Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-j824f Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-02T23:26:28.077Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Italy and the Balkans: The rise of a reluctant middle power

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  18 May 2016

Roberto Belloni  and
Roberto Morozzo della Rocca
Roberto Belloni*
Affiliation:
Queens University, Belfast, Ireland; Universita degli Studi Roma Tre, Italy
Roberto Morozzo della Rocca
Affiliation:
Queens University, Belfast, Ireland; Universita degli Studi Roma Tre, Italy
*
∗ Corresponding author. Email: [email protected]
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Since the early 1990s Italy has been engaged in promoting peace and stability in the Balkans with a growing amount of political, economic and military resources. At the beginning of the process of Yugoslav dissolution, the Italian polity was torn apart by a set of political and financial scandals that prevented the development of an assertive foreign policy. Over time, however, Italy was able to play a more relevant and constructive role. This article traces Italy's policy towards the Balkans from its modest beginnings to the present day, focusing on four key political/economic events: the war in Bosnia, the Telekom Serbia affair, the war in Kosovo and the support given to the nascent Albanian democracy. Generally speaking, Italy has provided a positive, although modest, contribution to bringing peace and stability to the region.

Keywords

Italian foreign policyYugoslaviaTelekom SerbiaAlbanian transition
Type
Research Article
Information
Modern Italy , Volume 13 , Issue 2 , May 2008 , pp. 169 - 185
Copyright
Copyright © Association for the study of Modern Italy 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Balfour, R., Menotti, R. and Micieli de Biase, G. 1999. Italy's crisis diplomacy in Kosovo, March–June 1999. International Spectator 39, no. 3: 67–80.Google Scholar
Bellamy, A. 2002. Kosovo and international society . Houndsmills: Palgrave.Google Scholar
Belloni, R. 2002. Kosovo and beyond: Is humanitarian intervention transforming international society? Human Rights & Human Welfare 2, no. 2: 35–43.Google Scholar
Belloni, R. 2007. State building and international intervention in Bosnia . London/New York: Routledge.Google Scholar
Bellucci, P. and Isernia, P. 2003. Massacring in front of a blind audience? Italian public opinion and Bosnia. In International public opinion and the Bosnia crisis , ed. Sobel, R. and Shiraev, E., Lanham, MD: Lexington.Google Scholar
Bonazzi, F. 2004. Telekom Serbia: l'affare di cui nessuno sapeva . Milan: Sperling & Kupfer.Google Scholar
Both, K, ed. 2001. The Kosovo tragedy: The human rights dimensions . Portland, OR: Frank Cass.Google Scholar
Bucarelli, M. 2004. L'Italia e le crisi Yugoslave di fine secolo, 1991–1999. In Europa Adriatica: Storia, relationi, economia , ed. Botta, F. and Garzia, I., Bari: Laterza.Google Scholar
Bugno, F., Montali, M., Rumiz, P. and Veronese, P. 1995. Noi cronisti ci identifichiamo con i bosniaci. Limes 3: 57–62.Google Scholar
Caplan, R. 2005. Europe and the recognition of new states in Yugoslavia . Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Chiarello, F. 2004. La connessione adriatica. I Balcani di fronte alla sfida dello sviluppo. In Europa Adriatica: Storia, relazioni, economia , ed. Botta, F. and Garzia, I., Bari: Laterza.Google Scholar
Conversi, D. 1998. German-bashing and the break-up of Yugoslavia . Seattle, WA: Donald W. Treadgold Papers.Google Scholar
Crawford, B. 1996. Explaining defection from international cooperation: Germany's unilateral recognition of Croatia. World Politics 48, no. 2: 482–521.Google Scholar
Cremasco, M. 2000. Italy and the management of international crises. In Alliance politics, Kosovo and NATO's war: Allied force or forced allies? , ed Martin, P. and Brawley, M.R., New York: Palgrave MacMillan.Google Scholar
Croci, O. 2000. Forced ally? Italy and the Operation Allied Force. In Italian politics: The faltering transition , ed. Gilbert, M. and Pasquino, G., New York: Berghahn Books.Google Scholar
D'Alema, M. 1999. Kosovo: gli italiani e la guerra. Intervista di Federico Rampini . Milan: Mondadori.Google Scholar
Gorgoni, R. 1997. Una guerra inventata dai media? Limes 1: 87–94.Google Scholar
Gow, J. and Carmichael, C. 2000. Slovenia and the Slovenes: A small state in the new Europe . London: Hurst.Google Scholar
Greco, E. 1994. Italy, the Yugoslav crisis and the Osimo agreements. International Spectator 29, no. 1: 13–31.Google Scholar
Greco, E. 2001. L'Italia e i Balcani. In L'Italia e la politica internazionale , ed. Bruni, F. and Ronzitti, N., Bologna: Il Mulino.Google Scholar
Hoare, M.A. 2005. How Bosnia armed . London: I.B. Tauris.Google Scholar
Hodge, C. 2006. Albania, Italy and Greece: Some geopolitical considerations. In War and change in the Balkans: Nationalism, conflict and cooperation , ed. Blitz, B.K., Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Holmes, J. 1993. La Politica estera italiana. In Politica in Italia: I fatti dell'anno e le interpretazioni , ed. Hellman, S. and Pasquino, G., Bologna: Il Mulino.Google Scholar
Lekić, M. 2006. La mia Guerra alla Guerra . Milano: Guerini e Associati.Google Scholar
Lucarelli, S. 2000. Presenza e impegni dell'Italia in Bosnia-Herzegovina e Albania. In L'Italia e la politica internazionale , ed. Aliboni, R., Bruni, F. and Colombo, A., Bologna: Il Mulino.Google Scholar
Ministero dell'Economia e delle Finanze 2004. Le relazioni economiche tra Italia e Balcani: Quali opere infrastrutturali e quando potranno favorire lo sviluppo del mezzogiorno? Rome: Ministero dell'Economia e delle Finanze.Google Scholar
Morozzo della Rocca, R. 1997. Albania: le radici della crisi . Milan: Guerini e Associati.Google Scholar
Morozzo della Rocca, R. 1999. Kosovo. La guerra in Europa: Origini e realtà di un conflitto etnico . Milan: Guerini e Associati.Google Scholar
Morozzo della Rocca, R. 2001. Roma e Tirana: le ‘convergenze parallele. Limes 2: 213–26.Google Scholar
Moscato, A. 1999. L'Italia nei Balcani: storia e attualità . Lecce: Piero Manni.Google Scholar
Perlmutter, T. 1998. The politics of proximity: The Italian response to the Albanian crisis. International Migration Review 32, no. 1: 203–22.Google Scholar
Pradelli, A. 2004. Il silenzio di una minoranza: gli italiani in Istria dall'esodo al post-comunismo, 1945–2004. Bologna: Lo Scarabeo.Google Scholar
Pupo, R. 2005. Il lungo esodo. Istria: le persecuzioni, le foibe, l'esilio . Milan: Mondadori.Google Scholar
Sciortino, G. 1998. The Albanian crisis: Social panic and Italian foreign policy. In Italian politics: Mapping the future , ed. Bardi, L. and Rodhes, M., Boulder, CO: Westview Press.Google Scholar
Scotti, G. 1996. Croazia, L'Operazione Tempesta: la liberazione della Krajina e il genocidio del popolo serbo . Rome: Gamberetti.Google Scholar
Tripodi, P. 2002. Operation Alba: A necessary and successful preventive deployment. International Peacekeeping 9(4): 89–104.Google Scholar
Urso, A. 2002. L'Italia e i Balcani. Prospettive e risorse della legge 84. Bari: Fiera del Levante.Google Scholar