Liberalism And Radicalism In Italy
The formation of political groups in the 19th century in divided Italy is based on personalities, like Camillo di Cavour and Giuseppe Mazzini. Both the Historical Right (Destra Storica) and the Historical Left (Sinistra Storica) were composed of monarchist liberals, while radicals organised themselves as the Radical Party and republicans as the Italian Republican Party. Only in the 1920s, the Liberals around Giovanni Giolitti formed their party, the precursor of the Italian Liberal Party. After the end of World War II both Liberals and Republicans reorganised themselves, followed by more liberal parties in the upcoming decades.
Liberalism was strongly divided after the shake up of Italian politics, following the Tangentopoli scandal and the subsequent Mani Pulite. Nowadays a broad group of parties, not all included, tend to use the label liberal. Liberals are now divided over the centre-right The People of Freedom (the Silvio Berlusconi-led successor of Forza Italia, itself primarily a merger of liberal and Christian-democratic forces) and the centre-left Democratic Party (a merger of social democrats, progressive Christian democrats and social-liberals). Then there are some minor liberal parties: the formerly centre-left - nowadays centre-right - Italian Republican Party (former ELDR member) and the Italian Radicals (ELDR and Liberal International).
Also the populist-centrist Italy of Values is a member of ELDR, although it is very difficult to classify it as a liberal party in whichever sense.
Most members of the late Italian Liberal Party (refounded as a very small party in 2004, see Italian Liberal Party (2004)) and many former Republicans joined Forza Italia, which was often presented and defined in Italy as a liberal party, and the other parties of the House of Freedoms coalition. This is the reason why the term 'liberals' is more often used when speaking of the centre-right, now dominated by Forza Italia successor party The People of Freedom, which tries to combine economic liberalism with freedom of conscience on ethical matters.
Read more about Liberalism And Radicalism In Italy: Liberal Leaders, Liberal Thinkers
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“There are two kinds of liberalism. A liberalism which is always, subterraneously authoritative and paternalistic, on the side of one’s good conscience. And then there is a liberalism which is more ethical than political; one would have to find another name for this. Something like a profound suspension of judgment.”
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