| Abstrakt: |
This article argues that in Italy, at the end of the nineteenth century, monarchy played a strong role in the process of politicization. As the first institution of the nation, the monarchy, though theoretically super partes, was able not only to gather the political forces of the elite, but also of populations which as yet had no vote at the national level. These liberal-monarchical organizations were not classical political parties, but a network of associations acting in the political field as well as in charity, education, leisure and participation in national festivities. This rather informal way of ‘making politics’ must be taken into account in order to understand better the peculiar track followed by Italy at the end of the nineteenth century, and more generally, politicization before the era of mass parties. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER] |
