Neutralismo e interventismo in Filippo Meda

Abstract

Filippo Meda (Milan 1869-1939), lawyer, journalist and leading member of the Lombard Catholic movement, was the first Catholic deputy to enter the Parliament in the Kingdom of Italy. Elected for the first time in 1909, re-elected in 1913, 1919 and 1921, was minister of finance during the government of national unity, under the leadership of Paolo Boselli, and during the following government under Vittorio Emanuele Orlando. At the beginning of World War I, Meda opted for neutrality, but soon he changed his position for strictly political reasons. During his parliamentary and governmental terms, his thoughts, his writings and his speeches took part in the long debate about the crisis of the Italian parliamentary system. Issues dealt with by Meda defending the principles of the rule of law, his trust in the function of parliamentary representation, his severe criticism of parliamentarism are associated with the affairs of a weakened parliament in its role and functions and with a society divided between neutralists and interventionists.