Italian Military Operations Abroad

Peace support operations are one of the most important tools in the foreign policy of Western democracies. This book is a study of Italian military operations in the last twenty years. Italy's operations are examined through an analysis of parliamentary debates and interviews with leading policy-makers.

Peace support operations are one of the most important tools in the foreign policy of Western democracies. This book is a study of Italian military operations in the last twenty years. Italy's operations are examined through an analysis of parliamentary debates and interviews with leading policy-makers.

ItalyÆs Foreign Policy in the Twenty-First Century: The New Assertiveness of an Aspiring Middle Power, edited by Giampiero Giacomello and Bertjan Verbeek, shows how changes in ItalyÆs international and domestic environment since the early 1990s have affected ItalyÆs foreign policy and raised its aspiration to become, and be treated as, a middle power. The contributors theoretically engage with both rationalist and constructivist accounts of middle-power. The contributors theoretical engage with both rationalist and constructivist accounts of middle-power behavior. They reveal that the end of the Cold War, the advent of globalization, and the rise in institutionalized regional cooperation have increased ItalyÆs freedom to maneuver. At the same time, however, these changes have decreased ItalyÆs policy freedom as a result of delegation of policy competencies to the European Union and the need for cooperation in a globalized world. Domestic changes, notably the transition from the First to the Second Republic and the transformation of political leadership under Prime Minister Silivio Berlusconi, have altered the way domestic politics is played out in foreign policy. Rather than adopting the more common focus on ItalyÆs bilateral relations with other counties or regions, this collection centers on actors, issues and policy instruments in vital areas of ItalyÆs foreign policy. In addition, it discusses the search for ItalyÆs position in global affairs and emphasized the importance of leadership styles, domestic political agendas, and party rhetoric in determining ItalyÆs foreign policy. As Giacomello and VerbeekÆs volume demonstrates, consistency with such strategic prescription has always been a problematic undertaking for various Italian governments. Book jacket.

Participation in international peace operations has become a key component of the foreign policy strategy of many countries worldwide. Italy and China have been, and are currently, involved in various efforts to maintain and promote international peace and security, including Peacekeeping Operations (PKOs). This book offers a description of the two countries’ engagement in international peace operations, analyzing it through the lenses of law, sociology, history, and politics. The specific experiences of Italy and China provide an excellent opportunity for comparing and contrasting how and why foreign powers intervene in the name of peace. At the same time, this book focuses on a number of crucial challenges PKOs are currently facing (training of personnel, ensuring accountability, effectively assisting war-torn States in their rehabilitation effort), and tries to explain how Italy, China, and other international actors are trying to respond to the many dilemmas and contradictions of postwar peace. Contributors include academics from a wide range of disciplines and interests, diplomats, and practitioners involved in international peace operations.

This book investigates the connection between tightening mobilization constraints and the use of PMSCs in the United States, the United Kingdom, and Italy. Drawing on neoclassical realism and institutionalist theory, it conceptualizes democracies’ use of private military and security companies (PMSCs) as an attempt to circumvent the tightening constraints on the mobilization of military power. The use of private military contractors is less subjected to parliamentary restrictions and less visible to public opinion than the deployment of soldiers. Rather than cheaper in financial terms, PMSCs are therefore politically cost-effective, as they enable decision-makers to minimize the institutional obstacles on conducting military operations and the electoral costs attached thereto. The need to reduce the ex ante hurdles and the ex post costs of military deployments fills the blind spots of alternative explanations for the use of PMSCs based on effectiveness, ideology, and organizational interests.

Italy, although it considers itself to be a middle-sized power on par with France, the United Kingdom, and Germany, has been incapable of playing an international role comparable to theirs, instead keeping a low-profile foreign policy. This has not been due to any material constraints—Italy’s profile has remained consistently low, through economic times both good and bad—but rather to the country’s strategic culture, a mixture of realpolitik and pacifist tendencies. This book sets out to analyze the influence of Italy’s strategic culture on its foreign policy. It conducts an exploratory case-study to show if hypotheses generated by the strategic culture approach can shed some light on the puzzling Italian behavior in the international arena (puzzling because Italy shows a less assertive foreign policy vis-à-vis other middle powers in the same rank). The first chapter considers the main interpretations of Italian foreign policy and their limitations. The second and third chapters review the literature on strategic culture, stressing its utility for the Italian case. The fourth chapter describes the country’s strategic culture through the Liberal, Fascist, and Republican periods, and the fifth chapter analyzes the influence of ideational factors on Italy’s behavior abroad. Conclusions sum up the various emerging evidences. Scholars of political science, international relations, strategic studies, and comparative politics will find this work to be of interest.

This volume provides the first geographically and thematically comprehensive study of the evolution and current state of the national security and defence policies, strategies, doctrines, capabilities, and military operations, as well as the alliances and security partnerships, of European armed forces.