Italy in the International System From Détente to the End of the Cold War : The Underrated Ally

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 foreign policy. Front Matter ....Pages i-xv Introduction (Antonio Varsori)....Pages 1-12 Front Matter ....Pages 13-13 The United States, Italy and the Cold War: Interpreting and Periodising a Contradictory and Complicated Relationship (Mario Del Pero, Federico Romero)....Pages 15-33 Cold War Republic: The ‘External Constraint’ In Italy During The 1970s (Silvio Pons)....Pages 35-67 Under a Multinational Mantle: Italy’s Participation in the G7 (1975–76) (Marinella Neri Gualdesi)....Pages 69-94 Italy’s Foreign Policy in the 1980s: From Enthusiasm to Disillusion (Antonio Varsori)....Pages 95-124 Front Matter ....Pages 125-125 Mercantilism and Class Struggle: Italy in the International Economy, 1960–1990 (Francesco Petrini)....Pages 127-160 From Interdependence to Unilateralism: Italy and the Evolution of Foreign Monetary Cooperation (1958–1973) (Daniele Caviglia)....Pages 161-178 Reshaping Transatlantic Energy Relations: Italy, the United States and Arab Producers During the 1970s (Elisabetta Bini)....Pages 179-204 Front Matter ....Pages 205-205 The Emergence of Global Environmentalism: A Challenge For Italian Foreign Policy? (Sara Lorenzini)....Pages 207-225 Air, Space and Techno-Scientific Innovation in Italian Foreign Policy During the 1970s and 1980s (David Burigana)....Pages 227-251 Decay and Catharsis: Perceptions of the United States in Italian Political Cultures Between the 1960s and 1970s (Valentine Lomellini, Benedetto Zaccaria)....Pages 253-275 Development Cooperation, 1958–1992: Party Politics and a Foreign Policy Debacle (Elena Calandri)....Pages 277-298 Back Matter ....Pages 299-309