From ‘Anomaly’ to ‘Laboratory’? Fratelli d’Italia, Illiberalism and the Study of Right-Wing Parties in Western Europe
| Published date | 01 May 2024 |
| DOI | http://doi.org/10.1177/14789299241231771 |
| Author | Gianfranco Baldini |
| Date | 01 May 2024 |
https://doi.org/10.1177/14789299241231771
Political Studies Review
2024, Vol. 22(2) 402 –411
© The Author(s) 2024
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DOI: 10.1177/14789299241231771
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From ‘Anomaly’ to
‘Laboratory’? Fratelli d’Italia,
Illiberalism and the Study
of Right-Wing Parties in
Western Europe
Gianfranco Baldini
Abstract
Once considered an anomaly for its polarized pluralism, then marked, over the last three decades,
by frequent alternations between populist and technocratic governments, Italy is now the only
country in Western Europe whose coalition government is led by a party usually classified in the
populist radical right family, Giorgia Meloni’s Brothers of Italy (Fratelli d’Italia). While this means
that the country has finally its first female Prime Minister, understanding the trajectory of the
party is important not just for the state of Italian politics but also for comparative politics more in
general. Taking stock of the recent literature on Meloni’s party, it appears that the choices made
by the Fratelli d’Italia – in Italy and in Europe – can resonate beyond the national borders especially
in terms of illiberal ideologies and practices of right-wing parties.
Keywords
Italy, Giorgia Meloni, far right, radical right, illiberalism
Accepted: 23 January 2024
Introduction
In politics, the truism that every country has its own peculiarities often comes with
references to various types of exceptionalisms. One can think about the lack of a
socialist party for the United States (Lipset, 1996), or French dirigisme and centralism
(Godin and Chafer, 2004), not to mention the German ‘Sonderweg’ or the deeply
embedded British exceptions that ultimately led to Brexit (Nedergaard and Henriksen,
2018). For Giovanni Sartori (1976), Italian peculiarities were mostly associated with
the polarized structure of the party system. For at least four decades, during what
Department of Political and Social Sciences, University of Bologna, Bologna, Italy
Corresponding author:
Gianfranco Baldini, Department of Political and Social Sciences, University of Bologna, Strada Maggiore 45,
Bologna 40125, Italy.
Email: gianfranco.baldini2@unibo.it
1231771PSW0010.1177/14789299241231771Political Studies ReviewBaldini
review-article2024
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