The reception of Iran’s state propaganda by the Italian
far right: recasting the diffusion of authoritarian
discourse and narratives
Rivetti, PaolaORCID: 0000-0002-1794-0504
(2023)
The reception of Iran’s state propaganda by the Italian
far right: recasting the diffusion of authoritarian
discourse and narratives.
Italian Political Science Review / Rivista Italiana di Scienza Politica
.
ISSN 0048-8402
This article examines the reception of the Iranian state’s authoritarian discourse by the Italian far right to
interrogate the mechanisms of authoritarian diffusion from the point of view of the receiving actors.
Coding Iran’s state propaganda and searching for overlaps and resonances with the far right’s discourse,
this article argues that the receiving audience selectively translates the content coming from Iran for the
Italian public with the goal of reinforcing its own political discourse. The article contributes to the debate
on authoritarian diffusion by providing fresh empirical findings from a rarely studied case study and by
shifting the focus to political discourse and narratives. This article also foregrounds the agency of the
receiving audience, rather than the authoritarian state’s, with the goal of interrogating the resources
and infrastructures that enable diffusion, rather than the motivation or the success of the ‘sending’
authoritarian state. This article expands the understanding of complex dynamics of authoritarian diffusion
and contributes to examine the establishment of transnational connections between state and non-state
illiberal actors in the era of ‘sovranism’ and right-wing populism.
Metadata
Item Type:
Article (Published)
Refereed:
Yes
Uncontrolled Keywords:
Authoritarianism; diffusion; discourse; Iran; Italy; Middle East