Italian politics has a history of confrontation. Historically, Italy was a divided nation, ruled by a loose coalition of city-states until the unification of the country was completed in 1870. Between the industrial north and the rural south, a long history of inequity and dispute exists, with many in the north feeling that unification had brought economic benefits to the south but disadvantage to their own region.

Gianfranco Miglio was an Italian academic and politician whose work examined the structures of power in political life. Drawing his inspiration from Max Weber and Carl Schmitt, Miglio argued against the centralization of political resources across Italy on the basis that this form of collaboration had harmed the interests and identity of the north.

Northern separatism

Miglio believed that collaboration was not a desirable feature of politics, nor was it possible in the political marketplace. The differing interests of Italy’s various regions would not be resolved through compromise and discussion, but through the dominance of the more powerful groupings. Miglio’s ideas eventually led him into a political career, and in the 1990s he was elected to the national senate as a radical member of the separatist party Lega Nord (“Northern League”), founded in 1991.

Car manufacturers such as Fiat have contributed to northern Italy’s wealth. In Miglio’s view, it was unfair that such wealth should subsidize the poorer south.