Chapter 95: Liberal Democracy

358     “patient negotiations” . . . “aimed at defining . . .”  “President Meloni’s Letter to the Corriere della Sera Newspaper on Liberation Day,” Presidency of the Council of Ministers, Italian Government, April 25, 2023, www.governo.it/it/node/22468.

358     founded . . . opposed “liberal democracy” On the MSI’s ideological rejection of liberal democracy, see Piero Ignazi, Extreme Right Parties in Western Europe (Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press, 2003), 36–37, 40, 43, 46, 48, 51. Find the library book at search.worldcat.org/title/62132369.

358     “not unanimously desired . . .”  “President Meloni’s Letter to the Corriere della Sera Newspaper on Liberation Day,” www.governo.it/it/node/22468.

358     elected a constituent assembly “Qualunquismo,” in Mark F. Gilbert and Robert K. Nilsson, Historical Dictionary of Modern Italy, 2nd ed. (Plymouth, UK: Scarecrow Press, 2007), 360–361. Find the library book at search.worldcat.org/title/1133661600.

358     556 legislators were 30 members  Constituent Assembly, July 2, 1946, The Historical Archive of Elections, Ministry of the Interior, Central Directorate of Electoral Services, elezionistorico.interno.gov.it/index.php?dtel=02%2F06%2F1946&es0=S&lev0=0&levsut0=0&ms=S&tpa=I&tpe=A&tpel=A, via Google Translate.

358     a short-lived party with fascist ties . . . joined the MSI  Gilbert and Nilsson, “Qualunquismo,” 360–361. Find the book in which this article appears at search.worldcat.org/title/62132369.

358     The authors, known as the Constitutional Arch, comprised the  George Newth, “Matteo Salvini, Giorgia Meloni, and ‘Post-Fascism’ as Political Logic,” www.psa.ac.uk/matteo-salvini-giorgia-meloni-and-post-fascism-as-political-logic/; and Franco Astengo and Giovanni Burzio, “Italian Political Parties Between the Constituent Assembly and Tangentopoli,” Riforme Istituzionali (Institutional Reforms), January 23, 2012, www.riforme.info/segn/5703-i-partiti-tra-costituente-tangentopoli.

358–359     “under any form whatsoever” . . .“temporary limitations . . . for the Fascist regime”  Section XII of Constitution of the Italian Republic (1948), www.senato.it/documenti/repository/istituzione/costituzione_inglese.pdf, 41.

359     “a text that set out to unite and not to divide . . .”  “President Letter to the Corriere della Sera Newspaper on Liberation Day,” www.governo.it/it/node/22468.

359     a retired professor of history . . . and a columnist for Corriere della Sera  A 2025 biographical blurb of Ernesto Galli della Loggia states, “Ernesto Galli della Loggia was Professor of Contemporary History at the Italian Institute of Human Sciences (SUM) in Florence, which merged with the Scuola Normale Superiore in Pisa . . . He is a columnist for the Corriere della Sera.” “Ernesto Galli Della Loggia, Vincenzo Lavenia, What History for the Italian School, Saturday, September 20, 2025, Modena, Piazza Sant’Agostino,” Festival Filosofia, accessed September 29, 2025, www.festivalfilosofia.it/2025/dibattiti/Quale+storia+per+la+scuola+italiana/Ernesto+Galli+Della+Loggia%2CVincenzo+Lavenia, via Google Translate.

359     chronicled . . . allowed former fascist leaders to run for office by 1953  Ernesto Galli della Loggia, “Coming to Terms with Our Past: The Wisdom of the Constitution,” Corriere della Sera, April 11, 2023, www.corriere.it/editoriali/23_aprile_11/i-conti-il-nostro-passatola-saggezza-costituzione-8b6037ae-d88e-11ed-a8f9-e221e4e860de.shtml?refresh_ce, via Google Translate.

359     “time—they rather hoped . . .” Galli della Loggia, “Coming Letter to the Corriere della Sera Newspaper on Liberation Day,” www.corriere.it/editoriali/23_aprile_11/i-conti-il-nostro-passatola-saggezza-costituzione-8b6037ae-d88e-11ed-a8f9-e221e4e860de.shtml?refresh_ce.

359     “admit that, yes, fascism . . .” Ernesto Galli della Loggia, “The Past and Us: The Fear of Eternal Fascism,” Corriere della Sera, October 31, 2021, www.corriere.it/opinioni/21_ottobre_31/passato-noi-paura-dell-eterno-fascismo-95e3fa5c-3a75-11ec-850c-0c14b1133c9c.shtml, via Google Translate.

359     “de-Christianization” of Europe  Ernesto   Galli della Loggia, “Conservatives Should Focus on the Future, Not the Past,” Corriere della Sera, April 25, 2023, www.corriere.it/editoriali/23_aprile_25/i-conservatori-si-occupinodel-futuro-non-passato-e252a844-e392-11ed-89e2-97aae0cbce13.shtml, via Google Translate.

359     lamented low birth rates  Galli della Loggia, “Letter to the Corriere della Sera Newspaper on Liberation Day,” www.corriere.it/editoriali/23_aprile_25/i-conservatori-si-occupinodel-futuro-non-passato-e252a844-e392-11ed-89e2-97aae0cbce13.shtml.

359     “how many ties with our cultural past . . .”  Galli della Loggia, “Letter to the Corriere della Sera Newspaper on Liberation Day,” www.corriere.it/editoriali/23_aprile_25/i-conservatori-si-occupinodel-futuro-non-passato-e252a844-e392-11ed-89e2-97aae0cbce13.shtml.

360     454 million Christians and 71 million Muslims  Numbers rounded to the nearest whole million. Pew Research Center, “The Future of World Religions: Population Growth Projections, 2010–2050,” April 2, 2015, assets.pewresearch.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/11/2015/03/PF_15.04.02_ProjectionsFullReport.pdf, 147.

360     decline between now and 2050 . . . projected to increase  Pew Research Center, “The Future of World Religions: Population Growth Projections, 2010–2050,” assets.pewresearch.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/11/2015/03/PF_15.04.02_ProjectionsFullReport.pdf, 147.

360     from 67 percent in 2020 to 65 percent in 2050  Pew Research Center, “Religious Composition by Country, 2010–2020,” accessed October 30, 2025, www.pewresearch.org/religion/feature/religious-composition-by-country-2010-2020/; and Pew Research Center, “The Future of World Religions: Population Growth Projections, 2010-2050,” assets.pewresearch.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/11/2015/03/PF_15.04.02_ProjectionsFullReport.pdf, 147.

360     “increasingly probable prevalence . . .”  Galli della Loggia, “Conservatives Should Focus on the Future, Not the Past,” www.corriere.it/editoriali/23_aprile_25/i-conservatori-si-occupinodel-futuro-non-passato-e252a844-e392-11ed-89e2-97aae0cbce13.shtml.

360     roughly 16 percent . . .  Numbers rounded to the nearest whole million. Pew Research Center, “The Future of World Religions: Population Growth Projections, 2010–2050,” assets.pewresearch.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/11/2015/03/PF_15.04.02_ProjectionsFullReport.pdf, 147.

360     “. . . the largest net losses from switching”  Pew Research Center, “The Future of World Religions: Population Growth Projections, 2010–2050,” assets.pewresearch.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/11/2015/03/PF_15.04.02_ProjectionsFullReport.pdf, 12.

360     “Globally, about 40 million people . . . 106 million . . .”  Pew Research Center, “The Future of World Religions: Population Growth Projections, 2010–2050,” assets.pewresearch.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/11/2015/03/PF_15.04.02_ProjectionsFullReport.pdf, 12.