Pietro Castelli Gattinara

The appeal of neo-fascism in times of crisis. The experience of CasaPound Italia

The present works sets up to analyze the relationship between radical right activism and the unfolding of the financial crisis in Europe, investigating the extent to which the current economic circumstances have influenced right-wing movements’ political supply and repertoires of action. Using the case study of the Italian neo-fascist group CasaPound, and based on a mix of historiography and ethnographic methods, the present work systematically analyzes the ways in which the group tackles the economic crisis. We find that the crisis offers a whole new set of opportunities for the radical right to reconnect with its fascist legacy, and to develop and innovate crisis-related policy proposals and practices. The crisis shapes the groups’ self-understanding and its practices of identity building, both in terms of collective rediscovery of the fascist regime’s legislation, and in terms of promotion of the fascist model as a ‘third way’ alternative to market capitalism. Even more importantly, the financial crisis plays the role of the enemy against which the fascist identity is built, and enables neo-fascist movements to selectively reproduce their identity and ideology within its practices of protest, propaganda, and consensus building.

Framing Exclusion in the Public Sphere: Far-Right Mobilisation and the Debate on Charlie Hebdo in Italy

Abstract While the January 2015 Paris terrorist attacks presented a crucial opportunity for far-right mobilisation, the focus on liberal democratic values and Charlie Hebdo’s non-conformist progressive profile presented challenges for right-wing discourse. Taking Italy as a paradigmatic case of public controversies on cultural and religious affairs, this article examines the opportunities and constraints generated by multicultural crises for far-right framing choices. A qualitative frame analysis analyses the discourse of three types of far-right actors. While the populist radical right, extreme right, and ultra-religious right groups disagree on crucial criteria for outgroup exclusion, they collectively employed the Charlie Hebdo controversy to redefine their exclusionary discourse on liberal grounds with the goal of gaining legitimacy in the mainstream public sphere.AbstractWhile the January 2015 Paris terrorist attacks presented a crucial opportunity for far-right mobilisation, the focus on liberal democratic values and Charlie Hebdo’s non-conformist progressive profile presented challenges for right-wing discourse. Taking Italy as a paradigmatic case of public controversies on cultural and religious affairs, this article examines the opportunities and constraints generated by multicultural crises for far-right framing choices. A qualitative frame analysis analyses the discourse of three types of far-right actors. While the populist radical right, extreme right, and ultra-religious right groups disagree on crucial criteria for outgroup exclusion, they collectively employed the Charlie Hebdo controversy to redefine their exclusionary discourse on liberal grounds with the goal of gaining legitimacy in the mainstream public sphere.

The ‘refugee crisis’ in Italy as a crisis of legitimacy

ABSTRACT The so-called ‘refugee crisis’ marks a crucial juncture in Italian politics. Tapping into the crisis of legitimacy of contemporary European politics, the controversy over migration has triggered discussion of socioeconomic, cultural and security issues. Pressured by public opinion, the EU and Italy have followed the logic of exceptionality, trying to put a halt to the inflow of asylum-seekers rather than pursuing the logic of normalcy that must apply to migration at a global level. Institutional and mainstream actors have mirrored public anxieties and security concerns, endorsing emergency narratives, aggressive policing and militarised border control. Unable to engage with citizens’ concerns, they have helped to conflate migration with insecurity, creating a fertile breeding ground for xenophobic, populist reactions. The paper suggests that the refugee crisis is best understood in relation to other ongoing crises in the EU, and that the way it is handled will have significant consequences for future action, shaping the way European societies cope with forthcoming crises and transforming the relationship between states and citizens. Accordingly, it argues that the permanent state of emergency characterising governmental responses so far does not bode well for the future of liberal democracy in Europe.ABSTRACTThe so-called ‘refugee crisis’ marks a crucial juncture in Italian politics. Tapping into the crisis of legitimacy of contemporary European politics, the controversy over migration has triggered discussion of socioeconomic, cultural and security issues. Pressured by public opinion, the EU and Italy have followed the logic of exceptionality, trying to put a halt to the inflow of asylum-seekers rather than pursuing the logic of normalcy that must apply to migration at a global level. Institutional and mainstream actors have mirrored public anxieties and security concerns, endorsing emergency narratives, aggressive policing and militarised border control. Unable to engage with citizens’ concerns, they have helped to conflate migration with insecurity, creating a fertile breeding ground for xenophobic, populist reactions. The paper suggests that the refugee crisis is best understood in relation to other ongoing crises in the EU, and that the way it is handled will have significant consequences for fut...

The politics of migration in Italy : perspectives on local debates and party competition

In recent years, scholars have increasingly recognized the salience of immigration in local politics. Castelli Gattinara’s insightful book provides a comparative investigation of the politicization of migration across settings and time. The innovative contribution of the Politics of Migration in Italy is that it adopts a multi-dimensional approach to investigate the complex nature of a policy issue like immigration. Gattinara argues that discussing immigration policy at large gives only a superficial account of electoral campaigning, because political conflicts unfold over multiple dimensions of migration. He identifies three distinct dimensions: socio-economic, cultural and religious, and law and order. Methodologically, this is an empirical study of the nature of immigration as a policy issue across six local electoral campaigns in three Italian cities: Rome, Milan, and Prato. In each locality, two electoral periods are examined. Electoral material, pledges, party manifestos, and news media coverage of immigration in selected local and national newspapers during electoral campaigns are analyzed. The book addresses immigration debates from three interrelated angles: to what extent local factors and characteristics of electoral campaigns influence framing and dimensional choices in politicizing immigration; whether political actors develop strategies of competition based on dimensions or immigration as a whole; and the role of mass media in the construction of electoral agendas. Generally, the findings indicate that the overall salience of immigration issues in political campaigns has increased over time in Italy, and more importantly that political actors do not differ from one another in whether they discuss immigration, but rather on how they discuss it. Local characteristics, specifically the interaction between native and immigrant populations, influence the nature of the debates and the salience of different dimensions. Across the six campaigns, electoral debates on migration make references to law and order. However, while security debates are predominant in Rome, socio-economic ones have relatively more resonance in Prato, and cultural and religious ones are more important in Milan than in other cities. Milan’s foreign Islamic population paves the way to developing debates on the cultural and religious integration of migrants in the public sphere. In Prato, where the impact of the penetration of the Chinese economy is deeply felt, campaigns discuss migration primarily in terms of its economic dimensions. Rome hosts the largest Romanian and Roma community in Italy, and this provides fertile ground for securititized immigration debates. The study also suggests that the immigration issue should not be conceived as homogenous but as a multi-faceted bundle of different aspects that are mobilized independently from one another. The thematic nature of this complex policy issue gives political actors the opportunity to develop strategies of competition based on dimensions rather than immigration as a whole, and to selectively address certain aspects (most notably security and perceived insecurity) while ignoring others (economic, and less so, cultural impact). A left-right pattern in immigration debates emerges whereby right-wing actors, who tend to be more consistently anti-immigration, use different dimensions interchangeably, whereas left-wing actors use certain dimensions (mainly the cultural one) to support migration, and others (law and order dimensions) to oppose it. Castelli Gattinara compares party manifestos and news media reports on immigration to examine the ways in which parties refer to immigration in their ideal agenda and in the news media. Centre-right actors appear to engage in migration politics more frequently in electoral rhetoric than in party manifestos, whereas other actors have more balanced profiles. This may be due to the advantage that mainstream right-wing actors enjoy in migration debates. Overall, The Politics of Migration in Italy is a thorough empirical investigation of the politicization of (im)migration as a salient political issue in electoral campaigns within the Volume 33 Refuge Number 1

The far right as social movement

ABSTRACT The literature on the far right is trying to connect with social movement studies. Scholars from different social scientific backgrounds are increasingly acknowledging that extra-parliamentary grassroots activism is part of the alliance and conflict structure of nativist collective actors. The recent rise in far-right street politics – or, precisely, its re-emergence with seemingly different clothes – should encourage the study of the inter-relations between party and non-party collective actors. As a case in point, the far right not only includes political parties geared towards elections and public office but also social movements or ‘networks of networks’ that aim to mobilise public support, and a conglomeration of subcultural groups and groupuscules. By putting forward a three-part metric to analyse mobilisation factors at the macro, meso, and micro levels, this piece and the Special Issue it introduces bring the (inter-)relations between far-right parties, movements, and subcultures frontstage, and elaborate on nativist collective action across different arenas of contention.

Toward an assessment of marginality in democratic systems: The Charlie Hebdo debate in the United Kingdom

This article offers a theoretical and empirical investigation of marginality of actors and ideas in democratic systems. We do so with respect to the extensive public debate that ensued from the Charlie Hebdo terrorist attacks of January 2015. Using content analytical data retrieved from The Guardian, we assess the degree and nature of marginality as indicated by the presence of different types of intervention in the public debate. Our findings show that women have very limited visibility; religious and minority groups—particularly Muslims—are sidestepped; and actors challenging the dominant securitisation narrative are systematically neglected by those holding dominant positions. We argue for greater attention to the problem of marginality and introduce the Maximin principle of marginality as a means to address this issue in analyses of democratic systems.

Quand les identitaires font la une: Stratégies de mobilisation et visibilité médiatique du bloc identitaire

EnglishThe article examines the interplay between internal supply-side factors and media coverage of Bloc Identitaire (2003-2015), advancing four complementary logics for the visibility of grassroots far right mobilization: issue ownership, repertoire of action, controversy construction and countermobilization. The study combines quantitative and qualitative content analytical data, and a semi-structured interview with one of BI’s national leaders. It shows that media coverage increases when mobilization dwells with issues on which the group is credible, and when it triggers countermobilization. Two strategies of interaction with the mass media stand out: the personalization of political communication and the spectacularisation of the staging of protest. francaisComment des formations d’extreme droite a faible ancrage social parviennent-elles a exister dans les medias ? En etudiant le cas du Bloc identitaire, nous proposons quatre logiques complementaires : la propriete des enjeux politises, le choix de repertoire d’action, la creation de controverses publiques et l’existence de contre-mobilisations. La recherche combine l’analyse quantitative et qualitative des revendications politiques du Bloc, et un entretien en profondeur. Les resultats montrent que sa visibilite augmente lorsque ses actions portent sur la securite et l’immigration et suscitent des contre-mobilisations. Deux strategies sont fondamentales dans l’interaction avec les journalistes : la personnalisation de la communication des evenements protestataires et leur spectacularisation.

Europeans, Shut the Borders! Anti-refugee Mobilisation in Italy and France

While far-right politics have long been considered exclusively a party phenomenon, in recent years various organisations have emerged throughout Western Europe that are engaged in street politics, extra-parliamentary activities, and hybrid forms of mobilisation. The refugee crisis acted as a catalyst for far-right street politics, which have developed into an integral part of the broader anti-immigration movement. The chapter provides an account of the rationale, nature, and form of mobilisation against refugees in Italy and France, two countries characterised by very different patterns of migration politics. We draw on 23 face-to-face interviews with key activists from different types of far-right organisations in the two countries, which allows exploring the meaning of far-right mobilisation in terms of targeted groups, repertoires of contention, and frame construction. Our findings indicate that the refugee crisis changed not only the size and scope of anti-immigration protest but also its nature. In both Italy and France, contemporary anti-refugee mobilisation involves far-right political parties, as well as social movements and grassroots organisations. What is more, these actors engage in a variety of actions, ranging from demonstrative and pacific street demonstrations to confrontational actions which often lead to violence. While we could detect a number of differences in the way in which French and Italian movements framed anti-refugee campaigns, the findings suggest that the refugee crisis has changed far-right mobilisation not only in quantitative but also in qualitative terms.

Dimensional issue competition on migration: a comparative analysis of public debates in Western Europe

Considering the case of migration, the paper develops a dimensional framework for the analysis of the politicization of complex issues in public debates. It argues that since cross-sectoral issues are multidimensional in nature, public debates about them are best understood in terms of selective emphasis over their constitutive dimensions. Theoretically, the paper combines structural and strategic approaches to explain selective emphasis in public debates on migration. Empirically, it examines seven West European countries from 1995 to 2009 based on claims-making data collected by the Support and Opposition to Migration project team. Focusing on both actor-level and political opportunity determinants of the salience of issue dimensions, the analysis examines the varying importance attributed to four constitutive dimensions of the immigration issue, corresponding to socioeconomic, cultural and religious, security and civic aspects. The findings confirm that the composition of public debates on complex issues is not restricted to one single understanding, but changes depending on the actors involved in the debate and on contextual circumstances defining their involvement. As such, this research has profound implications for the scholarly understanding of issue competition and agenda-setting processes.