Italian Foreign Policy
Portal of the University of Bologna, Master in International Relations
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EDITORIAL NOTE
Economy, Obama and the Middle East: Challenges and opportunities for Italy
SONIA LUCARELLI (University of Bologna at Forlì), Editor of the Newsletter Section
This Newsletter touches on four challenges and opportunities for Italian foreign policy. Fulvio Cammarano deals with the jurisdisction over crimes committed by immigrants in European countries, making an operative "communitarian" proposal. Riccardo Rovelli deals with the current economic crisis, analysing the problems and possible solutions on the table and pointing to a necessary global and coordinated management of it. In this respect the election of Barak Obama in the US might provide an opportunity for both Europe and Italy. Federiga Bindi analyses challenges and opportunities for Italian foreign policy in the Obama era. The piece suggests a threefold solution to restore and reassess US-Italy: define, act coherently, communicate, and demand. Finally, Ruth Hanau Santini analyses the current situation of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and explains Italy's policy during the recent Gaza crisis.
IN THIS ISSUE:
FULVIO CAMMARANO
Illegal immigration and crime European states: something the EU should deal with
As a rule a crisis does not encourage separate entities to integrate. Whatever people may say, the instinct to protect one’s own interest prevails over that of staking it on some broader venture. Integration is usually favoured by fear. Europe was never so close to becoming one large political entity as when faced by the spectre of Soviet invasion in 1952.
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FEDERIGA BINDI
Italy - US Relations in the Obama Era: For a New Start?
Conventional thinking about Italian-US relations has it that Romano Prodi and his government did not connect with G.W. Bush – who was on the contrary a buddy of Silvio Berlusconi’s – and that Berlusconi now has a hard time with the new President Barack Obama. As is often the case, such wisdom includes elements of truth but is far from accurate. The reality is much more complex.
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RUTH HANAU SANTINI
Italian foreign policy vis-à-vis the Israeli-Palestinian crisis over Gaza:
substance or form?
Quite remarkably, when asked about the conflict in the Gaza strip between Hamas and the Israeli Defense Forces, Italian PM Silvio Berlusconi argued that it only needed a decisive step to conclude a lasting peace agreement between the Palestinian Authority and Israel (Il Corriere della Sera, 19 January 2009). Remarkably because, then as now, in the best case scenario, talks have merely hinged on devising a temporary truce, stopping the bloodshed on the one hand and international condemnation on the other.
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RICCARDO ROVELLI
Economic Policies for a Two-Sided Crisis: Complexity is Hard to Manage, but Don't Give Up
This crisis has two sides: finance, which is where it all began, and the recession. Most economists are at fault for a grave lack of foresight, at least in respect to the financial side. However, this is a guilt that we must share with many others, and especially with bankers and policymakers. Perhaps a more interesting observation is that the occurrence of this two-sided crisis points to an impressive failure of systemic coordination.
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The Newsletter section includes periodical series of short articles in English on various topics dealing with Italian Foreign policy at large. The newsletter will offer three sections:
(1) An editorial on Italy's most recent involvement in world politics
(2) A digest of the foreign press on Italian foreign policy
(3) A series of comments and focuses on specific aspects of Italian foreign policy and the most important events in international politics.
Contributions to the newsletter are open to the Italian and international community of scholars and policy analysts. Though not tied to any fixed dates, it aims to appear at least four times a year.
Readers are invited to send their comments or propose their contributions to:
info@foreignpolicy.it
