Italian Neofascism : The Strategy of Tension and the Politics of Nonreconciliation

During the Cold War Italy witnessed the existence of an anomalous version of a civil conflict, defined as a 'creeping' or a 'low-intensity' civil war. Political violence escalated, including bomb attacks against civilians, starting with a massacre in Milan, on 12 December 1969, and culminating with the massacre in Bologna, on 2 August 1980. Making use of the literature on national reconciliation and narrative psychology theory, this book examines the fight over the 'judicial' and the 'historical' truth in Italy today, through a contrasting analysis of judicial findings and the 'narratives of victimhood' prevalent among representatives of both the post- and the neo-fascist right. Contents List of Abbreviations Preface Acknowledgements CHAPTER 1 Introduction Part I Villains? The Judicial Truth Introduction to Part I CHAPTER 2 The Role of Italian Neofascism in Stragismo and the Strategy of Tension CHAPTER 3 The Role of the Armed Forces and Intelligence Structures CHAPTER 4 Interpretations of the Strategy of Tension in Accordance with Judicial Findings Conclusion to Part I Part II Victims? The Truth According to the Neo- and Postfascist Right Introduction to Part II CHAPTER 5 Narratives of Victimhood: The Right’s Reconstructions and Interpretations of Stragismo CHAPTER 6 The Self-narratives of Extreme-right Protagonists of the Political Conflict Conclusion to Part II CHAPTER 7 Conclusion Bibliography Index "During the Cold War Italy witnessed the existence of an anomalous version of a civil conflict, defined as a 'creeping' or a 'low-intensity' civil war. This was due both to the ideological hatred which pervaded political activists both on the right and on the left and to the deliberate exacerbation of these divisions on the part of occult strategists. This book examines the fight over the "judicial" and the "historical" truth it Italy today, through a contrasting analysis of judicial findings and the 'narratives of victimhood' prevalent among representatives of both the post- and the neo-fascist right."--Book jacket