Ideological Profile of Twentieth-Century Italy

Home to the largest communist party in a democratic society, Italy has been a unique place politically, one where Christian democrats, fascists, socialists, communists, and others have coexisted in sizable numbers. In this book, Bobbio, who himself played an outstanding role in the development of Italian civic culture, follows each of the major ideologies, explaining how they developed, describing the key actors, and considering their legacies.

He wrote Ideological Profile in 1968 to explain the history behind that decade's tumultuous politics. Bobbio's defense of democracy and critique of capitalism are among the themes that will particularly interest American readers of this updated edition, the first to appear in English.