Liberals and the state in Italy: Giovanni Giolitti’s liberal reformism and its critics

The article examines the strategy of liberal reformism in Italy in the late 19th – early 20th centuries and its critique by representatives of economic liberalism (“pure” liberals). The clash of two visions of liberal policy reflected the complication of the transformation of liberalism in response to expansion of state interference and the emergence of the mass politics. The peculiarities of the transformation of liberalism in Italy during the period were caused by the nature of the challenges. The country faced the tasks of state-building after the unification, bridging the development gap between the north and the south, carrying out industrialization. Protectionist and dirigiste policies were the responses to this. The challenges were further intensified with Italy’s entry into the First World War and the post-war social and political teurmoil that lead to the establishment of the Mussolini regime.At the same time, Italy had a lasting tradition of liberal economic thought, and Italian liberals comprised a prominent and influential school of economic thought. State interference could not but cause their repudiation. However, their close involvement into the country’s elite made them to modify the postulates of classical economic liberalism of the mid-19th century to be able to deliver feasible policy proposals. This article focuses on the political program of the outstanding Italian politician Giovanni Giolitti. It became one of the routes of transforming classical liberalism of the mid-19th century. Following the introduction, the second section of the article examines the position of liberal ideology in Italy in the context of the problems that arose in the context of industrialization of a backward and divided economy. Giolitti’s liberal reformism became a strategy for a pragmatic response to emerging challenges. The main features of this strategy and its criticism by ‘pure’ liberals are examined in the third section of the article. Brief conclusions are presented in the conclusion.