Italian Social Movement - Ideology

Ideology

The MSI's political program was always vague, but its themes stressed traditional social values, law and order, and hostility towards social minorities and civil liberties. It advocated a centralised state with a presidential form of government, and no devolution of powers to regions. The party pursued a dualistic policy, in which it combined anti-systemic discourse with a practical policy of electoral cooperation with the mainstream right. Although it was for a long time preoccupied with the debate of fascism and anti-fascism, the party distanced itself from this in the early 1990s to rather focus on contemporary Italian issues. While both wings of the party agreed after the 1950s that fascism was dead, they nevertheless saw some good things in fascism which they wanted to reinstitute. When the party transformed itself into the AN, it outspokenly rejected fascism, as well as "any kind of totalitarianism and racism." In contrast to other far-right parties in Europe which increased their power in the late 1980s, the MSI chose to not campaign against immigration.