Military Cultures in Peace and Stability Operations. Chiara Ruffa

a peculiar political spectrum in Italy that became deeply polarized, triggering unusual relationships between the right and the left; the military came to be strongly associated with the extreme right.²⁰ For instance, referring to the 1943–1945 period as the liberation war carries a profound antimilitaristic legacy to this day. Similarly, the role of the resistors and former fascists during the 1943–1945 period still provokes heated debates. The 1946 referendum, in which Italians opted for a republican system of government, reiterated the military’s inability to be perceived as an apolitical body.²¹