2003 Reports

Is Italy an "Atlantic" country?

Mariano, Marco

"In this paper I will try to outline the emergence of the idea of Atlantic Community
(from now on AC) during and in the aftermath of World War II and the peculiar,
controversial place of Italy in the AC framework. Both among American policymakers
and in public discourse, especially in the press, AC came to define a transatlantic space
including basically North American and Western European countries, which supposedly
shared political and economic principles and institutions (liberal democracy, individual
rights and the rule of law, free market and free trade), cultural traditions (Christianity
and, more generally, “Western civilization”) and, consequently, national interests."