Italy: an aspiring Mediterranean middle power wavering between bilateralism and multilateralism

• Main Authors: Lili Takács, Anna Molnár
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Pontifícia Universidade Católica de Minas Gerais 2020-07-01
• Series: Estudos Internacionais
• Subjects: Italy; Mediterranean; middle power; armed forces; foreign policy
• Online Access: http://periodicos.pucminas.br/index.php/estudosinternacionais/article/view/21129

Italy managed to be an important actor in European affairs, its status as major power was several times called into question. Italy’s domestic political instability, the frequent government crises, severe economic and financial problems hinder the country’s goal to become a recognized middle power, especially in the Mediterranean region. Bilateral and multilateral tools are used alternately by government coalitions to carry out foreign policy which has been dominated by migration. Due to the afore-mentioned internal problems security and defence policy is not capable of supporting foreign policy to the necessary extent.