The Italian Far Right’s Long-Term Investment
When the government led by Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte was unable to find eleven lawmakers willing to join its ranks in the house of representatives in order to keep his…
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Matteo Salvini
15 posts
Beware! Populism in Conjunction with Conspiracy Theories Might be Bad for Your Health (Part 3)
The situation described in my previous two pieces appears to be similar in Italy. Recent polls suggest that among the general Italian public, there is a high propensity to get…
How Social Media Helps Make The Radical Right More Approachable
Visuals have always been part of politics but have become increasingly dominant on social media. Used by politicians across the political spectrum, personalized images shared on social media are arguably…
“The Black Carlos”: The story of Italian right-wing terrorist Stefano Delle Chiaie (Part IV: Delle Chiaie’s Revival)
The arrest and subsequent trials in the late 1980s/early 1990s did not change Stefano Delle Chiaie’s worldview. As soon as he was acquitted, he once again tried to assume a…
Is Italian right-wing populism in decline?
On February 12 2020, the Senate chamber of the Italian Parliament approved the go-ahead to revoke parliamentary immunity for the former Interior Minister Matteo Salvini – leader of the Italian…
After COVID-19: will Matteo Salvini lead Europe’s radical right?
Salvini’s showcasing of religious devotion and rhetoric about the pandemic are part of a political strategy aimed at taking over the reigns of power. Unlike the Rassemblement National (RN), formerly Front National,…
How the European Union Lost Italy to the Radical Right
Polls show that the COVID-19 crisis, and particularly the EU’s more than hesitant response to it, has soured Italians’ views of the European Union. In no country in Europe has…
Turning Family Into a Political Weapon
A descriptive and benign term, “family” has been turned into the primary frontier of social wars by the radical right. In March 2019, the World Congress of Families (WCF), in…
Have We Seen the Eternal Return of Fascism?
Unlike yesterday’s fascists, today’s radical right-wing leaders propagate neither territorial expansion nor anything close to the racial laws of the 1930s. Björn Höcke is public enemy number one in present-day…
Italian Populists Use Social Welfare to Ignite a “War Between the Poor”
Matteo Salvini’s League party takes advantage of the frustration felt by Italians living in poverty to fuel xenophobia and hatred toward immigrants. Since Matteo Salvini took over the leadership of…