THE EXTREME RIGHT Legitimation and Evolution on the Italian Right Wing: Social and Ideological Repositioning of Alleanza Nazionale and the Lega Nord Piero Ignazi From its position as the epitome of the ‘old’ post-war fascist extreme right party, the Movimento Sociale Italiano/Alleanza Nazionale (AN) has shifted towards the ideological centre and reinvented itself as a proto-conservative party to exploit the new institutional logic of the post-1993 Italian political system. Conversely, the Northern League has shifted from its position as regionalist protest party to an actor more akin to other European extreme right parties, particularly in its authoritarian and anti- immigrant rhetoric. While the AN’s evolution under Gianfranco Fini has seen it reintroduced into the political mainstream and included in the Forza-Italia-led government, this article examines the residual extremist views, such as support for fascism, found among the voters and members of the party. Moreover, despite the centre convergence and nationalization of the AN, the implantation of the Northern League in extremist ideological space demonstrates that there is a potential pool of voters receptive to anti-immigrant and populist-authoritarian appeal. Keywords: Alleanza Nazionale; Lega Nord; Extreme Right; Italy Introduction: The Illegitimacy of ‘Right’ In Italian political jargon, the term ‘right’ has long been used to identify only the ‘extreme right’, that is the neofascists. No other party or movement has declared itself to be a right-wing political actor. The ostracism of this term derived from the automatic superimposing in public perceptions of the term ‘right’ with fascism. Even ISSN 1360-8746 (print)/ISSN 1743-9612 (online) q 2005 Taylor & Francis Group Ltd DOI: 10.1080/13608740500135058 South European Society & Politics Vol. 10, No. 2, July 2005, pp. 333–349