Mussolini's Policemen : Behaviour, Ideology and Institutional Culture in Representation and Practice

How successful was Mussolini in creating a force of loyal and committed policemen to defend his regime and assist in the creation of a new fascist civilization? How far were the Italian police transformed under Mussolini, and how did policemen experience the dictatorship? This book examines Italy's regular police in the context of fascism's efforts to modernise and establish ideological control over the state. Contrasting the regime's idealised representations with the more humdrum realities of everyday practice, the book considers the impact of the dictatorship on the Italian police and their personnel. Presenting an inside perspective on fascist repression, it focuses particularly on recruitment, training and professionalism in the Interior Ministry Police, as well as officers' ideological orientation, working conditions and quality of life. This book will appeal to students and researchers in police history, Italian fascism and, more generally, conflict and oppression in the twentieth century.

Jonathan Dunnage is Senior Lecturer in Twentieth-Century European History at Swansea University.

Mussolini's Policemen: Behaviour, Ideology and Institutional Culture in Representation and Practice 

Hardcover: 240 pages 

Publisher: Manchester University Press (January 22, 2013) 

Language: English 

ISBN-10: 0719081394

Un livre important ( comme tout ce que produit Jonathan Dunnage) pour la compréhension de l’attitude de policiers et carabinieri confrontés au régime fasciste.

Du même auteur, on lira avec intérêt l’étude de cas qu’il avait consacrée à la police de Bologne (The Italian Police and the Rise of Fascism: A Case Study of the Province of Bologna, 1897- 1925, Greenwood Press, 1997, 198p., 90,50€)

NB : Les “amis” qui veulent découvrir les travaux de J. Dunnage en français et les prodromes de ce travail pourront se reporter à deux textes : « La Police et le fascisme italien » in J.-M. Berlière et D. Peschanski (dir.), Pouvoirs et Polices au XXe siècle, Bruxelles, Complexe, 1997, pp. 29-61 et « Des fervents de l’état totalitaire aux tenants du ‘quieto vivere’ : le personnel policier dans l’Italie fasciste » in J.-M. Berlière et alii, Métiers de police ..., Rennes, PUR, 2008, pp. 509-521.

Sources : Lettre des amis de la police et de la gendarmerie - janvier 2013 - (Jean-Marc Berlière)

Police - Gendarmerie - Femmes (52)