Blog Posts - Fabrizio Coticchia

"La politica di difesa italiana nel nuovo quadro europeo"

6/9/2022

Nel nuovo numero della rivista trimestrale "Il Mulino" (2/2022, "L'Italia nella bufera") ho scritto un articolo, con Hugo Meijer, dal titolo: "La politica di difesa italiana nel nuovo quadro europeo".

"An International Peacekeeper. The Evolution of Italian Foreign and Defence Policy"

4/23/2022

Really glad to have published this paper (with A.Ruggeri) for the "Osservatorio IAI-ISPI sulla Politica Estera italiana". The paper ("An International Peacekeeper. The evolution of Italian Foreign and Defence Policy" is available at this link. Here below the abstract:
After the Cold War, Italy started to act as an international peacekeeper, deploying troops in dozens of military operations, mainly within multilateral frameworks. Recently, with the end of the “war on terror” and after the 2015 White Paper, Italy devoted growing interest and resources to the “Enlarged Mediterranean”. Despite Italy’s post-bipolar military dynamism, limited attention has been paid to assessing missions. The withdrawal from Afghanistan, as well as the debate about European Union defence and NATO, particularly after the Russian aggression on Ukraine, have emphasised again the need for a detailed analysis of Italian operations. This paper discusses the effectiveness of international interventions and the features and the trajectory of Italian missions. Three policy recommendations are advanced: the need to 1) create standard and systematic evaluations as events proceed; 2) establish transparent and inclusive assessments when interventions are completed; and 3) plan strategically for long-term proactivity rather than short-term reactivity.

"Italy’s Military Operations Abroad (1945–2020): Data, Patterns, and Trends" - International Peacekeeping (2022)

3/19/2022

"Italy’s Military Operations Abroad (1945–2020): Data, Patterns, and Trends". My latest paper (with V.Vignoli) has been published on International Peacekeeping. Here the link to the manuscript.
Here below the abstract:
A significant engagement in military missions is probably the most distinctive feature of post-Cold War Italian foreign policy. In the last three decades, Italy has participated in an extensive number of operations across the world, including those in Iraq, Afghanistan, and Libya. Several studies have described Italian troop deployments abroad, providing alternative explanations of the Italian military activism. However, despite a recent growing attention on the topic, mainly focusing on specific peacekeeping operations, a comprehensive investigation of the evolution of Italian interventions is still missing. In other words, a detailed picture of main trends, data and patterns – since the end of the Second World War – is lacking. This article aims to fill this gap, using the most detailed and complete data on Italy’s participation in peace and security operations to date. We show that Italian involvement steadily grew between 1990 and 2010 and decreased in the following ten years. Our empirical findings also indicate how Italy’s efforts were increasingly directed in the Mediterranean and North Africa region in recent years. The article contributes to the existing literature on military operations abroad by offering a broad quantitative perspective on the post-Cold War defence policy of a ‘middle power’.

"La NATO e l'Italia"

12/16/2021

Ho contribuito alla ricerca “Verso un nuovo Concetto strategico della NATO. Prospettive e interessi dell’Italia” (a cura di G.Natalizia e L.Termine) per l'Osservatorio di Politica Internazionale (Camera dei Deputati, Senato della Repubblica e Ministero degli Affari Esteri e della Cooperazione, dicembre 2021). Il mio capitolo si intitola "La NATO e l'Italia". Nell’intricata strada verso il nuovo Concetto strategico della NATO mi sono interrogato rispetto alle prospettive, alle esigenze e agli interessi (ancora mal definiti) dell’Italia

"A sovereignist revolution? Italy’s foreign policy under the 'Yellow–Green' government"

10/23/2021

My latest paper is online (and in open access): "A sovereignist revolution? Italy’s foreign policy under the 'Yellow–Green' government". Here the link to read the paper. The manuscript is part of a Special Issue on Comparative European Politics on populism and foreign policy. Here below the abstract:
In Italy, the Five Star Movement (M5S) and the Northern League (LN) formed a coalition government after the legislative elections of March 2018. What has been the actual impact of the populist executive in the Italian foreign policy? Relying on the (few) existing analyses that have developed specific hypotheses on the expected international repercussions of populist parties-ruled governments, the paper examines Italy’s foreign policy under the Italian “Yellow–Green” cabinet (June 2018–August 2019). The manuscript advances three hypotheses. First, the foreign policy of the Conte’s government has been featured by a personalistic and a centralized decision-making process. Second, the Yellow-Green executive has adopted a vocal confrontational stance on the world stage, especially within multilateral frameworks, to “take back control” over national sovereignty. Third, such sovereignist foreign policy was largely symbolic because of “strategic” populist attitudes toward public opinion and due to domestic and international constraints. The manuscript—which is based on secondary and primary sources, such as interviews with former ministers, MPs, and diplomats—aims at offering a new perspective on populist parties and foreign policy, alimenting the rising debate on foreign policy change.