Mazzini, filosofo della \u2018comunit\ue0 dei cittadini\u2019

At the bicentenary of the birth of Giuseppe Mazzini, his contribution to Italian political unification tends to be neglected as a consequence of the decline - at least on the Continent - of the nation-state following the two world wars that marked the finis Europae. At most, we find only a recurrent, straightforward reference to the common\uacsensical distinction between patriotism and nationalism. This is an ideological inter\uacpretation that ignores, on the one hand, the intimate connection, in Mazzini's thought, between nation and democracy; and, on the other hand, the coincidence between nation and state, with the cultural and political dynamics that spring from it. In order to grasp Mazzini's political philosophy, one has to consider two main points: first, that his work, both in theory and practice, does not regard the dimension of 'political regime' (where ideologies and political programmes con-front and struggle among one another), but does nevertheless concern the level of `political community' (the nation-state); secondly, that his deep religious inspira\uaction, in connection with a proposed "third way" between individualistic liberalism and statist collectivism, is aimed at giving the state a soul in an historical period when state building is no longer viable if it fails to win the support at least of the major social groups and if these, in turn, do not mobilise without "a faith"