Codes of Commitment to Crime and Resistance: Determining Social and Cultural Factors over the Behaviors of Italian Mafia Women

This article categorizes thirty-three women in four main Italian Mafia groups and explores social and cultural behaviors of these women. This study introduces the feminist theory of belief and action. The theoretical inquiry investigates the sometimes conflicting behaviors of women when they are subject to systematic oppression. I argue that there is a cultural polarization among the categorized sub-groups. Conservative radicals give their support to the Mafia while defectors and rebels resist the Mafia. After testing the theory, I assert that emancipation of women depends on the strength of their beliefs to perform actions against the Mafiosi culture

Red Brigades and their mimics : Italy 1969-1980

This paper investigates group-identity signalling among violent extremists in Italy between 1969 and 1980—with particular focus on the left-wing urban guerrilla organisation known as Brigate Rosse. Other groups both from the left and right end of the political spectrum will be taken into account for comparative purposes. Starting from the definition of political violence as propaganda by the deed this paper focuses on how underground groups manage their communicative purposes. It addresses how groups designed their claiming signature, the threat posed by unauthorized use of those signatures, and the strategies to protect them from deceptive mimics of various sorts (criminals, political adversaries and competitors). Drawing theoretical insights from the concept of mimicry in evolutionary biology and signalling theory the paper analyses equivalent strategic behaviour among the actors of the Italian political struggle and identify who mimics what model and to the damage of whom. The analysis is based on a mixed method approach (Creswell 2003) using both quantitative and qualitative sources. Quantitative data -based on a collation of the START-GTD and an original collection of data from Italian newspapers and biographical sources - are used to present a substantive picture of detected mimic behaviour and available signature designs. Qualitative data are analyzed thematically to offer contextual depth to the quantitative patterns identified. Biographies of former militants and judicial papers are used to illustrate the steps and the constraints that lead to the design of unique signatures or their failure to mimic proof the identity signal