By Jacob Braun Giorgia Meloni holding up a scarf that reads “We defend God, Homeland and Family,” Massimo Paolone/AP, via the Guardian The election of Giorgia Meloni as Italian Prime Minister reflects a significant change in the landscape of Italian politics. Regionalist squabbles were put down to support a candidate rooted in traditions all ItaliansContinue reading “Giorgia Meloni: Unifying Identities Against One Target [BLOG POST 10]”
Author Archives: jacobbraungins
Italy and Germany- What do they have in common? [BLOG POST 9]
By Jacob Braun Entrance of Garibaldi to Naples (1860), Wenzel Franz Jager, via WikiMedia Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported On the surface, Italy and Germany seem like polar opposites of each other. Italy is Catholic, while Germany is Protestant. Italians love to relax, while Germans are typically stereotyped as workaholics. Italian is a Romance language,Continue reading “Italy and Germany- What do they have in common? [BLOG POST 9]”
Fratelli d’Italia and the “Great Replacement” [BLOG POST 8]
By Jacob Braun Self portrait of Renaud Camus in 2019, Renaud Camus, via WikiMedia Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic Inspired by British author Enoch Powell and French author Jean Raspail, Renaud Camus brought the concept of western civilization’s downfall to the political limelight. Immigrants were to blame for this event—supposedly supplanting the rightful place of theContinue reading “Fratelli d’Italia and the “Great Replacement” [BLOG POST 8]”
Football and Italian Nationalism [BLOG POST 7]
By Jacob Braun Ultras of Lazio in the Stadio Olimpico in Rome, Andrea Buratti, via WikiMedia Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported It should go without saying that football is really, really big in Italy. When I lived in Florence for a couple months, I even bought a pair of ACF Fiorentina (AKA “Viola” because ofContinue reading “Football and Italian Nationalism [BLOG POST 7]”
Normalizing Fascism and How it’s Related to Turtles [BLOG POST 6]
By Jacob Braun The “Arrowed Turtle,” the logo for the Italian neofascist CasaPound Party, CasaPound, via WikiMedia Commons The former Italian political party CasaPound is a neo-fascist, identitarian social movement that regularly espouses the ideas of Benito Mussolini and National Socialism. Although the movement may be relegated to the fringe in Italian politics, some ofContinue reading “Normalizing Fascism and How it’s Related to Turtles [BLOG POST 6]”
Fratelli D’Italia- Party like it’s 1922? [BLOG POST 5]
By Jacob Braun Giorgia Meloni and the center-right coalition at the Quirinal Palace, Quirinale, via WikiMedia Commons On October 22, 2022, Giorgia Meloni, leader of the far-right Fratelli D’Italia party, became Prime Minister of the Italian Republic. Based on a platform of anti-establishment rhetoric and populist nativism, Meloni’s coalition would take 44% of the vote—Continue reading “Fratelli D’Italia- Party like it’s 1922? [BLOG POST 5]”
War in Syria- What Does This Mean For Italy? [BLOG POST 4]
By Jacob Braun Italian Customs boat enters port in southern Italy with Syrian Refugees, UNHCR/F.Noy, Copyright Spurred on by widespread unrest within the Arab world caused by the 2011 Arab Spring protests, the Syrian Arab Republic was flung into a brutal civil war in early March of the same year. Until the breakout of theContinue reading “War in Syria- What Does This Mean For Italy? [BLOG POST 4]”
Italy Swings Populist- The Beginning of the Second Republic [BLOG POST 3]
By Jacob Braun Silvio Berlusconi, Italian House of Representatives 1994, via WikiMedia Commons Public Domain Coming out of the major scandals that rocked the Christian Democrats and Italian Socialists, an unlikely political outsider takes the reins of Italy in the 1994 election: Silvio Berlusconi. Poised on bringing populist politics into the spotlight, Berlusconi and hisContinue reading “Italy Swings Populist- The Beginning of the Second Republic [BLOG POST 3]”
Fuel for the Fire- Corruption and the End of the First Republic [BLOG POST 2]
By Jacob Braun Former Italian Prime Minister Benedetto Craxi, Unknown Author, via WikiMedia Commons Public Domain For the first time since the Second World War, a Socialist Party in Italy came to power with Benedetto “Bettino” Craxi as its Prime Minister in 1983. With promises of reform and continued efforts to improve the economy fromContinue reading “Fuel for the Fire- Corruption and the End of the First Republic [BLOG POST 2]”
The Years of Lead: the First Republic is put to the test [BLOG POST 1]
By Jacob Braun A Photo of the Aftermath of the Bologna Massacre, Beppe Briguglio, via WikiMedia Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 International license The Years of Lead (Anni di Piombo) began with the Hot Autumn strikes of 1969, where massive amounts of workers joined students protesting for social reforms in a similar fashion to the MayContinue reading “The Years of Lead: the First Republic is put to the test [BLOG POST 1]”
The Plague of Populism 