LEGA NORD

A regionalist populist party

Daniela Gudima
University of Lower SIlesia

Table of contents:
A brief history
The Political context of Italy and The North-South Divide
Ideology and Populist Rhetoric
Padania
Eurosceptisism
Immigration
Proeminent figures
Bibliography

A brief history:

1991
Official
foundin
g of the
party

1992

1994

1996

Padania
First
First
general
alliance or the
secessi
election
with
Berlusc on of N
Italy
oni

2001

2008

2015

Largest
House Fourth
of
Berlusconi party in
Freedo GovernmentVeneto
ms
and
Lombardy

The political context of Italy:

Between May 1991 and May 1993, Italy underwent a
profound political crisis. In some accounts, as many as
5,000 public figures fell under suspicion. At one point,
more than half of the members of the Italian Parliament
were under indictment. More than 400 city and town
councils were dissolved because of corruption charges.
The estimated value of bribes paid annually in the 1980s
by Italian and foreign companies bidding for large
government contracts reached 4 billion dollars.

North-South Divide:
Since the unification of
Italy in 1861, a wide and
increasing economic
divide has been
noticeably growing
between the northern
provinces and the
southern half of the
Italian state.

Ideology:

Political
Federalis
m

Fiscal
Federalis
m

Regionali
sm

Deffense
of
northern
Italian
tradition
s

The historical goal of the

party is to transform Italy
into a federal state, letting
Padania keep more tax
revenues collected there
under a regime of fiscal
federalism. Thus, through
Lega Nord, federalism has
become a major issue in the
country.

Four important themes in the discours of the party:

Endangerment of small businesses and
manufacturing industry in northern Italy;
South-North divide;
The corrupt Italian political elite;
Mass immigration from Maghreb;

Lega Nords
electoral
performance
(1987-2010) (%
of vote)

Marco Tarchi argues, the Lega can

change its political alliances and
enemies, condemn those whom it had
previously praised and vice versa, but
fortiwhat it can not allow itself to do is to
abandon the style, mentality, jargon and
rhetorical registers of populism

Populist rhetoric:
Us vs. The elite- Poteri

The Lega and Bossi stand alone with the people against its
many enemies. As Bossi says in his autobiography: I feel that
there is good where the people is. Evil nests in the corridors of
power.
Localism
Regionalism

Padania
Forza Italia:
Descentralization of government
functions, federal reorganization of the
state and war on red tape.

Lega Nord:
Outright seccesionism of northern Italy
under the name of Padania.

Euroscepticism:
Strong Identification with Europe

The geopolitical view of Padania as

a European and hence modern and
entrepreneurial region.
Favours a Europe of the Regions
LG members of the EP are part of
the EFD (Europe of Freedom and
Democracy) a right-wing
eurosceptical political group and of
the ENF(Europe of Nations and
Freedom) led by the Front National.

Hostile attitude towards the

institutions of the EU

Contradicting influences :
1. the neo-liberal vision of a freetrade based Europe with
minimal rules and regulations;
2. a protectionist defence of
northern Italian economic
interests.
.Rejection of the centralism and
dirigism of the European Union.

Immigration:
Selective Exlusion certain groups cannot be
integrated into society and therefore represent a
fundamental threat to the values, way of life and
cultural integrity of the indigenous people (Betz
and Johnson, 2004, p. 318).
Strongly against intense migration streams from
Maghreb;
Welfare chauvinism

Proeminent figures:

Matteo Salvini

Umberto Bossi

Roberto Maroni

Federal Secretary

Federal President

Former Federal
Secretary

Electorate:
People with
higher than
average levels
of economic
development;

High
percentage of
the independent
middle class;

Low levels of
immigration;

A higher than
average
concentration of
the population
in small towns
and villages.

Bibliography:
The Lega Nord and the Politics of Secession in Italy, Bull, A.,Gilbert, M.
A Weekend in Padania: Regionalist Populism and the Lega Nord, Duncan
McDonnell, Politics: 2006 VOL 26(2), 126132
A Eurosceptic vision in a europhile country: The case of the Lega Nord, Michel
Huysseune, Modern Italy, Volume 15, Issue 1, 2010
The Northern League in the Red Belt of Italy , Giovanni Barbieri, Bulletin of
Italian Politics Vol. 4, No. 2, 2012, 277-294
http://
www.theguardian.com/world/2012/jan/26/italy-northern-league-european-project
http://blogs.lse.ac.uk/europpblog/