Brothers of Italy : Identity and Pragmatism in the Italian Radical Right

This book charts the origin and evolution of Georgia Meloni and the Fratelli D’Italia, the first radical right party to lead a government in Europe since the Second World War. It examines its organization, political elite, ideological positioning, policy proposals and supporter base.

In 2022, Georgia Meloni became Italy’s first female prime minister, after steering her party Fratelli D’Italia (Brothers of Italy) to victory and forming a right-wing coalition government. Meloni’s achievement is even more impressive when considered in the context of the 2018 election result, in which the party only garnered 4.3 per cent of the popular vote. This book charts the origin and evolution of Meloni and the Fratelli D’Italia within the context of the Italian party system, its organization, political elite, ideological positioning, policy proposals and voters’ profile. As the first radical right party to lead a government in Europe since the Second World War, FdI is under intense international scrutiny with a fascist revival feared exactly 100 years after Mussolini’s March on Rome. The plausibility of such fears is assessed as well as the complex conditions both within the party and the Italian political system that have culminated in Meloni’s premiership.