Connections between populism and nationalism: Evidence from Jair Bolsonaro's speeches

Recent studies have warned about the close relationship between populism and nationalism. This article offers an empirical contribution to the examination of this relationship by analysing the presence of populist and nationalist elements in the official speeches of the outgoing Brazilian president Jair Bolsonaro. We make two contributions to this expanding literature. First, we show that the supposed ambiguity between populism and nationalism can be resolved by an approach that clearly separates the two concepts. Second, we find that Bolsonaro is more populist than nationalist. His populism has elements in common with other European populist leaders (attacking political parties and the political class), but he distances himself from them by presenting authoritarian traits. Nativism is completely absent (unlike in Europe), but ‘sovereignism’ (‘us’ vs. ‘other nations or institutions’) and ‘civilisationism’ (‘us’ vs. ‘minorities’) sometimes overlap with populism. We conclude that a tension exists between populism and nationalism that can endanger the ‘good’ relationship between the populist leader and their supporters. This is something that future research on populism should consider.     

Italians don't remember their own history: A historiographic Sonderweg

The denial of the past is a disease of the Italian character. From the relationship of Italians with their own history, from the nineteenth century to the present day, the author traces the roots of a national Sonderweg.     

A Bayesian approach to rapid seismic vulnerability assessment at urban scale

The seismic vulnerability of city centers is commonly assessed by extending the study methods applied to single buildings to urban aggregations. This approach is not always applicable at territorial scale, as it is uneconomical in terms of time and costs. An innovative method provides reasonable large-scale a priori estimation of parameters not directly evaluable from the exterior of buildings by elaborating values which can be measured from the outside. Those parameters are treated as continuous variables, by assigning them a suitable probability density function. The Bayesian approach is adopted, which allows the update of initial hypotheses by using new data gathered during on-site surveys. In this regard, a rapid survey form for the on-site data collection is proposed. An example of its application to a façade of a building structural unit in Santo Stefano di Sessanio in L’Aquila province (Italy) is proposed, showing promising preliminary results for buildings belonging to Italian historical centers.     

Changes and turning points in welfare history. A case study: a comparison of France and Italy in the 1940s

An interesting case study in the history of welfare systems is the comparison between France and Italy. In fact, in the 1940s both countries had to tackle a very similar dilemma: the corrective reform of their existing welfare or the institution of reforms in line with the ‘universal’ model. This was a crucial turning point. Understanding these dynamics means grasping the significance of one of the most important moments in the history of the welfare state. The proposed reforms were ultimately rejected. Why? The aim of this article is to try to provide an answer to this question, examining the issue at various levels. It highlights the interactions between the top-down choices (the theoretical reflections and the political decisions) and grassroots dynamics (of social groups), and illustrates the decision-making process that led to the final outcome. The article is based largely on documents, often unpublished, from both French and Italian archives.     

Multiproxy approach to the study of Medieval food habits in Tuscany (central Italy)

A multiproxy approach based on archaeobotanical, organic residue and isotopic analyses was carried out on materials from 12 Medieval archaeological sites in Tuscany (central Italy), in order to provide a diachronic overview of local diet in rural and urban sites from the mid-eighth to the fourteenth centuries AD. Archaeobotanical analyses were applied to 130,578 seeds/fruits, residue analyses involved 87 samples from cooking and storing vessels, whereas analyses of carbon and nitrogen stable isotopes included 63 human bone samples and 26 animal specimens. The results indicate that from the mid-eighth century AD, crop production was of high quality similar, to that of the Roman Age. The main cultivations were naked wheats, barley and horse bean, a diversity that attests the technological skills reached by Tuscan peasants during the whole Middle Ages. Different cereals and pulse abundantly supplemented the diet. This strategy not only ensured peasants’ subsistence in the mid-eighth century AD, minimizing the risks of environmental adversities, but it also increased crop production – from the mid-ninth century AD on, for the revived markets and trade. Between the eleventh and fourteenth centuries AD, C4 plants had a dominant role in the peasants’ diet, when the wheat production was strictly collected first by the landlords and then by the cities for their own needs. Crop production was integrated by swine farming; animal meat consumption is well documented in rural and urban populations from the ninth century AD. Wine and olive oil, considered important elements of diet in Medieval Tuscany, have a very scarce presence, but they are recorded for later periods, mainly in urban areas and in higher social classes, such as the religious and aristocratic ones. In fact, only between the twelfth and thirteenth centuries AD was the great expansion of olive groves and vineyards recorded, when cities and urban populations claim to have access to these luxury foods.     

Marché foncier et systèmes de production agricoles au XIXe siècle: le cas du département de Brescia (Lombardie orientale)

Cet article présente les caractéristiques et l'évolution de la propriété foncière, du marché foncier et des systèmes de production agricoles en Lombardie orientale au 19^e siècle. L'auteur analyse les impacts sur l'exploitation de la terre de la substitution des propriétaires fonciers nobles par des bourgeois; des maladies du ver à soie et des vignobles, de l'arrivée des grains américains moins chers; de l'utilisation d'engrais chimiques et d'équipements modernes. Il montre que si la petite propriété représente toujours près d'un tiers du total et que la magnanerie et la viticulture diminuent, il est relevé une croissance des cultures céréalières et fourragères et des dépenses consacrées aux innovations technologiques. Il signale la rationalisation des cultures, l'amélioration des rendements et de la qualité des récoltes ainsi que des revenus non déclarés pour éviter les impôts et explique pourquoi les investisseurs préfèrent les petits aratori comportant des mûriers et des vignobles. Enfin, il donne à voir que l'organisation des exploitations reste liée au degré de risque pris par le propriétaire (la rente fixe garantie par le bail à ferme payé en argent ou une gestion directe de la propriété) et aux cultures (la présence des vignobles et de la magnanerie favorisant les sharecropping contracts).     

The marbles of two early Christian churches at Latrun (Cyrenaica,Libya)

The provenance of twenty-seven architectural marbles from the two 6th century AD Christian churches of Latrun (Cyrenaica, Libya) has been established by discriminant function analysis of twelve isotopic, EPR and petrographic/morphological variables. Sixteen samples (59%) originate from Proconnesos, while 8 samples (30%) are assigned to the calcitic quarries of Thasos and 1 to the Docimium quarries near Afyon. The last two samples are of uncertain provenance and might be Proconnesian as well. These results demonstrate that the suggestion made long ago by Ward-Perkins that the presence on non-Proconnesian, possibly Thasian, marbles at Latrun was well founded. Particularly interesting is the strong correlation found between provenance and type of the architectural element sampled. Thasian marbles at Latrun were used exclusively for the manufacture of chancel screens. Seven out of nine screens sampled have this provenance, suggesting that the use of different materials is related to issues of work organisation and specialisation in different marble production centres.