Michel Huysseune

Institutions and Their Impact on Social Capital and Civic Culture: The Case of Italy

Robert D. Putnam’s Making Democracy Work has propelled the issue of social capital to the front stage of the social sciences. It argues that the difference in the efficiency of regional governments in Italy— the northern ones being much more efficient than those in the south—results from the differentiated presence of social capital in both parts of the country. Social capital, defined as the “features of social organization, such as trust, norms, and networks, that can improve the efficiency of society by facilitating co-ordinated actions” (Putnam 1993, 167), is, according to Putnam, much more present in northern than in southern Italy. As a consequence, northern Italy is characterized by its cooperative and civic culture sustained by a strongly rooted associative life, contrasting with the southern culture of “amoral familism,” based on the exclusive defense of the interests of the nuclear family. The civic communities of the North are “bound together by horizontal relations of reciprocity and co-operation, not by vertical relations of authority and dependence,” characteristic of the South. In a civic community, citizens develop attitudes that enhance cooperation. They are “helpful, respectful, and trustful toward one another” (Putnam 1993, 88), and they can hence count on reciprocal trust, even in the case of self-interested transactions.

A Eurosceptic vision in a europhile country: The case of the Lega Nord

As a consequence of Italys integration in the EMU in 1998, the Lega Nord shifted from a pro-European to a Eurosceptic position. The Legas Eurosceptic vision combines a strong identification with Europe with a hostile attitude towards the institutions of the EU. Identification with Europe expresses in the first place the partys geopolitical view of Padania as a European and hence modern and entrepreneurial region. Its critique of the EU incorporates numerous, sometimes contradicting influences such as the neo-liberal vision of a free-trade based Europe with minimal rules and regulations, and a protectionist defence of northern Italian economic interests. It is in particular the partys institutional vision that attributes centrality to the right of Padania to autonomy and self-government which leads to its rejection of the centralism and dirigism of the European Union.

The Flemish Paradox: The Hegemony of Pro-Independence Parties in a Region Largely Indifferent Towards Independence

Abstract Present-day Flanders is characterized by the contrast between the impressive electoral successes of the pro-independence Nieuw-Vlaamse Alliantie (N-VA), and the very lukewarm attitude of its population towards independence. This success should be seen as one of the consequences of the regionalization of political identities in Belgium and the promotion of a Flemish identity by the Flemish regional government. Rather than a vote for independence, however, support for the N-VA corresponds with a rejection of interregional solidarity and more in general a preference for a more right-wing style of governance based on the principles of self-help and responsibility.