ABSTRACT

Italy from Crisis to Crisis seeks to understand Italy’s approach to crises by studying the country in regional, international, and comparative context. Without assuming that the country is abnormal or unusually crisis-prone, the authors treat Italy as an example from which other countries might learn.

The book integrates the analysis of domestic politics and foreign policy, including Italy’s approach to military interventions, energy security, economic relations with the European Union (EU), and to the NATO alliance, and covers a number of issues that normally receive little attention in studies of "high politics," such as information policy, national identity, immigration, youth unemployment, and family relations. Finally, it puts Italy in a comparative perspective – with other European states, naturally – but also with Latin America, and even the United States, all countries that have experienced similar crises to Italy’s and similar – often populist – responses.

This text will be of key interest to scholars and students of, and courses on, Italian politics and history, European politics and, more broadly, comparative politics and democracy.

part I|32 pages

Introduction

chapter 1|30 pages

Italy in crisis

Eppur si muove

part II|70 pages

The political-economic nexus

chapter 2|23 pages

The canary in the coal mine

Movements, parties and populists in the Italian crises

chapter 3|25 pages

Disembedding the Italian economy?

Four trajectories of structural reform

chapter 4|20 pages

The trickle-down of corruption

Italy, Mafia, and the crisis of legality

part III|50 pages

Foreign, energy, and security policy

chapter 5|14 pages

Italian foreign policy after the Cold War

Crisis and the limits of a post-ideological foreign policy

chapter 6|17 pages

Running in chains

The transformation of Italian defense policy

chapter 7|17 pages

Between shocks and crises

Changes in Italian energy policies from the Cold War to today

part IV|79 pages

Societal change and adaptation

chapter 8|13 pages

Where have all the young people gone?

Generations, family, and work in Italy

chapter 9|31 pages

An Italian “integration crisis”

The role of the state and political actors in excluding immigrants and ethnic minorities

chapter 10|20 pages

“Va Pensiero”

The evolution of Italy’s information society

chapter 11|13 pages

Crisis or Improvisation?

A historical meditation on Italian post-war political development

part V|14 pages

Conclusion