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The right-wing alliance at the time of the Covid-19 pandemic: all change?

The right-wing alliance at the time of the Covid-19 pandemic: all change?
The right-wing alliance at the time of the Covid-19 pandemic: all change?
The growth of populist radical right parties at the expense of Berlusconi’s Forza Italia (FI) has recently reconfigured the right in Italy. Changes in power relations created for the Lega (League), Fratelli d’Italia (Brothers of Italy, FdI) and FI, different competitive pressures, resulting in distinctive – and often conflicting – responses to the pandemic. Based on the analysis of these parties’ Twitter accounts and on survey data, this article examines how right-wing actors positioned themselves vis à vis the government, and each other, throughout 2020. Eventually, the League became the government’s most vocal critic, forcing FdI to follow suit; meanwhile, FI reinvented itself as a moderate, pro-EU party. Despite these changes, our analysis also stresses continuity, insofar as the alliance continued to craft its message around taxation, the EU, immigration and law/order, as it had done in the past. It also continued to enjoy electoral support similar to that of recent decades.
181-195
Albertazzi, Daniele
4da4a316-80b9-4de3-984f-376dafc06333
Bonansinga, Donatella
864692cb-5d6b-4b72-bdbe-4a1fe5d0b6e5
Zulianello, Mattia
d72e1e63-f71e-4a87-92c1-af4757d5265d
Albertazzi, Daniele
4da4a316-80b9-4de3-984f-376dafc06333
Bonansinga, Donatella
864692cb-5d6b-4b72-bdbe-4a1fe5d0b6e5
Zulianello, Mattia
d72e1e63-f71e-4a87-92c1-af4757d5265d

Albertazzi, Daniele, Bonansinga, Donatella and Zulianello, Mattia (2021) The right-wing alliance at the time of the Covid-19 pandemic: all change? Contemporary Italian Politics, 13 (2), 181-195. (doi:10.1080/23248823.2021.1916857).

Record type: Article

Abstract

The growth of populist radical right parties at the expense of Berlusconi’s Forza Italia (FI) has recently reconfigured the right in Italy. Changes in power relations created for the Lega (League), Fratelli d’Italia (Brothers of Italy, FdI) and FI, different competitive pressures, resulting in distinctive – and often conflicting – responses to the pandemic. Based on the analysis of these parties’ Twitter accounts and on survey data, this article examines how right-wing actors positioned themselves vis à vis the government, and each other, throughout 2020. Eventually, the League became the government’s most vocal critic, forcing FdI to follow suit; meanwhile, FI reinvented itself as a moderate, pro-EU party. Despite these changes, our analysis also stresses continuity, insofar as the alliance continued to craft its message around taxation, the EU, immigration and law/order, as it had done in the past. It also continued to enjoy electoral support similar to that of recent decades.

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More information

Accepted/In Press date: 15 March 2021
e-pub ahead of print date: 26 April 2021

Identifiers

Local EPrints ID: 498917
URI: http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/id/eprint/498917
PURE UUID: df5a4cad-61a1-409b-83c9-bfd61c974bcb
ORCID for Donatella Bonansinga: ORCID iD orcid.org/0000-0003-1968-0811

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Date deposited: 04 Mar 2025 18:08
Last modified: 11 Mar 2025 03:14

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Contributors

Author: Daniele Albertazzi
Author: Donatella Bonansinga ORCID iD
Author: Mattia Zulianello

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