Italy As A Regional Power

How did Italy’s role of regional power develop? How did it change from national unification to the present day? This book examines the degree of influence exerted by Italy in its own geopolitical context, with special focus on Libya and the Horn of Africa. With the aid of different research methods and thanks to two exclusive interviews (H.E. Giulio Terzi di Sant'Agata and Gen. Vincenzo Ruggero Manca), this work traces the many stages that have characterized Italian foreign policy in its sphere of influence, its successes and its failures, from the country’s early colonial policies to the latest events. Images, graphics, maps and confidential documents further enrich the debate on one of the most ancient but controversial regional powers.

This edited collection offers the first systematic account in English of Italy’s international position from Caporetto – a major turning-point in Italy’s participation in the First World War – to the end of the liberal regime in Italy in 1922. It shows that after the ‘Great War’, not only did Italy establish itself as a regional power but also achieved its post-unification ambition to be recognised, at least from a formal viewpoint, as a great power. This subject is addressed through multiple perspectives, covering Italy’s relations and mutual perceptions vis-à-vis the Allies, the vanquished nations, and the ‘New Europe’. Fourteen contributions by leading historians reappraise Italy’s role in the construction of the post-war international order, drawing on extensive multi-archival and multi-national research, combining for the first time documents from American, Austrian, British, French, German, Italian, Russian and former Yugoslav archives.

Italy’s Foreign Policy in the Twenty-First Century: The New Assertiveness of an Aspiring Middle Power, edited by Giampiero Giacomello and Bertjan Verbeek, fills a gap in the middle powers literature in general because of its focus on Italy. Relying on insights from foreign policy analysis, it offers an innovative theoretical inroad into Italian foreign policy by linking European and international factors with domestic processes of status making. Finally, this volume focuses on actors, issues, and policy instruments in vital areas of Italy’s foreign policy rather than bilateral relations between Italy and other counties or regions.

In the heart of Rome beside the Capitol, confronting the Piazza Venezia, stands the Victor Emmanuel monument. In Rome, which until 1945 was so often accorded the adjectives 'eternal' or 'imperial', the monumentissimo (as sardonic socialists labelled it) is the most public, most theatrical and most excessive architectural celebration of post-Risorgimento Italian patriotism, nationalism and perhaps imperialism. This book asks why the Victor Emmanuel monument, planned after 1878 and opened in 1911, was a structure raised by Liberal and not Fascist Italy. Through a detailed study of diplomacy, of policy-making, of policy-makers, and of the distribution of real power in pre-First World War Italy, it demonstrates how important foreign policy, and a foreign policy of greatness, was to Liberal Italy. Weakened by economic backwardness, regional diversity, and the gulf between the legal-political world and 'real' society, Liberal Italy was nonetheless ambitious to be a Great Power. This monograph contributes to a number of major historiographical debates. It produces evidence which casts doubts on the thesis that fascism was a parenthesis in Italian history.

As a medium-sized power in strategic proximity to east central Europe, Italy has sought a special role in the region following the collapse of Communist regimes there. Building on historical traditions and cultural affinities, Italy has drawn on its newly acquired economic power and important position within the European Union to develop an "Eastern" policy, for example, as originator of the Pentagonale project for regional cooperation. As a result, Italy has often been perceived by east central Europeans as a key country in their efforts to become more closely integrated with western Europe. More recently, however, both ethnic strife in the region and the collapse of Italy's own political establishment have cast doubt on the country's ability to play the role that many east central Europeans as well as Italians hope it can assume in the future European order. In this timely volume, leading European and U.S. experts examine the multifaceted dimensions of what has been in many ways a unique relationship in contemporary Europe.

This book examines the Italy of the 1980s, which represents an unparalleled example of dualistic development - deeply divided between North and South.

Regions in Europe explores the state of regional politics in an increasingly integrated Europe. It argues that the predicted rise of increased political power at the regional level has failed to materialise and is fraught with paradox. In doing so this study locates regions in relation to European integration, globalisation, the nation state, local government, and comparative and national perspectives. Using case studies of the main players in Europe including: * Germany * France * UK * Italy * Spain * the Netherlands * Belgium. the contributors show how and why European regions remain remarkably weak in European governance.

Italy played a vital role in the Cold War dynamics that shaped the Middle East in the latter part of the 20th century. It was a junior partner in the strategic plans of NATO and warmly appreciated by some Arab countries for its regional approach. But Italian foreign policy towards the Middle East balanced between promoting dialogue, stability and cooperation on one hand, and colluding with global superpower manoeuvres to exploit existing tensions and achieve local influence on the other. Italy and the Middle East brings together a range of experts on Italian international relations to analyse, for the first time in English, the country's Cold War relationship with the Middle East. Chapters covering a wide range of defining twentieth century events - from the Arab-Israeli conflict and the Lebanese Civil War, to the Iranian Revolution and the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan – demonstrate the nuances of Italian foreign policy in dealing with the complexity of Middle Eastern relations. The collection demonstrates the interaction of local and global issues in shaping Italy's international relations with the Middle East, making it essential reading to students of the Cold War, regional interactions, and the international relations of Italy and the Middle East.