I «meridionalisti» da scienziati sociali a esperti

The essay proposes a study of the «meridionalista» without political-ideological conditioning. Today, thanks also to new one research, it is becoming clear that many of them operated in a global dimension, even though most came from a European or American tradition. This is evident for men like Pasquale Villari, in contact with John Stuart Mill and Jessie White Mario, Francesco Saverio Nitti, in contact with Gustav Schmoller and Beatrice Potter Webb, Pasquale Saraceno, in contact with Jan Timbergen and Paul Rosennstein-Rodan. The «meridionalista», generally, must be understood in the context of the transformation of the state. From a non-interventionist state we have passed to a regulatory state, a state that aims at creating autonomous bodies with respect to ordinary administration, basing their autonomy on competence and technicians. Now, the «meridionalista» in a first phase participated in this global discussion and thought of the South as a case among others in Europe and in the world to propose the type of state intervention. Subsequently, and especially after the transformations of the state itself, the «meridionalista» became the strategic expert in the functions of parallel institutions.

Keywords: Global History, «Meridionalisti», State, South of Italy.