I protagonisti della politica. Notabili, elezioni e sistema politico in Campania (1861-1919)

Overview & Synopsis

How did the ruling class of the Italian State relate to the problem of State-building and, more specifically, to the center-periphery relationship? What was the social and professional composition of this ruling class? Through which tools were the networks of relationships established that intersected the activity carried out by the parliamentarian in function of the requests coming from the civil society that had elected him? What was the role, in this context, of the notable? How was the political struggle organized in the liberal age? These are the questions at the basis of this research that aims to analyze them in a very specific geographical space, that of Campania. From the following pages emerges a collective biography of a ruling class composed mostly of notables determined to claim, by virtue of their mediating function between the State and civil society, a political role in the local sphere or a prestigious recognition as the final seal of an entire political career.