Fratelli d’Italia, Vox and the Cultural Battle on the Political Exploitation of the Past in a Comparative Perspective.

Authors

Andrea Vincenzini Universidad de Valencia

Keywords:

Fratelli d’Italia, Conservatism, Post-fascism, National Past, Great War, Vox, Reconquista, Conquest of America, Sociological Francoism, ultranationalism, Neoliberalism

Abstract

Fratelli d’Italia, Vox and the Cultural Battle on the Political Exploitation of the Past in a Comparative Perspective.

In this article we focus on analyzing the conception of the history of Fratelli d’Italia and Vox in a comparative way. First of all, we will focus on the dispute over April 25 between the heirs of “the tricolore fiamma” and the president of the Republic in his role as “guardian of the Constitution”. Secondly, we will examine Vox’s account of April 12 and its call for sociological Francoism. Thirdly, we will dwell on the “afascist rhetoric” of Fratelli d’Italia regarding the Christian roots of Europe and the exaltation of victory in the Great War. Fourthly, we will try to clarify Vox’s story about the Reconquista, Hispanidad and the black legend against Spain. Finally, we will present the similarities between Fratelli d’Italia and Vox, focusing on the reactionary and hierarchical conception of society, ethnocultural nationalism and neoliberal populism in its neoconservative orientation.

Received: 28/09/2023

Admitted: 21/01/2024

Author Biography

Andrea Vincenzini, Universidad de Valencia

Andrea Vincenzini ha conseguito il dottorato di ricerca in Storia contemporanea presso l’Università di Cantabria (2021). Attualmente è ricercatore Margarita Salas presso l’Università di Valencia sotto la direzione di Julián Sanz Hoya nell’ambito del progetto del gruppo Hiscucon sul franchismo e la nazione. Le sue ricerche vertono, da un lato, sulle origini culturali del neoliberismo e, dall’altro, sull’analisi dell’uso politico del passato nel fascismo e nel primo franchista. Ha pubblicato El Guadiana Neoliberal. Del New Deal a la Gran Recesión (Editorial Universidad de Cantabria, 2020).