"Italianization of Europe"

 

The The New York Times describes the "Italianization of Europe" as a political shift where the rest of the continent increasingly mirrors Italy's long-standing institutional instability and the movement of the far right into the mainstream political landscape.

Core Elements of Italianization

• Far-Right Normalization: Parties with post-fascist or hard-right origins (such as Brothers of Italy under Giorgia Meloni) have broken postwar taboos, entered government coalitions, and moved from the political fringes into the center of power.
• Political Fragmentation & Instability: Governance increasingly relies on fragile, shifting coalitions of smaller parties, leading to frequent cabinet turnovers and public frustration with traditional institutions.
• The Berlusconi Mold: Analysts trace this template back to Silvio Berlusconi in the 1990s, who first brought the far right into government to form winning coalitions and upend the traditional party establishment.
• Contagion Across Major Powers: Similar political realignments, coalition strategies, and rising nationalist or anti-establishment parties have taken root in countries like France, Germany, Britain, and Spain.
• Hardened Migration Policies: Tough stances on borders and immigration championed by Italian leaders have shifted from fringe ideas to standard practice across European Union policy debates, as discussed on The Internationalism.