Historical Anti-Fascism and Right-Wing Voting in Italy

42 Pages Posted: 31 May 2023

See all articles by Laura Panza

Laura Panza

University of Melbourne

Marco Lecci

Monash University

Eik Swee

University of Melbourne

Giulio Zanella

University of Bologna

Abstract

We study how anti-fascism during Mussolini's dictatorship in Italy affects support for right-wing parties at 1948-2022 democratic elections. Using newly-digitized historical data, we construct a measure of anti-fascism from the universe of recorded regime opponents, and we resolve simultaneity between supply of opposition and demand for repression by leveraging the random assignment of regime's Tribunale speciale judges. We find that stronger opposition worth one additional standard deviation (5.7 opponents per 10,000 adults) in a province weakens the support for the post-fascist party and for conservative right-wing parties not directly tied to the Partito Nazionale Fascista by up to 48%, with weaker effects during more recent decades. No effects are detected for the right-wing party that embraces a populist platform.

Keywords: anti-fascism, right-wing parties, political preferences, voting behavior

Suggested Citation

Panza, Laura and Lecci, Marco and Swee, Eik and Zanella, Giulio, Historical Anti-Fascism and Right-Wing Voting in Italy. Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=4465117 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.4465117

Laura Panza

University of Melbourne ( email )

Marco Lecci

Monash University ( email )

23 Innovation Walk
Wellington Road
Clayton, 3800
Australia

Eik Swee

University of Melbourne ( email )

111 Barry Street
Melbourne, Victoria 3010
Australia

HOME PAGE: http://www.eikswee.com/

Giulio Zanella (Contact Author)

University of Bologna ( email )

Piazza Scaravilli 2
Bologna, 40100
Italy

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