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Laboratoire italien. Politique et société, n°22/2019

« Sans recourir à la violence » : la société italienne face aux terrorismes et aux mafias (1969-1992)

Edited by Charlotte Moge, Panvini Guido, Pauline Picco

Laboratoire italien



"Without resorting to violence": Italian society faced with terrorism and mafia (1969-1992)

This issue of Laboratoire italien aims to analyse the reactions of Italian civil society to terrorist and then mafia violence from 1969 to 1992. These violent episodes were initially caused by far-right terrorism and later by far-left radical groups which followed the path of armed struggle. During the 1980s, terrorism and widespread political violence were progressively defeated by the reaction of democratic institutions and the various forms of mobilization coming from civil society. In the meantime, however, since the late 1970s, the South of the country had to face mafia violence. Despite the two phenomena being different and pertaining to different territories, these expressions of violence provoked similar forms of resistance among Italian civil society. They belonged to a tradition of protest but "didn't resort to violence". These moments when Italian society had to face violence and when democracy withstood were often studied but the reactions of civil society have never been analysed in depth: this issue aims at filling this historiographic gap.