Статья в журнале Political Geography 19 (2000) стр. 445–471School of Geography, University of Manchester, Oxford Road, Manchester M13 9PL, UKThe resurgence of regionalist political parties has had a considerable, though variable,
impact on contemporary European politics in recent decades and there are numerous examples
of such parties across Europe. In Italy, there are several regionalist parties, however, it is the
emergence in the last 15 years or so, of the Northern League (Lega Nord) (LN) political party,
in the North of Italy, which has given a new impetus to debates about the significance of
regionalism in Italy as well as across Europe. This paper discusses the different approaches
to defining regionalism as well as the common features and driving forces of contemporary
political regionalist projects. It then focuses upon the political discourses of the LN in order
to discuss the ways in which the party resembles other regionalist projects, while having certain
key, distinct and rather unique differences. This is because the LN’s political project is not
based in an area that has historic claims to nationhood. Instead, the LN has attempted to invent
an ethnicity for the North of Italy (or ‘Padania’) in order to justify its political claims for the
protection of the economic interests of the region. ‘Padania’ (which is the Latin term which
refers to the basin of the River Po), has never ‘existed’ as an administrative or political unit
but the LN has attempted to construct (and invent) a geography and a history in order to
justify its territorial and political claims. Ó 2000 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.Keywords: Italy; Lega Nord; Regionalism; ‘Padania’
