3. Foundational Economy Lunch Time Series
27th of May from 1 to 2 pm CET
https://tuwien.zoom.us/j/4961640652?pwd=17DFpdWDSeHK5J41fqnIydu1IQVj7W.1
Meeting-ID: 496 164 0652
Passwort: ez5wnPgV
"No longer Tre Italie: The unhappy middle and the geography discontent in Italy"
Anti-system voting in Italy has undergone an extraordinary spatial realignment over the past two decades. Once defined by the familiar North–South and “Red Belt” cleavages, Italy’s political geography now reveals a new three-way divide: (a) dynamic metropolitan centres that remain bastions of the mainstream; (b) once-prosperous intermediate territories —an Italia di Mezzo of industrial districts and provincial towns— that have slipped into structural malaise; and (c) inner rural and peripheral areas (Italia Interna) facing chronic decline. Drawing on five general elections from 2006 to 2022, we examine the drivers and spatial patterns of Italy’s surging anti-system vote. We argue that discontent in the intermediate and inner peripheries has become structural, deeply rooted in long-term economic stagnation, demographic decline, institutional weaknesses, and infrastructural neglect. By contrast, it remains more cyclical in a few metropolitan centres, flaring during crises but receding in normal times. In this respect Italy has become a laboratory for territorial political revolt, with its anti-system wave becoming less a fleeting protest than a structural mutiny of “places that don’t matter” or a demand from increasingly forgotten communities to belong to the nation’s future again.
Filippo Barbera, Uni of Turin, Economic Sociolocy
"Traces of energy democracy in Austria (as part of the foundational economy)"
Lina Hille, University of Vienna, International Development
Organised by Karel Williams, Uni of Manchester, Leonhard Plank, Technical University Vienna and Stefanie Gülly, Competence Center for Infrastructure Economics, Public Services and Social Provisioning.
For further questions about the Lunch Time Meeting series don't hesitate to contact Stefanie (stefanie.guelly@alltagsoekonomie.at).
