From social protection to ‘progressive neoliberalism’:writing the Left into the rise and resilience of neoliberal policies (1968–2019)

This article asks the following question: what role did the political Left and labour organisations play in the development and furthering of neoliberal policies in Italy? In particular, I explore the relationship between the moderation of the Italian Left’s economic proposals begun towards the end of the 1970s and the affirmation of neoliberal policy-making. The shift in leftist economic ideas rested on three main grounds: i) the acceptance that Italy had to solve its long-term economic deficiencies, ii) the opposition to clientelistic spending (associated first with the centrist governments of the 1980s and later with Silvio Berlusconi) and iii) the need to guarantee Italian anchoring to European integration. Focussing on a long-term historical perspective, the article contributes to a growing but still underdeveloped literature that has emphasised the role played by the Left in neoliberalism’s development and resilience. In addition, it cautions against placing undue emphasis on the role of European integration as an ‘external constraint’.