Italian National Identity since the Risorgimento: A Discursive and Historiographical Analysis

Abstract

Abstract This dissertation analyzes the development of national consciousness in Italy since unification. Specifically, it aims to use the methods of content and discursive analysis and the methods of historiography to analyze the writings, speeches, articles, letters, and books written by some of the prominent figures in modern Italian political, intellectual, and cultural history. By analyzing the writings of such figures as Mazzini, Garibaldi, Giolitti, Gentile, and Mussolini, the dissertation will demonstrate whether and to what extent a national consciousness exists in the Italy of today as a result of the “historical process” beginning immediately preceding the Risorgimento. Finally, the dissertation demonstrates whether this sense of national identity, to the degree that it exists, no matter how tenuously, now coexists with the various regional consciousnesses that have historically been deeply entrenched in Italy. Moreover, it also seeks to tease out the interplay and the relationship between modern Italian national consciousness and the conception of a modern sense of a European identity that has been promoted and developed by the European Union. The existence of this relationship and the strength of its influence in Italy, and how it in turn redounds on modern Italian political and cultural life, will be examined with an eye to the breakdown of post-1945 models of Italian political development, the rise of the far right, and how this national consciousness compares to an emerging European identity.

Disciplines

European History | International Relations | Political Science

Subject Area

Political science; European history; International relations

Department

International Relations (INR)

First Advisor

Giannakos, Symeon

Second Advisor

Schattle, Hans

Third Advisor

Cerchia, Giovanni

Date of Award

2025

Document Type

Dissertation

Degree Name

Ph.D.

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