Argentina Seen As It Is by Luigi Barzini

The SettingĤ The massive arrival of Italians in the United States and Argentina did not imply their prompt access to politics in their new nations. Specifically, it highlights similarities and differences in the stimuli of turnout and outlines the diverse dynamics of voters’ mobilization. In particular, this article examines electoral participation. It also focuses on institutional politics, a rather overlooked issue in research into the so-called Italian diaspora (Gabaccia D. This article aims at extending the perspective beyond these two cities and at broadening the time frame up to the beginning of World War II. Baily (1999 : 198-200, 209-211), who has produced the most detailed study in the field, has devoted only few pages to political life, addressing the cases of Buenos Aires and New York only no later than the outbreak of World War I.

and Halperin-Donghi T., 1983), the sphere of politics has not been investigated in depth. and Tirabassi M., 2008 : 65, 69).ģ While scholarship has paid significant attention to a comparative analysis of the Italian experiences in the United States and Argentina (Klein H. These figures accounted respectively for 31.65 percent and 12.42 percent of Italy’s total exodus in that period (Audenino P. From 1881 to 1920, 4,655,430 Italians entered the United States and 1,808,850 landed in Argentina. Such countries were the two major recipients of Italian expatriates in the decades of mass emigration. Baily (1999 : 17) has defined the « adjustment » of the immigrants and their children, namely as a component of their coping with the environment of the receiving society after their arrival.Ģ This article examines the timing and the mechanics of Italian immigrants’ participation in the electoral process in the United States and Argentina before World War II. In these countries, therefore, the involvement in politics can be aptly regarded as a dimension of what Samuel L. The United States and Argentine are among such nations (Ramakrishnan S. Such a trajectory is obviously viable in countries whose legislation allows the naturalization of the newcomers and grants citizenship to their children by the jus soli. Therefore, by exerting voting rights and running in elections, individuals of foreign decent become co-nationals of the people of native stock for a practical purpose and undertake their steps toward integration. Suffrage is a key attribute of citizenship. Standing for elective offices is another way to reach the same goal. 1 Casting ballots in the elections of the adoptive country is one of the means by which members of immigrant groups enter the political community of their host society.

Argentina Seen As It Is by Luigi Barzini