Bewilderment and Recomposition: September 8, 1943 and the Liminal Origins of Italian Democracy

This article examines the creative power of the uncertain period inaugurated by September 8, 1943 in shaping the political transformation that turned Italy from Monarchy to Republic, and from Fascism to Democracy. The article proposes a narrative of the emergence of Italian democracy that focuses on symbolic and experiential aspects that are often overlooked by traditional, institutionalist interpretations. Historical debates in Italy have focused extensively on the question of whether the Italian nation was re-born on September 8 or whether the date rather symbolizes a “death of nation”. This polarized view tends to disregard the primacy of historical experiences as transformative events. The article argues that September 8 opened up a phase in which new structures, institutions, symbols, meaning, ideas, and forms of legitimacy and authority appeared, transforming and sustaining political imagination and making new political outcomes possible. The political form of society did not collapse, but instead took on an unprecedented indeterminacy of forms, an open, empty space in which the democratic way of life took shape.