Post-post-fascists? Symbolic, ideological and organizational continuity between the Italian Social Movement, National Alliance and Brothers of Italy

In 2022, Brothers of Italy (Fratelli d'Italia, FdI) became the largest party in the Italian parliament and its leader, Giorgia Meloni, the new Prime Minister. Although Brothers of Italy was only officially founded in 2012, it is the successor party of the ‘post-fascist’ National Alliance (Alleanza Nazionale, AN), itself the successor party of the neo-fascist Italian Social Movement (Movimento Sociale Italiano, MSI). Given the party’s origins, the extent to which Brothers of Italy resembles its predecessors has been a source of debate and of concern. In this paper, we systematically evaluate evidence for continuity and change between the Italian Social Movement (1946-1994), National Alliance (1995-2008) and Brothers of Italy (2012-2022). Conceptually, we identify three different ways to assess political party change, focusing on organisational, ideological and symbolic change. Empirically, we analyse data on party cadres, political manifestoes and party symbols to evaluate continuity and change between the three parties. Our findings show that there are significant areas of symbolic and organisational continuity between the three parties. However, from an ideological standpoint, FdI has moved on from both the heritage of the MSI and that of AN.