Marta Lorimer

Israel’s military offensive in Gaza to free hostages and Italy’s plan to tackle unpaid fines - Monocle Benjamin Netanyahu suggests expanding Israel’s military operations in Gaza to free hostages; Russia’s deadline for a deal approaches; the chaos...

Latest Daily on Monocle Radio. @alexvont.bsky.social and @mlorimer.bsky.social on the Gaza hostages and the day's other stories, plus @jamesbloodworth.bsky.social on his fine new book "Lost Boys". monocle.com/radio/shows/...

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What Brothers of Italy shares with its post-fascist predecessors Does Giorgia Meloni’s Brothers of Italy share similarities with its post-fascist predecessors? New research finds a mixed picture of continuity and change.

What do the Fratelli stand for, actually? @mlorimer.bsky.social & Matteo Cavallaro paint a complex picture of continuity and change

Can mainstreaming of the far right help normalise undemocratic practices? @mlorimer.bsky.social & Matteo Cavallaro explore the case of Giorgia Meloni’s Brothers of Italy, showing how the party still displays elements of continuity with its neofascist predecessor. Read OPEN ACCESS: buff.ly/5kBHwSt

What Brothers of Italy shares with its post-fascist predecessors Does Giorgia Meloni’s Brothers of Italy share similarities with its post-fascist predecessors? New research finds a mixed picture of continuity and change.

Giorgia Meloni’s Brothers of Italy is the successor of the post-fascist National Alliance & the neo-fascist Italian Social Movement.

But does the party share meaningful similarities with its predecessors? @mlorimer.bsky.social & Matteo Cavallaro @lseeuroppblog.bsky.social @polstudies.bsky.social

What Brothers of Italy shares with its post-fascist predecessors Does Giorgia Meloni’s Brothers of Italy share similarities with its post-fascist predecessors? New research finds a mixed picture of continuity and change.

💥New: What Brothers of Italy shares – and does not share – with its neo-fascist and post-fascist predecessors

✍️ @mlorimer.bsky.social & Matteo Cavallaro blogs.lse.ac.uk/europpblog/2...

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If you want to read the full version, the article is available here Open Access: journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10....

What Brothers of Italy shares with its post-fascist predecessors Does Giorgia Meloni’s Brothers of Italy share similarities with its post-fascist predecessors? New research finds a mixed picture of continuity and change.

Looking for a short summary of our paper on continuity and change between Brothers of Italy, National Alliance and the Italian Social Movement? Instead of asking ChatGPT, you can find a handy blog post right here: blogs.lse.ac.uk/europpblog/2...

Can mainstreaming of the far right help normalise undemocratic practices? @mlorimer.bsky.social & Matteo Cavallaro explore the case of Giorgia Meloni’s Brothers of Italy, showing how the party still displays elements of continuity with its neofascist predecessor. Read OPEN ACCESS: buff.ly/5kBHwSt

How Terror Attacks Shape Political Agendas on Multiculturalism in France | Article | Politics and Governance Elena Cossu, Caterina Froio

New article w Elena Cossu : How terror attacks shape political agendas on #multiculturalism in France.
👉 We show how terror events push mainstream parties toward far-right rhetoric on #diversity & #Islam. @cogitatiopag.bsky.social @authlibeu.bsky.social @sciencespo-cee.bsky.social

If you are interested even a tiny bit in #farright politics in #Italy 🇮🇹 (and who isn't?), have a look at this 🧵

We have a section in the paper where we discuss it precisely because it was an MSI and AN policy. As far as whether they are a threat, I suspect any political system is a threat in the wrong hands.

Overall, our study shows that FdI has not completely cut ties with its past. Although much has been said about Meloni’s seemingly moderate profile, it is worth remembering that moderation and radicalism often coexist in the far right and that we should pay attention to evidence of both.

Meloni speaks of her current political battle as the same one she was involved in in 1992. Most concerningly, she tends to present the MSI as a democratic party. This expanding of the boundaries of what is democratic includes extreme ideas dressed up as “democracy” into the mainstream.

Finally, we look at symbols. Here we find a lot of 'calculated ambivalence'. The parties have different names, but the tricolor flame ties them together. The youth associations also have near-identical logos. These all have roots in proper Fascist iconography.

We then look at party personnel. here, we find more continuity. Many current members of FdI were previously in the MSI, but many more were in AN. The party's executive, however, is dominated by long standing members of FdI's predecessors.

On migration, however, FdI has a more radical position, because the MSI never fully embraced opposition to migration as a topic. So the party still normalizes radical positions – they are just not the same ones as its predecessor.

Our findings paint a mixed picture. Ideologically, we find little continuity. FdI and MSI use different registers - ideological for the MSI, 'post-ideological' for FdI. They defend different policies in socio-economic terms and on the EU. The MSI maintained policy links with Fascism, FdI does not.

So we set out to assess evidence of change and continuity between Brothers of Italy and its two predecessors. Our expectation was that evidence of change (in a moderate direction) would be less normatively concerning than evidence of continuity - which would indicate (potential) normalization.

Those asking this question often pointed to Meloni's party's roots in neo-fascism. As you probably know, while Brothers of Italy (FdI) was founded in 2012, it is the successor party of the “post-fascist” National Alliance (AN), itself the successor of the neo-fascist Italian Social Movement (MSI).

It's Friday, so I thought I could do a little thread on the findings of our article in @polstudies.bsky.social. When we started writing this article (summer 2022!), the question on everyone's mind was whether a possible win for Meloni would present a danger for democracy in Italy.

‘The Crisis of Long-Termism: Time and Independence in the European Union’ – my new article with Antoine Vauchez
www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....
@wepsocial.bsky.social @lse-ei.bsky.social @lseeuroppblog.bsky.social @lsepoltheory.bsky.social

I do rather feel that if legislative/media attention's going to paid to reactionary academics who've been targeted by student campaigners, some should also be given to their progressive colleagues who've been targeted by, er, newspapers, media channels, supine regulators and the government

Snap Out of It? Governmental Instability and Far‐Right Mainstreaming in the Dutch and French Elections of 2023/2024 Click on the article title to read more.

📣 New piece out in @jcms-eu.bsky.social with the great @mlorimer.bsky.social & Marianna Griffini!

We compare the 2023 🇳🇱 & 2024 🇫🇷 snap elections: different systems, but shared patterns:
➡️ Gov’t instability
➡️ Continued rise and mainstreaming of the far right

🔗 onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...

(PDF) Snap Out of It? Governmental Instability and Far‐Right Mainstreaming in the Dutch and French Elections of 2023/2024 PDF | On Jul 1, 2025, Marta Lorimer and others published Snap Out of It? Governmental Instability and Far‐Right Mainstreaming in the Dutch and French Elections of 2023/2024 | Find, read and cite all t...

The article is so good, they don’t want you to read it. I’ve put it up on ResearchGate: www.researchgate.net/publication/...

a woman with curly hair is looking at another woman and saying snap out of it . ALT: a woman with curly hair is looking at another woman and saying snap out of it .

The two things that make me happiest about this article? Working with terrific coauthors and the title (and subtitles) of the article. 3/3

We compare the FR and Ned snap elections and argue that in spite of differing political systems, they display similar tendencies in terms of governmental instability and far right mainstreaming. 2/3

There are weeks where nothing happens, and others where by Wednesday you have 2 publications. Pleased to see this Annual Review piece (OA), co-authored with the splendid Marianna Griffini & @leoniedejonge.bsky.social : onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/... 1/3

Discover our Visiting Fellow @mlorimer.bsky.social's latest journal article in @polstudiesassoc.bsky.social 🎉👇

Delighted to finally see this piece out! Around 3 years ago, Matteo & I started thinking about whether Giorgia Meloni's Brothers of Italy REALLY resembled its neo-fascist predecessor in any meaningful way. The results are now published in @polstudies.bsky.social journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/...