Mussolini’s Long Shadow: The Italian Elections, Giorgia Meloni, and the Legacies of Fascism

On Sunday, September 25th, Italy held a snap election following the resignation of prime minister Mario Draghi and the dissolution of the Italian Parliament. The election resulted in a parliamentary majority a right-wing coalition led by Fratelli d’Italia (or Brothers of Italy), a far-right party with roots in postwar Italian neofascist movements. The party and its leader, new Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, espouse social conservatism, nationalism, populism, opposition to immigration, and Euroscepticism. Meloni’s election holds significant policy implications not only for domestic Italian society, but also for Italy’s relationship with the European Union and the wider world. Noelle Turtur, the Eugen and Jacqueline Weber Postdoctoral Scholar in European History at UCLA, joins Ben Zdencanovic on Then & Now to discuss the historical roots Italian fascism, the legacies of fascism in Italian politics, and what Meloni’s election might mean for Italy and the international system.