Abstract
All countries are historically peculiar, but some are more peculiar than others. Italy is one of these countries, high up the table of peculiarity, and it is particularly unhappy about being there, because its historical and political uniqueness is based on characteristics that are more negative than positive: institutional weakness, reciprocal delegitimation by opposing political forces—what Cafagna (2003) has called “divisiveness”—verbal and other kinds of radicalism, and deep mistrust between the state and the citizenry.
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© 2014 Giovanni Orsina
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Orsina, G. (2014). The Italian Question. In: Berlusconism and Italy. Italian and Italian American Studies. Palgrave Macmillan, New York. https://doi.org/10.1057/9781137438676_2
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1057/9781137438676_2
Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, New York
Print ISBN: 978-1-349-49405-7
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