On the Edge of Democracy
This book links the emergence of democracy in Italy after World War II to human experiences and the symbolic formation of meaning in a time of political and existential uncertainty. Between 1943 and 1948 Italians experienced the most intense period of the war, with its hardship and violence, and the most intense period of social, economic, and political reconstruction, with its hopes and vitality. Unlike conventional accounts that focus on institutions, ideologies, and political norms, On the Edge of Democracy examines the aspirations, expectations, and hopes of real people in real time—the social dramas the individuals engaged with. Adopting an anthropological approach, it sees the process of democratization in Italy as analogous to a ritual passage, in which social order was suspended and then reasserted following a liminal time during which ideas and beliefs were reformulated and new meanings, symbols, and identities emerged. The period of civil war 1943–5, especially, was a time of brutality and dramatic violence as well as a critical juncture of creative existential pluralism. The events during the period following the collapse of Fascism and the disintegration of national unity created a new popular consciousness and changed the relationships among individuals, and between individual and political power. Existential crisis and lived experiences during this period of uncertainty generated new meanings, interpretations, and hopes that shaped post-Fascist democracy. Democracy in Italy was the consequence of ordinary’s people reactions to, and symbolization of, the circumstances which they went through in those extraordinary times.