Blog Posts - Fabrizio Coticchia

Difesa e missioni: necessario un dibattito pubblico nel paese

2/3/2020

Nell’attesa della prossima discussione parlamentare relativa all'approvazione delle missioni militari italiane all’estero la rivista Affari Internazionali ha avviato un interessante dibattito sul tema, con una serie di articoli a riguardo. Qui il link al contributo che ho fornito alla discussione. Qui sotto l’abstract del pezzo:
Alla fine del 2019 il Ministro della Difesa, Lorenzo Guerini, aveva annunciato l’imminente approvazione della delibera annuale riguardante le operazioni militari internazionali, confermando la presenza di truppe italiane nei principali teatri operativi. A gennaio, di fronte alle Commissioni Difesa di Senato e Camera, il Ministro ha ribadito tale impegno, evidenziando al contempo come la recente evoluzione dello scenario internazionale – dalla Libia all’Iraq – abbia influenzato il processo di ‘costruzione’ del decreto missioni. In attesa che si svolga finalmente la discussione in Parlamento, alla luce del processo di trasformazione della politica di difesa italiana negli ultimi decenni, ed in seguito ai cambiamenti avvenuti nel contesto internazionale e in quello nazionale negli ultimi mesi, possiamo delineare alcuni pattern ricorrenti nella modalità con la quale i partiti italiani hanno affrontato il tema delle operazioni internazionali. Questa riflessione consente di collocare il prossimo dibattito sulle missioni militari all’interno di un quadro di analisi più ampio e strutturato, evidenziando fattori di continuità, possibili elementi novità e pressanti necessità che caratterizzano la politica di difesa italiana.

Peaceful legislatures? Parliaments and military interventions after the Cold War: Insights from Germany and Italy

1/21/2020

My latest paper on parliamentary war powers is online. The paper (co-authored with Francesco N. Moro) will be published at "International Relations" and it is titled: "Peaceful legislatures? Parliaments and military interventions after the Cold War: Insights from Germany and Italy". Here below the abstract.
The article contributes to the growing debate on parliamentary war powers and shows how parliaments matter in shaping both force deployment and force employment. Through original analysis of the Italian and German decision-making on military interventions after the Cold War, the article illustrates how formal and informal constraints shape the opportunity structures faced by executives that are willing to undertake military interventions. Revisiting, and building on, the great deal of research recently emerged on institutional constraints to the use of force, the article details the types of costs – namely, transaction and audience costs – linked to involvement of legislatives in the decision-making and provides empirical support for theories based on parliamentary war powers, adding new dimensions of analysis.

“Aspiring and Reluctant Middle-Powers? Italy’s and Germany’s Defense Reforms after the Cold War”

1/3/2020

My forthcoming book chapter will be: “Aspiring and Reluctant Middle-Powers? Italy’s and Germany’s Defense Reforms after the Cold War”, F.Coticchia and F.N.Moro, in G.Giacomello and B.Veerbek (eds) Middle Powers in Europe and Asia, Lexington, (2020). Here below you can find a description of the edited volume: This volume presents three claims regarding the role of middle powers in the 21st Century: first, states aspiring to become or remain middle powers choose from three possible role: to be a global middle powers; to be a regional pivot; or to be a niche leader. Second, states seeking such roles need different mixes of hard and soft power sources. Third, more so than great or small powers, middle powers walk a thin line between the domestic and systemic pressures they face. In this volume, these claims are based on (comparative) case studies of Germany, Iran, Italy, Japan, the Netherlands, Norway, South Korea, Sweden, and Turkey.
Here the link to the table of contents.

Dimensions and Drivers. Military transformation in Italy and Germany

11/14/2019

Very pleased to present my current research on military transformation in Italy and Germany at the "Wednesday Brown Bag Seminars" at La Sapienza University in Rome (November 13, 2019).

Italian foreign policy and domestically-focused outsider. The case of Renzi.

10/17/2019

Glad to present my latest book (“Italian Foreign Policy during Matteo Renzi's Government: A Domestically-Focused Outsider and the World", with J.Davidson, Lexington 2019) at the University of Siena, on Tuesday 22 October 2019. I would like to thank CIRPAC and DISPOC for the kind invitation.