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Re: differences between Northern and Southern Italy: Robert Putnam's 'Making Democracy Work' covers differences between the regions in great detail. I read it t

Re: differences between Northern and Southern Italy: Robert Putnam's 'Making Democracy Work' covers differences between the regions in great detail. I read it three years ago so I can't give a better summary than its wikipedia page [0]: "Around 1000 A.D. Northern Italy and Central Italy had a more active civil society,[2] with many citizens taking part in politics and social gatherings in their communities. Northern-Central Italians had a mutual trust for their fellow citizen, governing horizontally. Politics was less hierarchical in their region. Southern Italy, however, was very different from its Northern-Central counterpart; a group of Norman Mercenaries created order in the area. The governing structure was much more vertical: the peasants were controlled by the knights and the knights were controlled by the kings. Northern and Central Italy created a democratic-type system for their citizens. Conversely, Southern Italy created a feudal and autocratic system of governing. Putnam concludes that these long-standing differences still help to explain North-South differences in governance, many centuries later...The civic nature of Northern Italy and Central Italy dating back to medieval times has caused the region to be prosperous in modern times. Southern Italy, however, with its more feudal nature in medieval times has caused the region to be the origin of the Mafia and has created a less successful region. The Mafia's hierarchical structure is very similar to Southern Italy's feudal roots, according to Putnam." [0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Making_Democracy_Work https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Making_Democracy_Work

pmontra 8y ago
Add the unification process to that, which was in part welcomed by people and in part forced by an army from the North. It was like when two companies merge: the people from the company that leads the merge end up in better positions than the ones from the weaker company. The South kind of lost a war and perhaps they didn't realize it, even now.

pmontra 8y ago

Add the unification process to that, which was in part welcomed by people and in part forced by an army from the North. It was like when two companies merge: the people from the company that leads the merge end up in better positions than the ones from the weaker company. The South kind of lost a war and perhaps they didn't realize it, even now.