PATTERNS OF UNCERTAINTY Security practices and quality of democracy in Italy

For decades, questions about whether Italy can be deemed a paese normale (normal country) have concerned policymakers and analysts. The issue goes beyond every nation’s inherent tendency to think of – and actively (re)produce – itself as a unicum. The yearning for a way to finally be regarded as “normal” has been kept alive by a nagging concern about being left behind on the path towards progress that fellow European and non-European countries have seemed to walk down with comparative ease (Samuels 2003). At the same time, based on their analytical perspective and the specific aspect under scrutiny, a number of observers have come to different conclusions about whether Italy should or should not be regarded as a normal country (Andrews 2005; Newell 2010; Valbruzzi 2013). Finding traits of (ab)normality does not entail that the country has always been in every respect normal or otherwise – and neither that its status cannot more or less suddenly change, as appears to be the case with Italy over the last few years. In fact, we will identify a number of distinctive historical circumstances and structural features that have made Italy a noteworthy case as far as relationships between security and democracy are concerned.