Making Liberalism Work The Italian Experience, 1860-1914

Subjects:

• History » European History -- Modern/20th Century
• Political Science » Comparative Politics

Reviews:

• Ashley does a good job of analyzing changing policies and the accompanying arguments deployed in parliamentary debates and the press. She shows that vigorous debates took place about major policy changes that conflicted with preexisting sets of liberal beliefs.
  —Journal of Modern History March 2006
• Ashley's study is a valuable contribution to our understanding of the complexities of Italian liberalism after 1860.
  —American Historical Review December 2004
• [A]shley provides an excellent study of the interplay between ideology and legislative solutions to real problems during the neglected decades from 1870 to 1900....[s]tudents of European liberalism will profit from it.
  —Journal of Modern Italian Studies 2004

• Endorsement From K. Steven Vincent
  Professor of History, North Carolina State University: Susan Ashley has succeeded in presenting a complex historically grounded account of late-19th century Italian liberalism. By focusing on how Italian liberals responded to the contentious issues of public order, social reform, and public works, she illustrates how abstract principles were transformed into concrete policy. The book makes a significant contribution to our understanding of the history of European liberalism.
• Endorsement From Dennis Showalter
  Professor of History, Colorado College: Professor Ashley's comprehensive scholarship and sophisticated analysis adds a new dimension to our understanding of the complex relationships between economic development and political relationships in an Italy still struggling to come to terms with the consequence of national unification.
• Endorsement From Hines H. Hall
  Associate Professor, Auburn University: Challenging a view prevalent among historians that Italian liberalism was ineffectual in developing solutions to social and political problems, and, by implication, that it doomed Italy to eventual Fascist dictatorship, Ashley's meticulous scholarship sustains a generally more positive depiction of Italian liberals and their accomplishments. Ashley's interpretation is likely to set the standard for further analysis and to define the major issues in this field for some time to come.

Table of Contents:

• Acknowledgments
• Introduction
• Governing Italy
• Private Enterprise and Public Works
• Private Interests and the Public Good
• The State and Social Justice
• Finding Ways to Reform
• Law and Order
• Liberty in Law
• Liberalism the Italian Way
• Epilogue: Liberalism and Fascism
• Bibliography