Book Description

"Ferretti pushes the debate about the radical-democratic strands in Italian Unification (the Risorgimento) beyond the usual oppositions -republicanism v. socialism, centralism v. federalism - to consider how much the contentions of the time extended to consideration of authoritarianism, militarism, and colonialism rather than just administrative arrangements per se. In taking a fundamentally geographical approach to the debate, Ferretti not only provides a new perspective on the radical impulses in the Risorgimento but also contributes to the contemporary rethinking of nation-statehood, territorial sovereignty, and the possibilities of transnational federalism. Perhaps most importantly, this book shows that the form which Italian unification took was never a foregone conclusion. There is a broader lesson here." John Agnew, Professor of Geography, University of California Los Angeles, USA Combining intellectual history, geography and political science, this book addresses the relations between geography and the federalist tendencies of key individuals during the nineteenth-century Italian Risorgimento. The book investigates the development of transnational federalist attitudes amongst a political network of intellectuals, and hones in on several understudied figures who played important roles in the Italian radical movements for national and social liberation. Notably, this includes political geographers who mobilised geographical metaphors to foster change and reorganise territories. The author demonstrates how federalism, anarchism and republicanism were all connected and led not only to autonomy in Italy, but more locally within its regions and municipalities, and more broadly across Europe over the 'Long Risorgimento' period. Contributing to current debates on federalism and anti-colonialism, this book will appeal to historical geographers, political scientists and those researching the history of federalism, republicanism and anarchism in Europe. Federico Ferretti is Full Professor of Geography at the Alma Mater Studiorum University of Bologna in Italy. His research revolves around the history of geography and includes geo-history and the circulation of geographical knowledge through anarchist approaches. He has written several books and published articles in a number of leading journals, including the Journal of Historical Geography and Political Geography.