Delia Baldassarri
- Published in print:
- 2012
- Published Online:
- January 2013
- ISBN:
- 9780199828241
- eISBN:
- 9780199979783
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199828241.001.0001
- Subject:
- Sociology, Politics, Social Movements and Social Change
Voting distills a complex decision into a deceptively simple action. The electorate faces a messy tangle of parties, leaders, and issues. How is it possible for voters to unravel it all? How do they ...
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Voting distills a complex decision into a deceptively simple action. The electorate faces a messy tangle of parties, leaders, and issues. How is it possible for voters to unravel it all? How do they perceive the political landscape? How, in short, do voters choose? Not only is voting a complex choice, but voters themselves also vary widely in their degree of interest, and involvement in politics. This book provides a new understanding of how voting works by focusing on how choices are made given the cognitive limitations of the human mind and the environment in which decision making takes place. Drawing on recent advances in the study of cognitive psychology, decision making, and political cognition, this book provides a careful empirical examination of the strategies voters actually use to manage the complexity of political choice. Expressly rejecting the prevailing one-size-fits-all, “what a rational voter should do” approach, it distinguishes voters based on the cognitive shortcuts, or heuristics, they use to simplify the decision-making process. Drawing on survey data from the 1990s Italian national general elections, the book identifies four types of voters, classified by how they perceive and organize the political debate—from those who capably rely on nuanced ideological categories to those who, skeptical about all-things-political, prove easy prey for television broadcasters. The typology allows us to grasp the actual differences in political sophistication among citizens and to understand which factors are most important to different types of voters. The book helps us make sense of the various ways in which citizens themselves make sense of—and make “simple”—the complex world of politics.Less
Voting distills a complex decision into a deceptively simple action. The electorate faces a messy tangle of parties, leaders, and issues. How is it possible for voters to unravel it all? How do they perceive the political landscape? How, in short, do voters choose? Not only is voting a complex choice, but voters themselves also vary widely in their degree of interest, and involvement in politics. This book provides a new understanding of how voting works by focusing on how choices are made given the cognitive limitations of the human mind and the environment in which decision making takes place. Drawing on recent advances in the study of cognitive psychology, decision making, and political cognition, this book provides a careful empirical examination of the strategies voters actually use to manage the complexity of political choice. Expressly rejecting the prevailing one-size-fits-all, “what a rational voter should do” approach, it distinguishes voters based on the cognitive shortcuts, or heuristics, they use to simplify the decision-making process. Drawing on survey data from the 1990s Italian national general elections, the book identifies four types of voters, classified by how they perceive and organize the political debate—from those who capably rely on nuanced ideological categories to those who, skeptical about all-things-political, prove easy prey for television broadcasters. The typology allows us to grasp the actual differences in political sophistication among citizens and to understand which factors are most important to different types of voters. The book helps us make sense of the various ways in which citizens themselves make sense of—and make “simple”—the complex world of politics.
Michael A. Livingston, Pier Giuseppe Monateri, and Francesco Parisi
Mauro Capelletti, John Henry Meryman, and Joseph M. Perillo (eds)
- Published in print:
- 2015
- Published Online:
- May 2016
- ISBN:
- 9780804774956
- eISBN:
- 9780804796552
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Stanford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.11126/stanford/9780804774956.003.0002
- Subject:
- Law, Comparative Law
This chapter describes the Italian political system, the principal political parties, and the outlines of the judicial system as they existed in the mid- to late 1960s. There is also a brief ...
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This chapter describes the Italian political system, the principal political parties, and the outlines of the judicial system as they existed in the mid- to late 1960s. There is also a brief discussion of the government’s role in the Italian economy.Less
This chapter describes the Italian political system, the principal political parties, and the outlines of the judicial system as they existed in the mid- to late 1960s. There is also a brief discussion of the government’s role in the Italian economy.
Ottorino Cappelli and Rodrigo Praino
- Published in print:
- 2017
- Published Online:
- September 2017
- ISBN:
- 9780252040955
- eISBN:
- 9780252099496
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University of Illinois Press
- DOI:
- 10.5406/illinois/9780252040955.003.0007
- Subject:
- Sociology, Migration Studies (including Refugee Studies)
This work provides an analysis of ethnic politics in the context of Italian American politics by focusing on the political activities and the rise and fall of one group of post–World War II Italian ...
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This work provides an analysis of ethnic politics in the context of Italian American politics by focusing on the political activities and the rise and fall of one group of post–World War II Italian citizens who immigrated to New York City between the 1950s and the 1970s. For a few decades until the 2010s, these people were politically active in local and state politics in the area of the NYS 15th senatorial district, Queens County, and instrumental in the twenty-year career of Italian American New York State Senator Serphin Maltese. We define these individuals dual or binational ethnic-political brokers who utilize resources as Italian American community leaders in order to influence both American politics and Italian politics.Less
This work provides an analysis of ethnic politics in the context of Italian American politics by focusing on the political activities and the rise and fall of one group of post–World War II Italian citizens who immigrated to New York City between the 1950s and the 1970s. For a few decades until the 2010s, these people were politically active in local and state politics in the area of the NYS 15th senatorial district, Queens County, and instrumental in the twenty-year career of Italian American New York State Senator Serphin Maltese. We define these individuals dual or binational ethnic-political brokers who utilize resources as Italian American community leaders in order to influence both American politics and Italian politics.
Peter Robinson
- Published in print:
- 2005
- Published Online:
- September 2007
- ISBN:
- 9780199273256
- eISBN:
- 9780191706370
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199273256.003.0008
- Subject:
- Literature, 20th-century and Contemporary Literature
This chapter forms a consideration of the poetry that the New Zealand poet Allen Curnow wrote about his overseas experience. The poetry occasioned by his various sojourns in England, America, and ...
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This chapter forms a consideration of the poetry that the New Zealand poet Allen Curnow wrote about his overseas experience. The poetry occasioned by his various sojourns in England, America, and Italy is explored, and in particular how an outsider addresses the political realities of places visited. There are discussions of Curnow's poems about the Kennedy era, and about the kidnap and murder of Aldo Moro by the Red Brigades in 1970s Italy. The chapter concludes with a section on ‘mental travelling’ and on long-distance flying.Less
This chapter forms a consideration of the poetry that the New Zealand poet Allen Curnow wrote about his overseas experience. The poetry occasioned by his various sojourns in England, America, and Italy is explored, and in particular how an outsider addresses the political realities of places visited. There are discussions of Curnow's poems about the Kennedy era, and about the kidnap and murder of Aldo Moro by the Red Brigades in 1970s Italy. The chapter concludes with a section on ‘mental travelling’ and on long-distance flying.
Ingrid Metzler
- Published in print:
- 2011
- Published Online:
- August 2013
- ISBN:
- 9780262015950
- eISBN:
- 9780262298667
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- The MIT Press
- DOI:
- 10.7551/mitpress/9780262015950.003.0054
- Subject:
- Biology, Bioethics
This chapter analyzes the politics of human embryonic stem cell (hESC) research in Italy. It demonstrates how political abstinence reinforced the position of a church whose injunctions of sexual ...
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This chapter analyzes the politics of human embryonic stem cell (hESC) research in Italy. It demonstrates how political abstinence reinforced the position of a church whose injunctions of sexual abstinence were seemingly too well heeded in a nation with a famously declining birth rate. It looks closely at Italian Law 40 and its provisions. This law marked the beginning of the Italian politics of hESC research. The chapter shows that Italy’s national soul searching on the pitfalls of stem cell technologies took the form of lessons about human genomes and excursions into human biology. It suggests that hESCs became the symbols of a battle for rights that peaked in an abrogative referendum.Less
This chapter analyzes the politics of human embryonic stem cell (hESC) research in Italy. It demonstrates how political abstinence reinforced the position of a church whose injunctions of sexual abstinence were seemingly too well heeded in a nation with a famously declining birth rate. It looks closely at Italian Law 40 and its provisions. This law marked the beginning of the Italian politics of hESC research. The chapter shows that Italy’s national soul searching on the pitfalls of stem cell technologies took the form of lessons about human genomes and excursions into human biology. It suggests that hESCs became the symbols of a battle for rights that peaked in an abrogative referendum.
M. E. Bratchel
- Published in print:
- 1995
- Published Online:
- October 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780198204848
- eISBN:
- 9780191676420
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198204848.003.0001
- Subject:
- History, European Medieval History
This introductory chapter discusses the Tuscan city-state of Lucca in the 15th century. It sets out the purpose of the book, which is explore through the Lucchese case-study a range of issues which ...
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This introductory chapter discusses the Tuscan city-state of Lucca in the 15th century. It sets out the purpose of the book, which is explore through the Lucchese case-study a range of issues which are central to current Italian Renaissance scholarship. The story is of a highly distinctive political entity striving to find and defend its place in the changing and largely hostile arena of an Italian politics dominated by the ambitions of a dwindling number of larger territorial states.Less
This introductory chapter discusses the Tuscan city-state of Lucca in the 15th century. It sets out the purpose of the book, which is explore through the Lucchese case-study a range of issues which are central to current Italian Renaissance scholarship. The story is of a highly distinctive political entity striving to find and defend its place in the changing and largely hostile arena of an Italian politics dominated by the ambitions of a dwindling number of larger territorial states.
M. E. Bratchel
- Published in print:
- 1995
- Published Online:
- October 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780198204848
- eISBN:
- 9780191676420
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198204848.003.0002
- Subject:
- History, European Medieval History
The true dynamics behind the series of conflict situations that dominated Lucchese political life in the 1430s remain shadowy, as befits the succession of clandestine acts with which this chapter has ...
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The true dynamics behind the series of conflict situations that dominated Lucchese political life in the 1430s remain shadowy, as befits the succession of clandestine acts with which this chapter has been concerned. Whatever the details, there can be no doubt that conflict was generated within the relatively small political oligarchy that directed Lucchese affairs. Quarrels were of an intensely personal nature, centred on individual rivalries, the control of heiresses, and the private abuse of power. These quarrels were made more dangerous by the proximity of Florence, to which aggrieved parties could turn — whether for financial rewards, in pursuit of political ambitions, or in search of a less tangible dream of Lucca's real interests in the jungle of 15th-century Italian politics.Less
The true dynamics behind the series of conflict situations that dominated Lucchese political life in the 1430s remain shadowy, as befits the succession of clandestine acts with which this chapter has been concerned. Whatever the details, there can be no doubt that conflict was generated within the relatively small political oligarchy that directed Lucchese affairs. Quarrels were of an intensely personal nature, centred on individual rivalries, the control of heiresses, and the private abuse of power. These quarrels were made more dangerous by the proximity of Florence, to which aggrieved parties could turn — whether for financial rewards, in pursuit of political ambitions, or in search of a less tangible dream of Lucca's real interests in the jungle of 15th-century Italian politics.
Peter Robinson
- Published in print:
- 2005
- Published Online:
- September 2007
- ISBN:
- 9780199273256
- eISBN:
- 9780191706370
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199273256.003.0009
- Subject:
- Literature, 20th-century and Contemporary Literature
The discussion of poetry about Italian politics is continued in this reading of Charles Tomlinson's poem Up at La Serra. This poem, set in Liguria in 1951, takes as its model a poem by Antonio ...
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The discussion of poetry about Italian politics is continued in this reading of Charles Tomlinson's poem Up at La Serra. This poem, set in Liguria in 1951, takes as its model a poem by Antonio Machado called Poema de un día, which Tomlinson had translated with the assistance of Henry Gifford. The chapter compares and contrasts the treatment of the situated poetic subject in the two poems, and how the Spanish original phrases its sense of a self in a situation differently from the translation.Less
The discussion of poetry about Italian politics is continued in this reading of Charles Tomlinson's poem Up at La Serra. This poem, set in Liguria in 1951, takes as its model a poem by Antonio Machado called Poema de un día, which Tomlinson had translated with the assistance of Henry Gifford. The chapter compares and contrasts the treatment of the situated poetic subject in the two poems, and how the Spanish original phrases its sense of a self in a situation differently from the translation.
Phil Edwards
- Published in print:
- 2009
- Published Online:
- July 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780719078736
- eISBN:
- 9781781702192
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Manchester University Press
- DOI:
- 10.7228/manchester/9780719078736.003.0003
- Subject:
- Political Science, European Union
This chapter traces the ideological development of the Partito Comunista Italiano (PCI) from the Fascist period to the party's assumption of a gatekeeper role in Italian politics in the 1970s. It ...
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This chapter traces the ideological development of the Partito Comunista Italiano (PCI) from the Fascist period to the party's assumption of a gatekeeper role in Italian politics in the 1970s. It explains that the PCI was founded in 1921 and suggests that the party's early identity was thus formed in clandestinity and in exile. This chapter chronicles the development of the Palmiro Togliatti's Italian road to socialism, the repeated confrontations between left and right within the party, and with Enrico Berlinguer's historic compromise programme. It describes how Berlinguer's leadership enabled the party to engage constructively with the first cycle of contention, but made a hostile engagement with the second cycle inevitable.Less
This chapter traces the ideological development of the Partito Comunista Italiano (PCI) from the Fascist period to the party's assumption of a gatekeeper role in Italian politics in the 1970s. It explains that the PCI was founded in 1921 and suggests that the party's early identity was thus formed in clandestinity and in exile. This chapter chronicles the development of the Palmiro Togliatti's Italian road to socialism, the repeated confrontations between left and right within the party, and with Enrico Berlinguer's historic compromise programme. It describes how Berlinguer's leadership enabled the party to engage constructively with the first cycle of contention, but made a hostile engagement with the second cycle inevitable.
Arnold Anthony Schmidt
- Published in print:
- 2018
- Published Online:
- September 2018
- ISBN:
- 9781526100559
- eISBN:
- 9781526132222
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Manchester University Press
- DOI:
- 10.7228/manchester/9781526100559.003.0008
- Subject:
- Literature, 19th-century Literature and Romanticism
This chapter takes an original approach to Byron’s much-discussed engagement with the early Risorgimento by focusing not on biographical aspects, but rather on formal issues. It centres on The Two ...
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This chapter takes an original approach to Byron’s much-discussed engagement with the early Risorgimento by focusing not on biographical aspects, but rather on formal issues. It centres on The Two Foscari in the context of the highly politicised contemporary Italian critical debates about the dramatic unities. In this fashion, it teases out the political implications of Byron’s adherence to the unities by comparing his play to Alessandro Manzoni’s Il conte di Carmagnola, which programmatically violates them. Focusing specifically on the playwrights’ representations of the fifteenth-century mercenary leader, Francesco Bussone da Carmagnola, the chapter explores these writers’ use or abuse of the unity of time, in particular. In doing so, it throws light on, and contrasts, Manzoni’s Risorgimento agenda on the one hand and Byron’s generally sceptical attitude about leadership and uncertainty about social and political change on the other.Less
This chapter takes an original approach to Byron’s much-discussed engagement with the early Risorgimento by focusing not on biographical aspects, but rather on formal issues. It centres on The Two Foscari in the context of the highly politicised contemporary Italian critical debates about the dramatic unities. In this fashion, it teases out the political implications of Byron’s adherence to the unities by comparing his play to Alessandro Manzoni’s Il conte di Carmagnola, which programmatically violates them. Focusing specifically on the playwrights’ representations of the fifteenth-century mercenary leader, Francesco Bussone da Carmagnola, the chapter explores these writers’ use or abuse of the unity of time, in particular. In doing so, it throws light on, and contrasts, Manzoni’s Risorgimento agenda on the one hand and Byron’s generally sceptical attitude about leadership and uncertainty about social and political change on the other.
Vickie B. Sullivan
- Published in print:
- 2020
- Published Online:
- May 2020
- ISBN:
- 9781501747847
- eISBN:
- 9781501747861
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Cornell University Press
- DOI:
- 10.7591/cornell/9781501747847.003.0002
- Subject:
- History, Ancient History / Archaeology
This chapter provides an analysis of The Prince. This analysis indicates that the papacy's characteristic features—its lack of arms and its politically deleterious form of nobility—produce a weakness ...
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This chapter provides an analysis of The Prince. This analysis indicates that the papacy's characteristic features—its lack of arms and its politically deleterious form of nobility—produce a weakness so debilitating to Italian politics as to prevent the founding of a state resilient enough to solve Italy's very evident problems. When this analysis is properly grasped, Cesare Borgia's fate stands not as an example worthy of emulation, but as a warning to anyone who looks to the Church to assume responsibility for Italy's political fate. Niccolò Machiavelli's view of this institution as irremediably troublesome induces him to contemplate the possibility of its violent extirpation. Even if these passages are to be regarded merely as devilish sport on Machiavelli's part, they still retain a chilling character that bespeaks the depth of his hatred of the Church's hierarchy.Less
This chapter provides an analysis of The Prince. This analysis indicates that the papacy's characteristic features—its lack of arms and its politically deleterious form of nobility—produce a weakness so debilitating to Italian politics as to prevent the founding of a state resilient enough to solve Italy's very evident problems. When this analysis is properly grasped, Cesare Borgia's fate stands not as an example worthy of emulation, but as a warning to anyone who looks to the Church to assume responsibility for Italy's political fate. Niccolò Machiavelli's view of this institution as irremediably troublesome induces him to contemplate the possibility of its violent extirpation. Even if these passages are to be regarded merely as devilish sport on Machiavelli's part, they still retain a chilling character that bespeaks the depth of his hatred of the Church's hierarchy.
Alessandro Brogi
- Published in print:
- 2011
- Published Online:
- July 2014
- ISBN:
- 9780807834732
- eISBN:
- 9781469602950
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University of North Carolina Press
- DOI:
- 10.5149/9780807877746_brogi.15
- Subject:
- History, European Modern History
In conclusion, this book argues that Communist strength in France and Italy was a pivotal threat to U.S. interests for most of the Cold War. In itself, it warranted attention and carefully crafted ...
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In conclusion, this book argues that Communist strength in France and Italy was a pivotal threat to U.S. interests for most of the Cold War. In itself, it warranted attention and carefully crafted strategies in Washington. Seen in the context of European anti-Americanism, however, the threat transcended the confines of French and Italian politics. From the point of view of the French and Italian Communists, the challenge of a modernization process largely influenced by the United States also signified a confrontation with the inequities of capitalism. For all their failures, we must keep in mind an important aspect of the French and Italian Communists' political presence throughout the Cold War: in many respects, the two parties, with their staying power, became vehicles of social justice for the lower classes and disadvantaged groups.Less
In conclusion, this book argues that Communist strength in France and Italy was a pivotal threat to U.S. interests for most of the Cold War. In itself, it warranted attention and carefully crafted strategies in Washington. Seen in the context of European anti-Americanism, however, the threat transcended the confines of French and Italian politics. From the point of view of the French and Italian Communists, the challenge of a modernization process largely influenced by the United States also signified a confrontation with the inequities of capitalism. For all their failures, we must keep in mind an important aspect of the French and Italian Communists' political presence throughout the Cold War: in many respects, the two parties, with their staying power, became vehicles of social justice for the lower classes and disadvantaged groups.
- Published in print:
- 2012
- Published Online:
- June 2013
- ISBN:
- 9780804781305
- eISBN:
- 9780804783682
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Stanford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.11126/stanford/9780804781305.003.0005
- Subject:
- History, Cultural History
This chapter focuses on the individuals who sought the reunification of Italy during period of the Risorgimento (resurgence) in the nineteenth century—Giuseppe Mazzini and Giuseppe Garibaldi—and ...
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This chapter focuses on the individuals who sought the reunification of Italy during period of the Risorgimento (resurgence) in the nineteenth century—Giuseppe Mazzini and Giuseppe Garibaldi—and describes their struggle for nationhood and the legacy they left that influenced Italian politics. It also examines the role that the Roman Catholic Church played in the reunification of the Italian peninsula.Less
This chapter focuses on the individuals who sought the reunification of Italy during period of the Risorgimento (resurgence) in the nineteenth century—Giuseppe Mazzini and Giuseppe Garibaldi—and describes their struggle for nationhood and the legacy they left that influenced Italian politics. It also examines the role that the Roman Catholic Church played in the reunification of the Italian peninsula.