Author : Filippo Sabetti
Publisher : McGill-Queen's Press - MQUP
ISBN 13 : 077357073X
Total Pages : 324 pages
Book Rating : 4.7/5 (735 download)
Book Synopsis Village Politics and the Mafia in Sicily by : Filippo Sabetti
Download or read book Village Politics and the Mafia in Sicily written by Filippo Sabetti and published by McGill-Queen's Press - MQUP. This book was released on 2002-11-14 with total page 324 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: He suggests that the mafia emerged only in some parts of Sicily and was never a single overarching criminal organization. It arose, in fact, from a self-help tradition that eventually became corrupted and ultimately a burden on most villagers - land workers and proprietors alike. The local antimafia forces also became a drain on village life and by the middle of the 1950s both the mafia and the antimafia, far from destroying one another, had vanquished themselves. The first study to extend rational choice institutionalism to Italian history and politics, Village Politics and the Mafia in Sicily offers an in-depth analysis of the impact of the abolition of feudalism in 1812, the unification of Italy in 1860, and subsequent regime changes on village politics in Sicily. Sabetti details the emergence, evolution, and collapse of a local mafia and antimafia in a historical, "before-after," perspective. Refocusing the study of village politics and the mafia, he also suggests what can happen when those acting for the state regard ordinary people as passive voices in the game of life.