The domestic foundations of Italy's foreign and development policies

Abstract

The end of the Cold War and the so-called First Republic produced new challenges and opportunities for Italy's foreign and development policies, as well as a new set of domestic factors shaping those policies. Despite various examples of bipartisan consensus, there are fundamental differences in the way the centre-right and centre-left coalitions now pursue foreign policy goals (i.e. neo-Atlanticism and pragmatic bilateralism for the centre-right, neo-Europeanism and effective multilateralism for the centre-left). In addition, the increased fragmentation of the political system and the politicisation of foreign policy have resulted in a number of quarrels within the two coalitions. Finally, the trajectory of Italy's development policy is opposite to that of its foreign policy: rising activism during the Cold War, declining interest since the early 1990s. Italy is one of the largest donors in terms of volume of aid – though only in absolute terms – yet it has faced a bipartisan failure in its relations with the developing world.