Catherine de Vries, Université Bocconi, interviendra sur Geographies of Discontent: How Public Service Deprivation Increased Far-Right Support in Italy.

Electoral support for far-right parties is often linked to specific geographies of discontent. We argue that public service deprivation, defined as reduced access to public services at the local level, helps explain these patterns in far-right support. Public service deprivation increases the appeal of far-right parties by making people more worried about immigration and increased competition for public services. We examine our argument using three studies from Italy, home to some of the most electorally successful far-right parties in recent decades. We examine cross-sectional data from municipalities (study 1), exploit a national reform forcing municipalities below a certain population threshold to jointly share local public services (study 2), and explore geo-coded individual-level election survey data (study 3). Our findings suggest that public service deprivation helps us better understand geographic differences in far-right support and the mechanisms underlying them.

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