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Papers by Stefano Cavazza

Viella, 2018

I saggi qui raccolti, scritti da studiosi che a vario titolo possono considerarsi allievi di Pomb... more I saggi qui raccolti, scritti da studiosi che a vario titolo possono considerarsi allievi di Pombeni, affrontano da diverse angolature il tema del \uabpolitico\ubb e dello \uabstare insieme\ubb di una comunit\ue0. Le loro analisi spaziano in una pluralit\ue0 di ambiti, periodi e paesi \u2013 dai fascismi alla Francia di Pompidou, dall\u2019Inghilterra di fine Ottocento all\u2019Italia repubblicana fino a una riflessione complessiva sul XX secolo \u2013 ma sono accomunate da un approccio comune allo studio della storia politica. Un approccio, centrale nell\u2019insegnamento di Paolo Pombeni, che consiste nel far dialogare la storia politica con le scienze sociali, nel valorizzare la dimensione transnazionale dei fenomeni, nel privilegiare la prospettiva comparata di analisi. Pur distanti, quindi, nei contenuti, i saggi raccolti offrono un interessante spaccato dei grandi problemi che hanno caratterizzato l\u2019et\ue0 contemporanea fino ai nostri giorni: il ruolo della comunicazione nelle dinamiche della vita politica, il rapporto tra leader e masse, il grado di legittimazione delle istituzioni, la crisi del modello socio-economico e politico dell\u2019Occidente

Il Mulino eBooks, 2017

Il saggio ricostruisce le forme di analisi della comunicazione nel settore storia contemporanea a... more Il saggio ricostruisce le forme di analisi della comunicazione nel settore storia contemporanea analizzando il passaggio da un'analisi della comunicazione intesa come manipolazione dell'opinione pubblica ad una concezione della comunicazione come forma di espressione del linguaggio politico. In questo il saggio si interroga sul ruolo che lo studio della comunicazione politica debba avere nella storia contemporane

Recensione ad un volume dedicato a pratiche rituali radicate nella cultura popolar

Memoria e Ricerca, 2021

After a brief reconstruction of the main stages of video game’s development and the links with mi... more After a brief reconstruction of the main stages of video game’s development and the links with military research and strategic simulations, the article analyzes the use of video games as a form of propaganda and questions, within the epistemological reflection on history, the relationship between gaming and communication and violence and explores the possible use of video games both in history teaching and public history. Finally, the essay examines the role that a historical environment plays in the construction and reception of video games and in which way historical video games affect our perception pf the past.

Lares, 2021

The essay analyses Paolo Toschi’s intellectual and professional career during fascism. Like many ... more The essay analyses Paolo Toschi’s intellectual and professional career during fascism. Like many others of his generation, Toschi found himself sympathising with fascism in the wake of the First World War experience and in the name of defending traditional values. However, Toschi was always more attracted to art and culture than to active political engagement. Like other intellectuals of his generation, he also suffered from the difficulty of a satisfactory professional placement, which he tried to compensate for by collaborating with newspapers and magazines and by using the relationships derived from his inclusion in Fascist cultural institutions.

Ricerche di storia politica, 2022

[open acces on publisher website] The essay examines whether and how far Italian historiography h... more [open acces on publisher website] The essay examines whether and how far Italian historiography has contributed to the view of fascism as a global phenomenon, and reflects on its relationship with various other approaches. In particular, it highlights the differences among Italian, German, French and Anglophone historians studying fascism. On this basis, the author argues that Italian scholars divide between those who prefer to dialogue with German or French historiography and those who propend for the English-speaking school.

Franz Steiner Verlag eBooks, 2018

Gibt es noch "Massenparteien"? Die jungsten Wahlergebnisse in Deutschland und Italien lassen dara... more Gibt es noch "Massenparteien"? Die jungsten Wahlergebnisse in Deutschland und Italien lassen daran zweifeln, ob der fur viele Dekaden des 20. Jahrhunderts pragende Parteitypus heute noch Strahlkraft entfaltet. Angesichts dessen widmen sich die Beitrage dieses Bandes der Entstehung, der Entwicklung und dem Wirken von Massenparteien in Deutschland und Italien. Mit Blick auf das 19., vor allem aber auf das 20. Jahrhundert analysieren sie die bedeutendsten konservativen, liberalen, sozialdemokratischen, sozialistischen und kommunistischen Varianten in der Demokratie, aber – am Beispiel der Partito Nationale Fascista und der NSDAP – auch in Diktaturen. Klassisch parteigeschichtlich fragen die Autorinnen und Autoren nach Organisations- und Finanzierungsformen. In kulturhistorischer Perspektive untersuchen sie, wie die Massenparteien das Konzept einer lebenslangen Mitgliedschaft "von der Wiege bis zur Bahre"; zu realisieren versuchten. Thematisiert wird daruber hinaus, welche moglichen Trends fur eine Neukonzeptionalisierung der Politik sich aus den historischen Befunden ableiten lassen.

Viella eBooks, 2016

The article analyses the role played by consumption under fascism, exploring particularly how war... more The article analyses the role played by consumption under fascism, exploring particularly how war has affected the development of consumption in fascist Italy

Environmental issues have gained considerable political relevance nowadays: they influence both t... more Environmental issues have gained considerable political relevance nowadays: they influence both the political agenda and the economic strategies of the States. The relationship between politics and the environment, therefore, deserves to be investigated from a historical perspective. This introductory essay considers the possible convergence between environmental history and political history, paying particular attention, from a historical standpoint, to the emergence of environmental sensitivities in the political sphere.

, In Destini incrociati? Italia e Germania tra Otto e Novecento, a cura di F. Triola, (SCHRIFTEN DES ITALIENZENTRUMS DER FREIEN UNIVERSITÄT BERLIN), Berlin, Freie Universität. 2020. pp.22-42., 2020

[Open access article ( download at the link)] The essay analyzes the applicability of the notion ... more [Open access article ( download at the link)]
The essay analyzes the applicability of the notion of charismatic leader to Italian fascism through a reconstruction of the role played by Mussolini in the Italian regime and a comparison with the characteristics of HItler's leadership. To this end, in particular, the essay analyzes the routinization of charisma carried out by the regime's apparatus. In summary, the essay argues that Fascism presents a charismatic dimension that can be identified in the charismatic function of personality, in the charismatic link between leader and followers and citizens and in the realization of the promise of salvation. At the same time the failure of this promise manifested with the war showed the limits of charisma by configuring Mussolini in Weberian terms as a false prophet.

Totalitarismus und Demokratie, 2012

The article analyses the relationship between populism and fascism. The author argues that fascis... more The article analyses the relationship between populism and fascism. The author argues that fascism cannot be considered a populist ideology or a populist movement. Nevertheless, populist elements can be found in the fascist political discourse. The article analyses four points in fascist ideology and propaganda, comparing them with populist features : the appeal to the people as a form of legitimation, rural ideology, resentment against the bourgeoisie in the late thirties and the way Mussolini’s image was represented. The article demonstrates that populist elements played an important role at the beginning, advertising the movement among the people. After the fascists seized power, populism still featured in regime propaganda, but in a more manipulative role. "

in Diversities. Theories and Practices. Festschrift für Reinhard Johler, a cura di Jan Hinrichsen, Jan Lange, Raphael Reichel, (Untersuchungen des Ludwig-Uhland Institut für empirische Kulturwissenschaft vol. 123), Tübingen, Tübinger Vereinigung für Volkskunde 2020, pp. 111-127, 2020

After discussing the concept of stereotype, the essay analyzes the construction of identitarian s... more After discussing the concept of stereotype, the essay analyzes the construction of identitarian stereotypes in Italian history and their political use from the unification of Italy until nowadays

Rievocare il passato : memoria culturale e identità territoriali, ed. by F. Dei and C. Di Pasquale, Pisa, Pisa University Press, 2017

The article analyzes the category of invention of tradition in history and anthropology and some... more The article analyzes the category of invention of tradition in history and anthropology and some uses of history in the present times

Memoria e Ricerca, 2021

In: Eric Storm – Joost Augusteijn (eds.), Region and State in Nineteenth-Century Europe. Nation-Building, Regional Identities and Separatism , Palgrave,, pp. 69-89., 2012

Ricerche di storia Politica, 2017

This article analyses the relationship between history and the social sciences. Historians and so... more This article analyses the relationship between history and the social sciences. Historians and social scientists were long regarded as separate or even opposite in their methodological and analytical approaches. The opening of the historians' ranks towards the social sciences became strongly apparent between the two world wars when the group of historians associated with the journal «Les Annales» set out to replace the «traditionally oriented narrative of events» by a «problem-oriented analytical his-tory». The 1980s were also the time when the «linguistic turn» spread to the historical studies, paving the way for cooperation with other subjects, but also complicating relations with some sectors of the social sciences. Social and political phenomena have a historical dimension which needs to be reckoned with. Collaboration presupposes recognising the respective scientific premises, and not falling into methodological monism.

Viella, 2018

Il Mulino eBooks, 2017

Recensione ad un volume dedicato a pratiche rituali radicate nella cultura popolar

Memoria e Ricerca, 2021

Lares, 2021

Ricerche di storia politica, 2022

Franz Steiner Verlag eBooks, 2018

Viella eBooks, 2016

, In Destini incrociati? Italia e Germania tra Otto e Novecento, a cura di F. Triola, (SCHRIFTEN DES ITALIENZENTRUMS DER FREIEN UNIVERSITÄT BERLIN), Berlin, Freie Universität. 2020. pp.22-42., 2020

Totalitarismus und Demokratie, 2012

Rievocare il passato : memoria culturale e identità territoriali, ed. by F. Dei and C. Di Pasquale, Pisa, Pisa University Press, 2017

Memoria e Ricerca, 2021

In: Eric Storm – Joost Augusteijn (eds.), Region and State in Nineteenth-Century Europe. Nation-Building, Regional Identities and Separatism , Palgrave,, pp. 69-89., 2012

Ricerche di storia Politica, 2017

The book traces the evolution of the concepts of nation and nationalism in Italy and Germany from... more The book traces the evolution of the concepts of nation and nationalism in Italy and Germany from the cultural foundation of the two nations to neo-nationalism. To this end, it examines the use of folklore for identity purposes, which was an important component of nation-building processes. Starting with the founding of the two nations, the book traces the combination of nation-folklore over two centuries, passing through the rise of mass society and the advent of fascist dictatorships to modern neo-nationalism. Through dialogue with different disciplinary perspectives, the research confirms that nationalism is a ductile ideology capable of adapting to different political contexts and that nation and nation-state have maintained vitality to the present day. (language: Italian)

Il volume intende analizzare i caratteri peculiari dell'et\ue0 contemporanea attraverso alcun... more Il volume intende analizzare i caratteri peculiari dell'et\ue0 contemporanea attraverso alcuni saggi tematici e le principali cesure cronologiche dell'et\ue0 contemporanea. Con un'ottica comparativa il volume prende in esame l'arco cronologico che va dalle grandi rivoluzioni a cavallo tra sette e ottocento per arrivare fino all'11 settembre 2001

Gibt es noch "Massenparteien"? Die jüngsten Wahlergebnisse in Deutschland und Italien lassen dara... more Gibt es noch "Massenparteien"? Die jüngsten Wahlergebnisse in Deutschland und Italien lassen daran zweifeln, ob der für viele Dekaden des 20. Jahrhunderts prägende Parteitypus heute noch Strahlkraft entfaltet. Angesichts dessen widmen sich die Beiträge dieses Bandes der Entstehung, der Entwicklung und dem Wirken von Massenparteien in Deutschland und Italien. Mit Blick auf das 19., vor allem aber auf das 20. Jahrhundert analysieren sie die bedeutendsten konservativen, liberalen, sozialdemokratischen, sozialistischen und kommunistischen Varianten in der Demokratie, aber – am Beispiel der Partito Nationale Fascista und der NSDAP – auch in Diktaturen.

Klassisch parteigeschichtlich fragen die Autorinnen und Autoren nach Organisations- und Finanzierungsformen. In kulturhistorischer Perspektive untersuchen sie, wie die Massenparteien das Konzept einer lebenslangen Mitgliedschaft "von der Wiege bis zur Bahre" zu realisieren versuchten. Thematisiert wird darüber hinaus, welche möglichen Trends für eine Neukonzeptionalisierung der Politik sich aus den historischen Befunden ableiten lassen.

The book analyses the development of consumption in Italian Contemporary History. Based on recen... more The book analyses the development of consumption in Italian Contemporary History. Based on recent researches on this field and collecting contributions from many scholars, the book offers a updated and complete survey of the state of the art.

Negli ultimi anni nel dibattito pubblico si è parlato ripetutamente di delegittimazione dell’avve... more Negli ultimi anni nel dibattito pubblico si è parlato ripetutamente di delegittimazione dell’avversario politico e l’attualità del concetto è provata dall’emergere di movimenti politici populisti – di destra come di sinistra – e da movimenti neo-nazionalisti e a volte neo o parafascisti che si rivolgono al sistema politico e alle élite che lo compongono come fossero «nemici».
Il presente volume analizza le modalità della delegittimazione dell’avversario nelle campagne elettorali, nel XIX e XX secolo, in Francia, Germania, Gran Bretagna, Irlanda, Italia e Stati Uniti configurandola come una strategia volta a porre l’avversario al di fuori dei valori fondativi della comunità politica e come un fenomeno ricorrente nelle democrazie contemporanee, ma con esiti diversi sulla stabilità dei sistemi politici.

Ricerche di storia politica, 2018

"Environment, energetic resources and politics in historical perspective", Special issue of the p... more "Environment, energetic resources and politics in historical perspective", Special issue of the peer-review Journal "Ricerche di Storia Politica" edited by Stefano Cavazza: Language: Italian
The contemporary era has seen a phase of economic and technological development without precedent in human history. Such development has shaped our way of life; in generating welfare, it has consolidated postwar democracies. At the same time economic growth has impacted on the environment and produced movements reacting against industrialisation which have interacted with politics in the public sphere. At the turn of the nineteenth century landscape protection movements sprang up in various countries, often connected to anti-modern ideology. After the Second World War environmental awareness began to challenge the development model, giving rise to political movements in the 1980s that secured a place in parliament where they influenced the public debate and political decision-making. Certain of the movements found their way into the government of nations such as Germany. The success of the ecological cause, backed by publication of scientific results, sensitised public opinion on environmental issues in all the developed economies. Protection of the environment became a primary issue on the political agenda, such that political decisions on industrial operations or the creation of infrastructure now require approval by an environmental impact assessment. In the circumstances political history can but take stock of the environment in its legitimating function, and probe the cultural and ideological matrix behind environmentalist thinking and movements. The aim of the special issue is thus to investigate the environment as a political resource and explore its ideological and political dimensions. To this end four scholars will be asked for their pondered opinion on the subject, each from their own disciplinary angle.

Indice
Politica e ambiente in prospettiva storica: riflessioni introduttive
di Stefano Cavazza 3
Natura selvaggia, paesaggio, relitti. Culture nazionali nella tutela della natura internazionale
di Friedemann Schmoll 19
Un bene naturale globale, ossia l’inizio di un’intesa ecologica tra i popoli
di Anna-Katharina Wöbse 35
Energia e democrazia politica. Qualche spunto storico
di Alain Beltran 51

Forum: Storia politica e storia dell’ambiente in Italia
di Marco Armiero, Stefania Barca, Simona Colarizi,
Simone Neri Serneri
(a cura di Stefano Cavazza) 63

In the contemporary age communication has played a central role in political process and therefor... more In the contemporary age communication has played a central role in political process and therefore in historical analysis. The books aims at exploring the historical development of political communication in Italy and Germany and discussing the methodological implication of the increasing role of communication in the political. Italian and German Scholars analyse different case studies from the end of XIX to the begin of the XXI Century.

This monograph is one product of a special «Richerche di Storia Politica» workshop, held in June ... more This monograph is one product of a special «Richerche di Storia Politica» workshop, held in June 2008, whose objective was to analyze Fascism at the grass roots. The study of Fascism at the local level benefits from the latest methods of historical research made possible by techniques of inquiry that bring together oral history, local publications, and archival and bibliographical sources. The short essays included here examine grass-roots Fascism from three standpoints: the different ways of signing up to the regime; the rise of local élites and their relations with the National Fascist Party (Nfp); and the role played by the Party at the local level. Each of these case studies touches upon the controversial issue of people’s consent to the Fascist regime and the extent to which a totalitarian culture was achieved.

S. Cavazza Social Sciences and Politics: An introduction The introduction presents and introduce... more S. Cavazza Social Sciences and Politics: An introduction
The introduction presents and introduces the special issue of the journal that addresses the relationship between social sciences and political cultures. It adopts a historical perspective to examine and evaluate how social sciences actually contributed to the understanding of politics and the different representations of society; it also discusses various descriptions of the social and political process offered by social sciences. Nowadays, with democracies facing a crisis of representation and the prospect of increasing prosperity for all questioned and challenged, it is important to reconstruct and discuss the historical connection between these two dimensions – politics and social sciences – in order to understand how and to what extent social sciences have influenced politics, and for the implications for both politics and social sciences.
M. Ricciardi The rise and Crisis of Societal Constitutionalism. Germany 1840-1900
The essay reconstructs the debate on legitimation in Germany between 1840 and 1900, describing the rise of a peculiar societal constitutionalism which conceives society as the source of an autonomous normativity, complementary rather than opposed to that of the State. Rochau’s critique of the Fourier’s doctrine marks a change in political semantics since it establishes the base for the legitimation of society. Schmoller’s analysis of the relationship between custom and positive law allows their interlacement, since it recognizes the existence of social powers beside that of the State. Both Rochau and Schmoller conceive the Mittlestand as an historical and ideological element demonstrating that social hierarchies are not bound to chance. As shown by the scientific and political critique of the economist Julius Wolf, the crisis of this arrangement paves the way for an individualistic conception of society where the State could not and should not intervene.
R. Baritono, Re-thinking the State: Social Sciences and Political Crisis in the United States between the 19th and the 20th Century
The essay aims at outlining the main features of the discussion on the role of the state in the emerging U.S. social sciences between the 19th and the 20th century. In particular, the essay focuses on the shift from the early analyses on the origins, nature and power of the state to those that emphasized the problem of administration, efficiency and the functions of the American government. The focus on this crucial theoretical and political turning point helps understanding the peculiarity of the American state, which is too often represented as «weak» or absent. On the contrary, the process of centralization and state-building, in the critical decades at the turn of the 20th century, had to face the powerful 19th-century anti-state democratic tradition and come to terms with it.

M. salvati, History and Social Sciences in the Twentieth Century
This article offers a new perspective on the relationship between history and social sciences in the XX century. The cultural and political success of empirical sociology during most of the century is here related to the diffusion of the industrialized and standardized forms of mass production (Fordism and transformation of working conditions), which began in the U.S. and then spread all over continental Europe. The well known influence on American social sciences of German and Austrian émigrés is here examined by focusing on the social democratic wing of this emigration and its important emphasis on the need for sociology in a welfare-oriented society. The growing presence of a mass industry in Italy in the decades following WWII might explain a similar conversion in Italian sociology beginning from the 1950s. Coherently, recent indications of a decreasing relevance of sociology are here related to crisis of Fordism in the 1970s and its effect on the welfare state.

Th. Mergel, The Dream of the Rational Guide. Empirical Social Science, Democracy and Politics in Western Europe after 1945
The article defines social scientific thinking models as «resources» for political conceptions and ideas of society in Europe, in particular in Germany, after WWII. It highlights the many cultural transfers between the United States and Europe, and stresses the American belief that social science should work as a way of political education after dictatorship and war. The enduring influence of this conviction was reflected primarily not in the idea of «scientific» (that is rational) politics but rather in a conception of society as a homogenous and regular entity. In particular, demoscopic approaches informed the imagination of a society that functioned along quasi-mechanic logics. Against this background, the article argues that part of the political success of empirical social science in Europe was not so much due to the ambition of providing a political education, as in the U.S., but rather to its functionality as a performative political language that enabled to describe the world in unambiguous terms.

The Mass Dimension. Individuals, Crowds, and Consumption (1830-1945) The book explores the ... more The Mass Dimension.
Individuals, Crowds, and Consumption (1830-1945)

The book explores the origins of mass society beginning with the era when the very term "mass" gained currency in public opinion. Over the last two centuries the masses have often been set off against individuals, in that the former were believed to be irrational, primitive crowds. This dialectic tension is explored by analysing how social psychologists (i.e Le Bon, Sighele, Tarde, Ross, Park), criminologists (i.e. Lombroso, Ferri), and political scientists have attempted to define the concepts of mass and crowd and how these theoretical endeavours relate to contemporary political and social events. On the one hand, in the political sphere, the masses have originated social protests and provided support for totalitarian regimes and affluent democracies alike; on the other, their contribution in the social sphere has also been crucial, as they comprise the swarms of consumers that populate shopping malls and engage in leisure activities. Both of these features have helped shape our way of life, but especially confer legitimacy to contemporary political systems.

The book analyses the (re-)invention of folklore and popular festivals during the fascist regime.

by Markus Wurzer, Martin Baumeister, Andreas Gottsmann, Stefano Cavazza, Davide Iacono, Kordula Wolf, Tommaso di Carpegna Falconieri, Riccardo Facchini, Paola S. Salvatori, Aaron Vanides, Hannes Obermair, and Maike Steinkamp

Until recently, historical research rarely put the Middle Ages and fascist tyranny into context: ... more Until recently, historical research rarely put the Middle Ages and fascist tyranny into context: This conference therefore looks at the reception of the Middle Ages in Italian fascism with interdisciplinary perspectives, bringing together new approaches in contemporary history and medieval studies, urban studies and art history. A keynote lecture by Tommaso di Carpegna Falconieri introduces the current research status and puts the conference in context of the discussion of "Medievalismo" between fascism, modernism and socialism. In order to stimulate fruitful discussions, the conference is structured around four round tables addressing various aspects of the usages of the Middle Ages during the Ventennio. The conference will be held as a virtual event.