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

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