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The purpose of this article is to review the main hypotheses on Questione meridionale, the Southern Question, a term which means the differences between the North & South of Italy, their causes, & possible solutions. All the hypotheses on the problem refer to three sectors: structural, economic, & cultural. Structural explanations include inefficiency, corruption of state administration, poor infrastructure & clientelism. Economic explanations revolve around the economic relation that was established between the North & South after the political union (1861). On one hand the Southern capitals go to the North in the form of taxes or State investments or Treasury bonds; on the other hand the North uses the South as a market for its manufactured goods. Cultural approaches explain Southern backwardness as is the result of a mentality characterized by lack of collaboration, lack of interest in public welfare, & victimization. All three types of explanations are inspired by North American or North European models, & "blame" the South for not being more like the North. In the last part of this article two scenarios are discussed. The first is that the cleavage between North & South will remain in the coming years. The second is that the cleavage will disappear as a result of European cultural & economic integration process & new cleavages formed by non-European immigration. 9 Tables, 1 Chart, 174 References. Adapted from the source document.

Societal spheres in the light of history A division of society into statecraft, economy, and civil society is found in Plato's Republic. Its theoretical base is the differentiated and sometimes contradictory norms for these spheres. The mainstream of European structuration is traced from the 'two swords' - state and church - that structured western European society in the Middle Ages to the six societal spheres (or cardinal institutions) of society - the economy, government, science, religion, ethics, and art - that are visible today. Each maintain a large measure of independence (Weber's Eigengesetzlichkeit). Each is dependent on a special type of freedom: civic liberties, free trade, academic freedom, religious toleration, the right to follow one's conscience, artistic license. The paper pauses in this differentiation process at special junctures: the English revolution, the emergence of the Latin American and North American societies, the evolution of modem society as an underpinning of democracy, the emergence of the European Union, and the post-Communist Central and Eastern Europe. ; Sociologisk Forsknings digitala arkiv