Rethinking Italy's shrinking place in the international arena

Abstract

Italy’s international relations are re-examined in a historical perspective from the 1970s to the present. Italy’s foreign policy is shackled by two features inherited from its modern history: a focus on rank and prestige, and a faith in the redemptive character of the EU and other multilateral arrangements. The ‘middle power’ foreign policy model elaborated in the 1980s had a rationale of its own but it can hardly be adapted to the globalised world, nor can it be sustained by a deteriorated economic and societal domestic fabric. Italy has to rethink its basic national interests, adapt its foreign policy tools to new concepts of relevance and influence, and focus on a long-term, concerted effort at domestic regeneration if it is to withstand the challenges at hand.