Political violence and anti-system voting in interwar Italy

Bibliographic Data

ID3918540
AuthorsEdoardo Alberto Viganò (0000-0002-6226-5480, Department of Philosophy, Politics, and Economics, Witten/Herdecke University, Germany), Bruno Della Sala (Department of Philosophy, Politics, and Economics, Witten/Herdecke University, Germany), Stefan Stojkovic (0000-0002-3821-9804, Department of Philosophy, Politics, and Economics, Witten/Herdecke University, Germany), Nils-Christian Bormann (0000-0002-6016-6841, Department of Philosophy, Politics, and Economics, Witten/Herdecke University, Germany, corresponding author)
Year2025
Volume62
Issue5
Pages1581-1596
Publication date2025-09-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueJournal of Peace Research (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0022-3433 • E-ISSN: 1460-3578
PublisherSAGE Publications Inc (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.1177/00223433251347763
OpenAlexW4413367565
LanguageEN
Citations received3
References cited71

What is the effect of political violence on electoral support for anti-system parties? We argue that the effect of violence is asymmetric and predominantly benefits nationalist, radical-right parties. Posing as defenders of the nation, nationalist parties benefit from violence by their political opponents and violence targeted against perceived threats to the nation. Two potential mechanisms underlie this asymmetric effect. First, nationalist violence becomes an acceptable means of defense in the eyes of status quo-oriented voters if they attribute blame to out-groups who used violence first. Second, nationalist violence itself increases the salience of a threat to the nation, and voters concerned with preserving the status quo see radical right parties as its most effective defender. To test this argument, we collect novel actor-based and geospatial data of political violence in interwar Italy. Using a difference-in-differences estimator, we model the effect of violence on vote shares of anti-system parties at the municipality level in the 1919 and 1921 elections. Our results indicate increasing electoral support for the nationalist Fascist party in municipalities that experienced violence committed by either the far right or left after the 1919 election. In contrast, the radical left Socialist party loses electoral support if violence occurs. These results are robust to different specifications, modeling choices, and measurement approaches. We conclude by discussing the relevance of our findings for violence in liberal democracies today

Computer security · Criminology · Forensic engineering · Injury prevention · Medical emergency · Occupational safety and health · Poison control · Political science · Political violence · Politics · Suicide prevention · Voting · Communism, Protests, Social Movements · Computer Science · Engineering · European history and politics · Human Factors and Ergonomics · Italian Fascism and Post-war Society · Law · Medicine · Psychology

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