Hostname: page-component-84b7d79bbc-2l2gl Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-07-27T20:19:03.590Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

‘Locally unwanted land use’ movements: the role of left-wing parties and groups in trans-territorial conflicts in Italy

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  05 February 2016

Gianni Piazza
Gianni Piazza*
Affiliation:
Faculty of Political Sciences, University of Catania
*
∗ Email: giannipiazza@tiscali.it
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

In recent years in Italy there have been numerous conflicts related to locally unwanted land use (‘Lulu’). Some have taken on a political dimension that goes beyond the local, becoming ‘trans-territorial’, as they link with similar conflicts elsewhere. This article analyses the role of various left-wing parties and groups (moderate, radical, antagonist) in these conflicts, examining four specific Lulu movements: those against the high-speed rail line (TAV) in Val di Susa; those against the bridge over the Strait of Messina; those against the extension of the US military base in Vicenza (Dal Molin); and those against the construction of a refuse site in the district of Chiaiano (Naples). Analysis of these cases shows that independent variables related to the well-established ‘political opportunity structure’ (POS) model do not fully explain the role played by the various organisations of the left. Other factors ultimately have greater explanatory power: the policy-making that triggers Lulu conflicts, from which emerge both a new centre/periphery political cleavage (national majoritarian democracy vs. local participatory democracy) and a new economic cleavage (growth/economic development vs. alternative models of development); policies and cleavages in their turn determine the splits between leftist parties nationally and locally and, ultimately, shifts in the Italian party system.

Keywords

left-wing partylocal conflictmobilisationsocial movementpolicy-making
Type
Research Article
Information
Modern Italy , Volume 16 , Issue 3 , August 2011 , pp. 329 - 344
Copyright
Copyright © Association for the study of Modern Italy 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Della Porta, D. and Diani, M.. 2006. Social movements. An introduction. 2nd ed. Oxford: Blackwell.Google Scholar
Della Porta, D. and Piazza, G.. 2008a. Le ragioni del no. Le campagne contro la Tav in Val di Susa e il Ponte sullo Stretto. Milan: Feltrinelli.Google Scholar
Della Porta, D. and Piazza, G.. 2008b. Voices of the valley, voices of the straits: How protest creates communities. Oxford/New York: Berghahn Books.Google Scholar
Della Porta, D. and Rucht, R.. 1995. Left-libertarian movements in context: Comparing Italy and West Germany, 1965–1990. In The politics of social protest: Comparative perspectives on states and social movements, ed. Jenkins, C.J. and Klandermans, B., 299–372. Minneapolis–London: University of Minnesota Press/UCL Press.Google Scholar
Eisinger, P.K. 1973. The conditions of protest behavior in American cities. American Political Science Review, no. 67: 11–28.Google Scholar
Goodwin, J. and Jasper, J.M., eds. 2004. Rethinking social movements: Structure, meaning and emotion. Oxford: Rowman & Littlefield.Google Scholar
Kriesi, H. 1989. The political opportunity structure of the Dutch peace movement. West European Politics, no. 12: 295–312.Google Scholar
Kriesi, H. 1991. The political opportunity structure of new social movements, Discussion Paper, FS III, Wissenschaftszentrum, Berlin, 91–103.Google Scholar
Kriesi, H., Koopmans, R., Duyvendak, J.W., and Giugni, M.. 1995. New social movements in Western Europe. Minneapolis–London: University of Minnesota Press/UCL Press.Google Scholar
Latouche, S. 2008. Breve trattato sulla decrescita serena. Turin: Bollati Boringhieri.Google Scholar
Lowi, T.J. 1972. Four systems of policy, politics and choice. Public Administration Review, no. 4: 298–310.Google Scholar
McMichael, P., ed. 2010. Contesting development: Critical struggles for social change. New York: Routledge.Google Scholar
Piazza, G. 2011. Beyond the territory: Local mobilizations in Northern Italy against the HSRL in Val di Susa and the US base in Vicenza. In Contemporary centrifugal regionalism: Comparing Flanders and Northern Italy, ed. Huysseune, M., 253–67. Brussels: Royal Flemish Academy of Belgium, forthcoming.Google Scholar
Rokkan, S. and Urwin, D.W.. 1983. Economy, territory, identity: Politics of Western Europe periphery. London: Sage.Google Scholar
Sartori, G. 1970. The typology of party systems: Proposal for improvement. In Mass politics, ed. Allardt, E. and Rokkan, S., 322–52. New York: Free Press.Google Scholar
Tarrow, S. 1994. Power in movement. Social movements, collective action and politics. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar