean
23. The Internationalization Crisis of the 1990s