A Theoretical Study Of The Political Community Of The Italian Nation-state

Since the commencement of modern times,Italy lagged far behind England and France in the process of nation state building.With the rise of nationalism in the end of 18^th century,Italy experienced Risorgimento and finally achieved unity and established nation state.As?the late comer?,Italy encountered many difficulties in the process of achieving emancipation and liberation,as well as in nation building after unification.The conflicts also imposed contradictory requirements on the intellectuals.In analyzing the political thoughts at this period of time,the thesis tries to combine theory with reality,relate the parts to the whole.With Risorgimento as its main line,from the perspective of political community theory,it aims to illustrate the peculiarity of Italian nationalism in the 19^th century and its evolution from positive nationalism to extreme nationalism by demonstrating the disputes among different theories and explaining their causes and impacts.The development of Italian nationalism which originated from two great thinkers Dante and Machiavelli encounters numerous obstacles.Facing many obstacles,Italian nationalism progressed very slowly under the effect of provincialism and universalism which were both contradictory to nationalism Enlightenment thoughts and Romanticism stimulated the development of nationalism,and aroused Italian people‘s desire for independence and unification of their motherland.The invasion and rule of Nopleon imposed nationhood on Italians,but also evoked the rebellions and stirred up people‘s common desire for independence and unification.In early 18^th century,the activities of Carbonari opened a new chapter to the advancement of nationalism.Although there were many defects in its theory and practice,Carbonari greatly promoted the evolution of both nationalism and Risorgimento.As to how should Italy be unified,which model of regime suited the unified nation state,the democrats represented by Mazzini,the new Guelfs represented by Gioberti and the moderates led by Cavour proposed distinctly different models.Mazzini held that Italy had a great tradition of republic,and believed the republic will be the perfect political system for new Italy.Gioberti believed Italians hold the leading place in moral and civilization,and the papacy played a critical role in Italian history.He suggested establishing a federal consists of the existing states with the Pope as the symbolic leader.Cavour had great faith in the nationalism organized by the state and led by the government.He believed only liberalism and a constitutional monarchy can save Italy.The parties had a fiercel debate with each other.Although unification was achieved on the basis of compromise,the conflicts extended to the nation building after unification.The collision between the Church and the new state,the fights in parliament,the contradiction between regionalism and the desire for common national identity,etc.made the nation building extremely difficult.Although Cavour put forward the principle of?free state,free Church?,and lay the basis for the resolution of the clash between the state the Church,the?Rome issue?remained unresolved till the 20^th century.Depretis proposed a policy named?transformismo?similar to Cavour‘s?connubio?to secure parliament majority by unifying the centrals.However,these methods were just expedients helpful in solving urgencies,uneffective in resolving party conflicts.Crispi promoted?political education?actively in order to achieve?moral unification?and make Italians.Whereas,meridionalists argued both?Piedmontization?and the way the government treated the laggard south totally betrayed the original intention of?moral unification?.Nationalism soon transformed into imperialism after unification.The intense domestic situation,the backward economy and the humble international status made the newly unified country desire strongly for colonies.The imperialist regarded establishing an empire as the mission of Italian nation and the bare necessity for survival.Furthermore,colony campaign can distract people‘s attention from the intense domestic situation,and colonial war can help to build up national coherence,and boost national integrity.Anti-colonialists denied the reasons for colonial expansion.They maintained the government should deal with the domestic troubles before taking on international businesses;besides Italy has no rights to civilize other peoples when itself was still underdeveloped.The colony campain was not successful,because Italy lacked strong military power and solid economy,also because Italy can not form a firm front for lacking cohesion.In conclusion,this is an era of conflicts.The conflicts led to the antagonism between the political thoughts in the different stages of this period.The contradictory thoughts in turn effected the settlement of troubles in real life,and thus made Italy fall into a vicious circle.It needs to be pointed out that some of the disputes such as party friction and the problem of mezzogiorno still exist in Italy at present.