НАЦИОНАЛЬНАЯ ИДЕНТИЧНОСТЬ И СОВРЕМЕННЫЕ ПОЛИТИЧЕСКИЕ ПРОЦЕССЫ В ИТАЛИИ

Over the past 150 years, the country has experienced periods of cohesion and fragmentation shaped by wars, crises, and ideological conflicts. After the Second World War, national sentiment weakened, giving way to regionalism and local identities. [3] Contemporary Italy continues to perceive its identity as incomplete: a cultural "we" exists, but political and civic solidarity remains weak. However, under the pressures of globalization and migration, a new redefinition of "us" and "them" has emerged. The traditional internal divide between North and South is increasingly replaced by a symbolic boundary between Italians and migrants, particularly those arriving from African and Muslim-majority countries. In the public imagination, these groups become the primary "other," and, importantly, the primary actors blamed for social tensions, against whom modern notions of "Italian-ness" are constructed. [5] This shift is also reflected in politics. The party Lega per Salvini Premier, originally a northern regionalist movement, has transformed into a national force. Salvini replaced the slogan "Prima il Nord!" with "Prima gli Italiani!", advancing a new form of ethnic-national unity. [4] Yet a closer look reveals that Salvini continues to operate within an ethno-cultural framework. It is telling that he distanced himself from the very idea of northern regionalism in order to remake the League into a party of national scope.