Abstract
This chapter addresses the relationship between economic policies and political ideologies. Drawing on contemporary and historical material from the province of Brindisi, in Southeast Italy, it links the local dimension to processes at regional, national, and international levels. The diachronic analysis brings out the impact of two apparently contrasting dynamics of structural adjustment. On the one hand, it shows how vested political interests have influenced both the post-unification national policies for the development of the South and the post-World War II agreements on the alleged national control of the economy. On the other hand, it addresses the effects of the modified Bretton Woods Accords, which, instead of facilitating investment in this region, have resulted in environmental degradation, competition among cities, and further economic downturn.
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Notes
- 1.
- 2.
The legacy of Lombroso’s doctrine has continued to influence twentieth-century sociological and anthropological studies on South Italy . For a recent overview of these studies, see Pardo and Prato (2011, pp. 3–9).
- 3.
Interestingly, this kind of debate has resurfaced as particularly relevant after the fall of the Communist regimes in Eastern Europe . Gellner (1993: XIII–XIV) summarized this dilemma when he pondered about ‘What kind of political control there is to be’ and ‘how political and economic institutions should, and actually, interact.’
- 4.
This scheme was at the basis of Italy’s National Social Security Institute (the modern-day INPS, Istituto Nazionale Previdenza Sociale).
- 5.
The names of the political parties discussed in this chapter refer to the party organization before the 1992 scandals.
- 6.
- 7.
Most of these reports are now available at: http://aset.acs.beniculturali.it/aset-web/info/documentazioneIBRD. Lepore (2013) provides a 22-page long list of references that deal with the Cassa per il Mezoogiorno, including the role of the World Bank.
- 8.
ENEL was privatized in 1999, following the liberalization of the electricity market in Italy . It is now a multinational and, as of 2015, the Italian government owns 25.5% of shares.
- 9.
Italy already had a nuclear plant in the Garigliano, built with funds from the IBRD. The plant was operational between 1964 and 1982. It was decommissioned following a referendum on nuclear power .
- 10.
As I explain elsewhere (2017), over time, the Italian terminal of Corridor VIII has been split between Brindisi and the nearby Bari (the capital city of Apulia).
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Prato, G.B. (2018). From Nationalization to Neoliberalism: Territorial Development and City Marketing in Brindisi. In: Spyridakis, M. (eds) Market Versus Society. Palgrave Studies in Urban Anthropology. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-74189-5_5
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