Skillnaderna mellan norra och södra Italien i historiskt och europeiskt perspektiv

Abstract

The differences between northern and southerna Italy in a historical and European perspective. The purpose of this article is to review the main hypotheses on Questione meridionale, the Southern Question, a term which means the differences between the North and South of Italy, their causes, and possible solutions. All the hypotheses on the problem refer to three sectors: structural, economic and cultural. Structural explanations include inefficiency, corrupt of state administration, poor infrastructure and clientelism. Economic explanations revolve around the economic relation that was established between the North and South after the political union (1861). On one hand the Southern capitals go to the North in the form of taxes or State investments or Treasury bonds; on the other hand the North uses the South as a market for its manufactured goods. Cultural approaches explain Southern backwardness as is the result of a mentality characterised by lack of collaboration, lack of interest in public welfare, and victimisation. All three types of explanations are inspired by  North American or North European models, and ";blame"; the South for not being more like the North. In the last part of this article two scenarios are discussed. The first is that the cleavage between North and South will remain in the coming years. The second is that the cleavage will disappear as a result of European cultural and economic integration process and new cleavages formed by non-European immigration.