Does National Identity Play a Significant Role in Determining the Way Italy is Dealing with the Current Financial Crisis? A Comparison with Other European Countries

摘要

This paper addresses the issue of to what extent the way Italy deals with the current financial crisis can be related to the specifics of Italian national identity. According to many scholars, Italians have a widespread tendency to misinterpreting both the role of and the borders that divide the private and the public sphere. Family interests or friendships are often put above what is best for the citizenship, which is, indeed, a rather weak concept within the Italian society. The explanation to this trend can be utterly comprehended after examining the construction of the Italian State and its main values: such process has, still today, a great impact on Italian politics and society.