Hostname: page-component-cb9f654ff-nr592 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2025-08-06T13:44:50.515Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Italy's politics without policy: Balancing Atlanticism and Europeanism in the Middle East

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  18 May 2016

Raffaella A. Del Sarto  and
Nathalie Tocci
Raffaella A. Del Sarto*
Affiliation:
Oxford University UK; Istituto Affari Internazionali, Rome, Italy
Nathalie Tocci
Affiliation:
Oxford University UK; Istituto Affari Internazionali, Rome, Italy
*
∗ Corresponding author. Email: raffaella.delsarto@sant.ox.ac.uk
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Focusing on Italy's Middle East policies under the second Berlusconi (2001–2006) and the second Prodi (2006–2008) governments, this article assesses the manner and extent to which the observed foreign policy shifts between the two governments can be explained in terms of the rebalancing between a ‘Europeanist’ and a transatlantic orientation. Arguing that Rome's policy towards the Middle East hinges less on Italy's specific interests and objectives in the region and more on whether the preference of the government in power is to foster closer ties to the United States or concentrate on the European Union, the analysis highlights how these swings of the pendulum along the EU–US axis are inextricably linked to a number of underlying structural weaknesses of Rome's foreign policy. In particular, the oscillations can be explained by the prevalence of short-term political (and domestic) considerations and the absence of long-term, substantive political strategies, or, in short, by the phenomenon of ‘politics without policy’ that often characterises Italy's foreign policy.

Keywords

Middle East peace processItalian foreign policyAtlanticismEuropeanism

Information

Type
Research Article
Information
Modern Italy , Volume 13 , Issue 2 , May 2008 , pp. 135 - 153
Copyright
Copyright © Association for the study of Modern Italy 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Article purchase

Temporarily unavailable

References

Aliboni, R. 2003. La politica estera del governo Berlusconi. In L'Italia e la Politica Internazionale , ed. Colombo, A. and Ronzitti, N., Bologna: Il Mulino.Google Scholar
Bonvicini, G. 2007. Politica estera: l'irresistibile fascino della discontinuità. Affari Internazionali . Available online at: http://www.affarinternazionali.it (accessed February 2007).Google Scholar
Brighi, E. 2006a. ‘One man alone’: A long durée approach to Italy's foreign policy under Berlusconi. Government and Opposition 41, no. 2: 278–97.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Brighi, E. 2006b. La politica estera dell'Italia. In L'Italia e la Politica Internazionale , ed. Colombo, A. and Ronzitti, N., Bologna: Il Mulino.Google Scholar
Brighi, E. 2007. How to change your foreign policy in 100 days: A new course for the Prodi Government? International Spectator 42, no. 1: 129–40.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Caracciolo, L. 2004. Prefazione. In Semestre Nero: Berlusconi e la politica estera , ed. Pistelli, L. and Fiore, G., Rome: Fazi.Google Scholar
Colombo, A. 2000. L'Italia nella politica internazionale. In L'Italia e la Politica Internazionale , ed. Colombo, A. and Ronzitti, N., Bologna: Il Mulino.Google Scholar
Comelli, M., Greco, E. and Tocci, N. 2007. From boundary to borderland: Transforming the meaning of borders through the ENP. European Foreign Affairs Review 12, no. 2: 203–18.Google Scholar
Coralluzzo, V. 2006. La politica mediterranea del governo Berlusconi: continuità e cambiamenti. Paper presented at the Annual Conference of the Italian Society for Political Studies (SISP), Bologna, 12–14 September.Google Scholar
Croci, O. 2005. Much ado about little: The foreign policy of the second Berlusconi Government. Modern Italy 10, no. 1: 59–74.Google Scholar
Del Sarto, R.A. and Schumacher, T. 2005. From EMP to ENP: What's at stake with the European Neighbourhood Policy. European Foreign Affairs Review 10, no. 1: 17–38.Google Scholar
Dror, Y. and Pardo, S. 2006. Approaches and principles of an Israeli grand strategy towards the European Union. European Foreign Affairs Review 11, no. 1: 17–44.Google Scholar
European Commission (EC). 2006. Trade statistics with Iran. Available online at: http://trade.ec.europa.eu/doclib/docs/2006/september/tradoc_113392.pdf (accessed 6 November 2006).Google Scholar
Greco, E. 2004. La politica estera dell'Italia. In L'Italia e la Politica Internazionale , ed. Colombo, A. and Ronzitti, N., Bologna: Il Mulino.Google Scholar
Greco, E. 2006. Italy's European vocation: The foreign policy of the new Prodi Government (US–Europe Analysis Series, August). Washington, DC: Brookings Institution.Google Scholar
Greco, E., Padoa-Schioppa, T. and Silvestri, S. 2006. Europa oltre la crisi: quindici punti per la politica europea dell'Italia. In La Politica Europea dell'Italia , edited by Quaderni, IAI. Rome: Istituto Affari Internazionali. Rome.Google Scholar
Incisa di Camerana, L. 1994. L'Italia come avanposto occidentale. Limes 2: 181–90.Google Scholar
Lavenia, V. 2005. Tricolore a stelle e strisce: AN tra America, Israele ed Europa. Il Ponte 5, no. 61: 2–3.Google Scholar
Menniti, D. 2002. ‘Così ho cambiato la politica estera” Intervista a Silvio Berlusconi. Ideazione 9, no. 6: 17–8.Google Scholar
Ministero degli Affari Esteri. 2007. Direzione Generale per il Mediterraneo e il Medio Oriente. Il Mashreq . Available online at: http://www.esteri.it/polestera/aree/mediter.medior.htm (accessed 5 January 2007).Google Scholar
Nones, M. 2006. Le scarse risorse delle Forze Armate italiane. Affari Internationali . Available online at: http://www.affarinternazionali.it (accessed 15 February 2007).Google Scholar
Ranieri, U. 2006a. La missione internazionale e il ruolo dell'Italia. Affari Internazionali . Available online at: http://www.affarinternazionali.it (accessed 14 February 2007).Google Scholar
Ranieri, U. 2006b. L'Europa, le Nazioni Unite e la missione italiana in Libano. Affari Esteri 38, no. 152: 723–7.Google Scholar
Romano, S. 2004. Qualche riflessione sul declassamento dell'Italia. Affari Esteri 36, no. 144: 751–5.Google Scholar
Romano, S. 2006. Berlusconi: il rovesciamento delle priorità tradizionali. Affari Internazionali . Available online at: http://www.affarinternazionali.it (accessed 16 December 2006).Google Scholar
Silvestri, S. 2006. E' il momento del rilancio. Affari Internazionali . Available online at: http://www.affarinternazionali.it (accessed 12 December 2006).Google Scholar
Spinelli, A. 1967. Problemi e prospettive della politica estera italiana. In La politica estera della Repubblica italiana , ed. Bonanni, M., Milan: Comunità.Google Scholar