Re-Visiting Polymorphous Ideology: Populism of the Left and Right

In this article I aim to re-visit the contested concept of populism. I urge scholars to approach the study of this polymorphous ideology known as ‘Populism’ with an open mind. Today, it is no longer necessary to strictly separate the ideological characteristics of populism from its particularistic discursive and strategic elements. I propose that the populism of the left and the right share similarities that could possibly outweigh their differences. I first outline a set of misconceptions that have prevented us from realising that populism does in fact hold a redemptive side to it which can ultimately be positive to contemporary democracy. Second, I discuss the three main modern approaches to populism (ideational, socio-cultural, political-strategic) and provide a brief but useful critique of all of them. Third, I present my very own ‘fresh’ approach to the topic and provide an in-depth definition of populism in order to give “right-wing” and “left-wing” populism a better and fairer hearing, especially in an era where the discontents of world populations towards political elites are increasing. Finally, I share some thoughts on what the future direction of the study of such an intricate marvel like populism should entail, also addressing the question of whether in times likes these the left-right divide is still relevant

The Nature of Italian Populism

The present study primarily focuses on the nature of the relationship between so-called “right-wing” populism and “left-wing” populism in Italy, given the country is the home of two widely discussed and somewhat contested party cases, the League (Lega, formerly known as Lega Nord) and the 5 Star Movement (MoVimento 5 Stelle). The two parties have served in government conjunctly for little more than a year between June 2018 and August/September 2019 and their political association became known as the “Yellow-Green Government”, “Conte I”, or “government of change” in academic, journalistic, and political circles already aware of their anti-establishment credentials. Overall, this contribution exists to disclose the ideological narratives that have mostly brought together (but also eventually separated) two populist parties living through a historic populist moment. In order to accomplish this objective, I have made use of a mixed methodology that binds together an assessment of electoral manifestos and a series of interviews carried out with ten politicians originating from the parties in question. By identifying six themes that recur in party literature (e.g. manifestos) and discourse (e.g. interviews) - through the use of Thematic Content Analysis (TCA) - I expose that the League-5SM coalition was able to materialise largely due to an ideological concurrence. In essence, the nature of the relationship between Matteo Salvini’s League and the (then Luigi Di Maio’s) 5 Star Movement in Italy could be traced back to the populism they equally promoted, which was interwoven with a plethora of common themes: anti-elitism, unpolitics, sovereignism, producerism, reformism, and direct democracy. In other words, it appears that the temporary alliance between Italian right-wing populists and left-wing populists was made possible by turning ideology - directly related to those six themes - into policy

The revenues of local governments in the statistical register for public administrations: inequality decomposition by sources

During the last decade, the Italian national institute of statistics (Istat) has been engaged in a modernization program involving the revision of the statistical production model. The main goal behind this program is the use of statistical registers integrated into a single logical environment, the Italian Integrated System of Statistical Registers (ISSR), for supporting the consistency of statistical production processes and improving the quality of information for users. One object of the ISSR is the satellite statistical REgister for Public Administrations (REPA) that contains information on structural and economic variables on a subset of the Italian PA. The public institutions are different from each other in structures, dimensions, and scopes. In the present paper, these differences are analysed by looking at their revenues. For this aim, the inequality in the revenues, measured with the Gini index, is decomposed “by sources”

Analysis of accounting data from the explanatory notes to the financial statements for the estimation of the enterprises investments

The Italian national institute of statistics (Istat) produces estimates on the main economic variables of enterprises, both from a Structural Business Statistics (SBS) and a National Accounts (NA) perspective. The two production processes present similarities and discrepancies. As far the production process of estimates on “acquisitions of fixed assets” during the year, also known as “enterprise investments”, both SBS and NA processes use survey data, but only NA process also uses administrative information. The aim of the present work is to evaluate the content of the information on Investments, at the level of the legal unit, from the administrative source of the Explanatory Notes, beside the administrative sources already used in Istat processes. This work represents an exploratory and study phase to evaluate the usability of this source in the production processes of Investments of both SBS and NA

Corporate Social Performance and Non-Financial Reporting in the Cruise Industry: Paving the way towards UN Agenda 2030

This article investigates the role of accounting disciplines in assessing and fostering corporate social performance (CSP) of business organisations to meet the UN Agenda 2030. Drawing from legitimacy theory, this qualitative study analyses if and how non-financial reporting positively affects and fosters CSP practices and outcomes within the cruise industry. Specifically, using a case study methodology, a major cruise company has been analysed outlining its sustainable behaviour, through the manual content analysis of sustainability reports (2016–2017–2018), in achieving the sustainable development goals (SDGs) introduced by the UN Agenda 2030. The findings outline that the cruise company presents a clear sustainability and community orientation and adopts several initiatives, mostly focused on environmental and social issues, addressed to meet the 17 SDGs, where reputation and positive image have been recognised as the major antecedents in the perspective of CSP. This study contributes to the literature giving a broader and different reading of sustainability reporting as a “booster” of the CSP in meeting the SDGs and a further interesting application of the legitimacy theory, and offers managerial implications to systematise the content of non-financial reporting by improving the quality of disclosure to achieve the SDGs, with focus on CSP processes, outcomes and ways

Diagnosis of centrocestus formosanus infection in zebrafish (Danio rerio) in Italy: A window to a new globalization-derived invasive microorganism

Centrocestus formosanus is a digenetic trematode with a complex life cycle, involving invertebrate and vertebrate hosts, humans included. In particular, it causes gill lesions and mortality in freshwater fish species, and gastrointestinal symptoms in infected humans. Here, we describe the occurrence of C. formosanus infection in zebrafish imported in Italy and propose a newly designed species-specific primer pair to ameliorate the diagnostic investigations for C. formosanus. Gill arches of 30 zebrafish were examined for the presence of encysted metacercariae under a stereomicroscope and processed through molecular analyses targeting the ribosomal internal transcribed sequence 2 (ITS2). Although C. formosanus distribution was originally restricted to Asia, it has been subsequently reported in new countries, revealing itself as an invasive species and raising important concerns for biodiversity, economy, scientific research, as well as animal and public health. Given the crucial role played by the ornamental fish industry in spreading this parasite, there is an urgent need for control measures to prevent the introduction and establishment of C. formosanus in non-endemic areas, including Europe. We also suggest developing new strategies in microbiology and epidemiology to better explore this new globalization-derived invasive species

Presence of campylobacter jejuni and C. Coli in dogs under training for animal-assisted therapies

This study was conducted to evaluate the presence of Campylobacter (C.) jejuni and C. coli in dogs at five dog training centers in Southern Italy. A total of 550 animals were sampled by collecting rectal swabs. The samples were processed to detect thermotolerant Campylobacter spp. by culture and molecular methods. Campylobacter spp. were isolated from 135/550 (24.5–95% confidence interval) dogs. A total of 84 C. jejuni (62.2%) and 51 C. coli (37.8%) isolates were identified using conventional PCR. The dog data (age, sex, breed, and eating habits) were examined by two statistical analyses using the C. jejuni and C. coli status (positive or negative) as dependent variables. Dogs fed home-cooked food showed a higher risk of being positive for C. jejuni than dogs fed dry or canned meat for dogs (50.0%; p < 0.01). Moreover, purebred dogs had a significantly higher risk than crossbred dogs for C. coli positivity (16.4%; p < 0.01). This is the first study on the prevalence of C. jejuni and C. coli in dogs frequenting dog training centers for animal-assisted therapies (AATs). Our findings emphasize the potential zoonotic risk for patients and users involved in AATs settings and highlight the need to carry out ad hoc health checks and to pay attention to the choice of the dog, as well as eating habits, in order to minimize the risk of infection

Natural deep eutectic solvents as thermostabilizer for Humicola insolens cutinase

As a new generation of green solvents, deep eutectic solvents (DESs) are considered a promising alternative to current harsh organic solvents and find application in many chemical processing methods such as extraction and synthesis. DESs, normally formed by two or more components via various hydrogen bond interactions, offer high potential as medium for biocatalysis reactions where they can improve efficiency by enhancing substrate solubility and the activity and stability of the enzymes. In the current study, the stabilization of Humicola insolens cutinase (HiC) in natural deep eutectic solvents (NADESs) was assessed. The best hydrogen bond donor among sorbitol, xylitol, erythritol, glycerol and ethylene glycol, and the best acceptor among betaine, choline chloride, choline acetate, choline dihydrogen citrate and tetramethylammonium chloride, were selected, evaluating binding energies and molecular orientations through molecular docking simulations, and finally used to prepare NADES aqueous solutions. The effects of component ratio and NADES concentration on HiC thermostability at 90 degrees C were also investigated. The choline dihydrogen citrate:xylitol, in a 1:1 ratio with a 20 wt% concentration, was selected as the best combination in stabilizing HiC, increasing its half-life three-fold

Tailoring the specificity of the type C feruloyl esterase FoFaeC from Fusarium oxysporum towards methyl sinapate by rational redesign based on small molecule docking simulations

The type C feruloyl esterase FoFaeC from Fusarium oxysporum is a newly discovered enzyme with high potential for use in the hydrolysis of lignocellulosic biomass but it shows low activity towards sinapates. In this work, small molecule docking simulations were employed in order to identify important residues for the binding of the four model methyl esters of hydroxycinnamic acids, methyl ferulate/caffeate/sinapate/p-coumarate, to the predicted structure of FoFaeC. Subsequently rational redesign was applied to the enzyme’ active site in order to improve its specificity towards methyl sinapate. A double mutation (F230H/T202V) was considered to provide hydrophobic environment for stabilization of the methoxy substitution on sinapate and a larger binding pocket. Five mutant clones and the wild type were produced in Pichia pastoris and biochemically characterized. All clones showed improved activity, substrate affinity, catalytic efficiency and turnover rate compared to the wild type against methyl sinapate, with clone P13 showing a 5-fold improvement in catalytic efficiency. Although the affinity of all mutant clones was improved against the four model substrates, the catalytic efficiency and turnover rate decreased for the substrates containing a hydroxyl substitution