This edited collection offers a new approach to the study of Italy's foreign policy from the 1960s to the end of the Cold War, highlighting its complex and sometimes ambiguous goals, due to the intricacies of its internal system and delicate position in the fault line of the East-West and North-South divides. According to received opinion, during the Cold War era Italy was more an object rather than a factor in active foreign policy, limiting itself to paying lip service to the Western alliance and the European integration process, without any pretension to exerting a substantial international influence. Eleven contributions by leading Italian historians reappraise Italy's international role, addressing three complex and intertwined issues, namely, the country's political-diplomatic dimension; the economic factors affecting Rome's international stance; and Italy's role in new approaches to the international system and the influence of political parties' cultures in the nation's foreignpolicy.

Autorentext

Antonio Varsori is Professor of History of International Relations at the University of Padova, Italy. He is also member of the Commission for the Publication of Italian Diplomatic Documents at the Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs. His most recent publications are L'Italia e la fine della guerra fredda. La politica estera dei governi Andreotti (1989-1992) (2013) and Storia internazionale. Dal 1919 a oggi (2015).

Benedetto Zaccaria is a Research Assistant at the Alcide De Gasperi Research Centre of the European University Institute, Florence, Italy. He is the author of The EEC's Yugoslav Policy in Cold War Europe, 19681980 (2016).

Inhalt

1. Introduction; Antonio Varsori.- Part I The Political and Diplomatic Dimensions of Italy's Foreign Policy.- 2. The United States, Italy and the Cold War: Interpreting and Periodising a Contradictory and Complicated Relationship; Mario Del Pero and Federico Romero.- 3. Cold War Republic: The 'external constraint' in Italy during the 1970s; Silvio Pons.- 4. Under a Multinational Mantle: Italy's Participation in the G7 (1975-76); Marinella Neri Gualdesi.- 5. Italy's Foreign Policy in the 1980s: from Enthusiasm to Disillusion; Antonio Varsori.- Part II       Foreign Policy Goals and Economic Ambitions.- 6. Mercantilism and Class Struggle: The Italian Economy in the International Context from 1960 to 1990; Francesco Petrini.- 7. From Interdependence to Unilateralism: Italy and the Evolution of Foreign Monetary Cooperation (1958-1973); Daniele Caviglia.- 8. Reshaping Transatlantic Energy Relations: Italy, the United States, and Arab Producers during the 1970s; Elisabetta Bini.- Part III New Approaches to the International System and the Influence of Parties' Political Cultures.-  9. The Emergence of Global Environmentalism: A Challenge for Italian Foreign Policy?; Sara Lorenzini.- 10. Air, Space and Techno-science Innovation in Italian Foreign Policy during the 1970s and the 1980s; David Burigana.- 11. Decay and Catharsis: Perceptions of the United States in Italian Political Cultures Between the 1960s and 1970s; Valentine Lomellini and Benedetto Zaccaria.- 12. Development Cooperation, 1958-1992: Party Politics and a Foreign Policy Débâcle; Elena Calandri.