Dimensioni e problemi della ricerca storica

Le culture politiche della sinistra italiana e l’integrazione europea negli anni Ottanta*

Stefano Mangullo, Giulia Vassallo — Tue, 28 Nov 2023 00:00:00 +0000

Il saggio illustra le ragioni, i contenuti e gli obiettivi della sezione monografica
Le culture politiche della sinistra italiana e il processo di integrazione europea negli
anni Ottanta. Nella prima parte, le vicende che caratterizzano la variegata galassia
della sinistra italiana nel “lungo decennio” Ottanta vengono contestualizzate
all’interno del dibattito storiografico sull’Italia contemporanea e, in particolare,
in relazione all’acquisizione negli ultimi venti anni del nesso nazionale-sovranazionale
come chiave di lettura interpretativa della storia italiana. Nella seconda
parte, che verte maggiormente sul tema “Europa” e sulle dinamiche comunitarie
nel decennio in questione, i dodici contributi che compongono la sezione sono
esaminati e messi a confronto per fornire un quadro d’insieme e per enucleare i
temi e le questioni principali da essi affrontati.

Globalizzazione, costruzione europea e moneta unica

Andrea Guiso — Wed, 20 Nov 2024 00:00:00 +0000

signing of the European Single Act, caught the Italian left in the midst of a political
and cultural transformation that was as ambitious as it was full of unknowns.
Communists and Socialists became aware, around the mid-1980s, of the importance
of Europe as an external constraint of national government and, at the same
time, as a tool for moderating the impact of globalization on nation-states. The
antagonism between the PCI and the PSI on the national level did not prevent
the ripening of a long-distance discussion on some of the main issues concerning
the reform of the European community. In these years, monetary policy, in particular,
was the catalyst for the reflections of economists, technicians and party
intellectuals from these two political areas, who debated about the prospect of
a “phase two” of the European Monetary System as a premise for bolder developments
toward the political and economic unity of the Europeans. The article
reconstructs this debate, highlighting both its potential and limits, against the
backdrop of the closing phase of the Cold War and the transformations taking
place in the international economy.

Bettino Craxi e la Comunità europea negli anni Ottanta

Daniele Pasquinucci — Wed, 20 Nov 2024 00:00:00 +0000

The article examines Bettino Craxi’s stance towards European integration. After
becoming secretary of the Italian Socialist Party in 1976, Craxi advocated for
a “social Europe”, where the European Community would address unemployment
and promote the equal distribution of wealth. However, while serving as
Italy’s Prime Minister (1983-1987), Craxi set these goals aside. His engagement
with the Community’s affairs was largely influenced by circumstances such as
the British rebate, the defence of Italian agricultural interests within the CAP,
and the Single European Act. It was only after his time at Palazzo Chigi that
he returned to the subject of the social dimension of the EEC. This led him
to express many reservations about the “neo-liberal” character of the internal
market and the European Union created by the Maastricht Treaty.

Il PSI e l’europeismo: dal Midas a Maastricht (1976-93)

Andrea Ricciardi — Wed, 20 Nov 2024 00:00:00 +0000

The essay, which opens with a reflection on the roots of socialist Europeanism
and draws also from unpublished archival papers, addresses the theoretical propositions
and practical initiatives of the PSI to promote the process of European
integration. The period under consideration starts with the election of Bettino
Craxi to the secretariat of the party and ends in 1993. This was a year in which,
after the end of the so-called First Republic followed the conclusion of the Cold
War, Europe was changing its face as a consequence of the Maastricht Treaty.
Despite the presence of significant innovations, from the reflections of PSI leaders
and like-minded intellectuals (Mario Zagari, Gaetano Arfè, Antonio Giolitti,
Giorgio Ruffolo, Michele Achilli and Craxi himself) emerge contradictions
and problems that, still today, weigh on the operation of the European Union,
with particular reference to both the complex relationship between the people
represented and their representatives, and the great difficulty of building a common
identity among the citizens of different countries to meet the challenges of
the globalized world.

Il rincontro: Altiero Spinelli ed il PCI fra gli anni Settanta ed Ottanta

Paola Lo Cascio — Wed, 20 Nov 2024 00:00:00 +0000

This paper analyses the last years of Altiero Spinelli’s political trajectory, focusing
on the European federalist leader’s rapprochement with the PCI in the late 1970s
and early 1980s. Starting positions were far apart: the Italian Communists had
arrived at Europeanism after a long reflection influenced by the coordinates of the
Cold War; Spinelli, persuaded in the past that the PCI would never fully embrace
that view, accepted to confront a world, that of Berlinguer’s PCI, which, at least
from the inside, was unknown to him. The research, in addition to bibliographic
sources, is largely based on the personal archival papers of the federalist leader,
some of his publications and the archive and press of the PCI.

L’europeismo di Nilde Iotti negli anni della presidenza della Camera (1979-92)

Stefano Mangullo — Wed, 20 Nov 2024 00:00:00 +0000

The essay examines Nilde Iotti’s contribution to the process of European integration
during her presidency of the Italian Chamber of Deputies (1979-92),
focusing on two areas of political-institutional activity: public discourse and interparliamentary
work. The analysis of the themes present in her public discourse
makes it possible to extrapolate the contents, the connections and, ultimately, the
meaning (also civil and pedagogical) of the Europeanism conveyed by the third
Office of the Italian State. The focus on interparliamentary work highlights the
commitment to the creation of a stable network among the national parliaments
of the EEC member states and between them and the European Parliament: an
area in which Iotti was active, moved by the conviction that the exchange of
experiences and, above all, the difficult but necessary search for common initiatives
and priorities were decisive factors for the democratic strengthening of the
process of European construction.

Europa, Stato sociale e rinnovamento del paradigma riformatore: la tormentata ricerca del PCI degli anni Ottanta

Mattia Gambilonghi — Wed, 20 Nov 2024 00:00:00 +0000

the relationship between the goal of reforming the welfare state (and the social
compromise underlying it) in the elaboration of the PCI, as well as the objective
of rebooting the process of integration between the countries of the Old Continent,
capable of leading to a more solid “political Europe”. Far from being two
distinct and separate elements (perhaps true during previous historical eras, though
never clearly), in the 1980s these two issues became increasingly intertwined,
as public opinion and political debate identified in the European dimension the
place and space within which redefine the main features of the social model and
rethink a different and more dynamic balance between state, market and organised
social subjects.
Favouring the analysis of the party’s political culture, the article attempts to conduct
this reconstruction by carrying out a periodization in order to distinguish
three different phases of this relationship, within which the relations and the type
of intertwining between the two elements are defined, as part of the more general
strategic perspective and overall identity and political project of the party.

L’evoluzione dell’europeismo del PCI attraverso le campagne per le elezioni europee (1979-89)

Simone Polidori — Wed, 20 Nov 2024 00:00:00 +0000

Considering the evolution of the PCI’s Europeanism means paying attention
to one of the aspects that have contributed to marking a culture, that of the
Italian Communist Party, which was continually committed to identifying the
modern features of a political project rooted in tradition. In this perspective,
the electoral campaigns for the European Parliament help us to understand how
crucial it was for the party to engage in the European context to face the main
political and economic emergencies of those years by re-proposing, at a supranational
level, the confrontation/clash between progressives and conservatives.
On the other hand, however, one can also identify in the PCI’s Europeanism
the sense of a national burden that weighed on the party, namely that of making
changes to the Italian system.

Con l’America ma più europei. Il contributo del PSDI alla vigilia dell’onore delle armi (1979-91)

Giulia Vassallo — Wed, 20 Nov 2024 00:00:00 +0000

The article examines the debate of the Italian Social Democratic Party (PSDI) on
European integration in the years 1979-1991. At the time, the party experienced
a deep crisis, mainly in the field of legitimization and dialogue with the electorate.
The reviving of a pro-European tradition, the strengthening of its European
profile, the emancipation from an overly emphasized pro-Americanism, as well
as the strengthening of the dialogue with its continental counterparts, especially
within the Socialist International, became therefore assets to proceed with both
a “deprovincialization” of the party and a restoring of credibility. An attempt at
profound renewal that, however, was overwhelmed, together with the PSDI as a
whole, by the collapse of the “first Republic”. In this context, however, both the
individual experiences of Mauro Ferri and Antonio Cariglia within the European
institutions and the quality of the pro-European debate within the party between
1985 and the early 1990s remain certainly relevant.

Il “vincolo esterno”. L’Europa e il repubblicanesimo dopo Ugo La Malfa

Corrado Scibilia — Wed, 20 Nov 2024 00:00:00 +0000

The essay analyzes the influence that the process of European unification had
on the Italian republican political culture in the 1970s and 1980s. In particular,
it focuses on the choice that the leader of the Italian Republican Party (PRI),
Ugo La Malfa, made in 1976 to enroll the PRI in the group of European Liberal
Democrats, in view of the first elections to the European Parliament. This
choice determined the limits within which the political line of his successors,
Giovanni Spadolini and Giorgio La Malfa, was defined. This decision was apparently
secondary, but it proved to be the heaviest and most lasting legacy left
by the old leader for his party.

Dalla “via americana” al “progetto gandhiano”: l’Europa dei Radicali (1979-89)

Lucia Bonfreschi — Wed, 20 Nov 2024 00:00:00 +0000

From the late 1970s, the Radical Party’s anti-statism, anti-nationalism, and anti-
militarism evolved into a broader reflection on European integration. Although
aimed at preventing the European continent from becoming a peripheral area
at the mercy of the clash between the USA and the USSR, the Radicals’ vision of
Europe took shape primarily as a space and instrument for defending and spreading
democracy and the rule of law. For this reason, the Radicals believed that
Europe should interact also with actors beyond its geographical borders. Starting
in 1982, the leader Marco Pannella, a member of the European Parliament,
and subsequently the entire party, committed themselves to supporting Altiero
Spinelli’s initiative to have a “draft treaty for the European Union” approved
by the European Parliament. In the second half of the 1980s, this unwavering
commitment to a federalist evolution of European institutions not only implied
support for the United States of Europe project, but also influenced the Radicals’
pursuit of a transnational organizational and strategic dimension.

I Verdi italiani e il processo di integrazione europea fino alla prima metà degli anni Novanta

Giorgio Grimaldi — Wed, 20 Nov 2024 00:00:00 +0000

The article analyses the emergence of visions, proposals and projects for European
integration within the Federation of Green Lists, focusing on the period
between the birth of the Green Lists in the mid-1980s and the first experience
of participation of Italian Green MEPs in the European Parliament, in the
newly created Green Group. From the Europe of Regions to the development
of a Eurofederalist proposal, thanks above all to the action of Adelaide Aglietta
and Alexander Langer in the European Parliament, the contribution intends
to present the main features of a pan-European green federalism, aimed at the
democratisation of the European Union, in a context marked by the end of the
Cold War and deep transformations in international relations between hopes
for peace and new scenarios of war.

La socialdemocrazia verso l’Europa: rappresentanza sociale e cultura politico-economica

Paolo Borioni — Wed, 20 Nov 2024 00:00:00 +0000

The present text utilizes a cross-disciplinary approach (economic history, institutional
history, political theories) and aims at providing a complex and longterm
approach to the interpretation of the sources. The European socialist and
workers’ movement ran into problems when the stagflationary crisis of the
1970s began calling the positive nature of unions’ bargaining power into doubt.
However, the sources, not to mention some aspects of the history of economic
theories, convey that the socialist and workers’ movement was able to foster significantly
innovative responses. The latter gradually convinced the SPD, which
between 1975 and 1982 had mostly resorted to mere anti-inflationary solutions.
Those responses were compatible with the twofold nature of a social movement
producing its own distinct recipes, and of an institutional mediator striking a
balanced compromise. Since the Maastricht treaty the technocratic demands
related to being an institutional mediator have gradually obscured those connected
to the nature of social movement.

«Un Historia over Annali del Seminario Romano»: gesuiti e celebrazione storiografica nella Roma barocca (1640-47)

Francesco Franconi — Wed, 20 Nov 2024 00:00:00 +0000

The article intends to explore the theme of historiographical celebration within
the Society of Jesus through the specific case of the Seminario Romano, founded
by the Pope but managed by the order. The main source analyzed is the unpublished
manuscript of the Annali del Seminario Romano, written by the Jesuit
Girolamo Nappi between 1640 and 1647. The work, which provides a very
detailed depiction of the institute, is part of the broader phenomenon of the historiography
of religious orders in the post-tridentine age. Particular attention
has been paid to the section of the Annali concerning the vite of model former
students, through which the author illustrates the values of the Societas Iesu.