Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-q99xh Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-27T05:41:30.012Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Why did Italy contribute to UNIFIL II? An analytical eclectic analysis

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 July 2018

Lorenzo Cladi  and
Andrea Locatelli
Lorenzo Cladi*
Affiliation:
School of Law, Criminology and Government, University of Plymouth, Plymouth, UK
Andrea Locatelli
Affiliation:
Dipartimento di Scienze Politiche, Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore, Milan, Italy
*
*Corresponding author. Email: lorenzo.cladi@plymouth.ac.uk
Get access

Abstract

After the 2006 war between Israel and Hezbollah, the UN launched the peacekeeping operation UNIFIL II. Italy embarked on the demanding task of taking responsibility for leading the mission. We present a model of military intervention in multilateral operations that aims at highlighting the mechanisms at stake. In so doing, we argue that an analytical eclectic approach offers a novel explanation of Italy’s behaviour. We explain the drivers of Italy’s intervention in Lebanon in two ways. First, we analyse Italy’s actions at the outset of the crisis. Second, we provide an account of the parliamentary debate that took place in both chambers of the Italian Parliament between July and October 2006.

Keywords

ItalyLebanonUNIFIL IIanalytical eclecticism
Type
Research Article
Information
Italian Political Science Review / Rivista Italiana di Scienza Politica , Volume 49 , Issue 1 , March 2019 , pp. 85 - 97
Copyright
© Società Italiana di Scienza Politica 2018 

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

Andreatta, F (2008) Italian foreign policy: domestic politics, international requirements and the European dimension. Journal of European Integration 30(1): 169–181.Google Scholar
Andreatta, F (2001) Italy at the crossroads: the foreign policy of a medium power after the end of bipolarism. Daedalus 130(2): 45–65.Google Scholar
Brighi, E (2013) Foreign Policy, Domestic Politics and International Relations: The Case of Italy, London: Routledge.Google Scholar
Caffarena, A (2007) The Israeli-Lebanese war: Italy and the recasting of an effective multilateralism, in J-L Briquet and A Mastropaolo (eds). Italian Politics. The Center-Left’s Poisoned Victory , New York: Berghahn Books, pp. 154–171.Google Scholar
Calculli, M (2014) National prerogatives in multilateral peacekeeping: Italy in Lebanese perception and Rome’s role within UNIFIL II. Cahiers de la Méditerranée 88, 1–15.Google Scholar
Camera dei Deputati (2006a) Commissioni Riunite III (Affari esteri e comunitari) e IV (Difesa), DL 253/06: Partecipazione italiana alla missione in Libano, 6 September. Retrieved 24 May 2018 from http://www.camera.it/_dati/leg15/lavori/bollet/200609/0906/pdf/0304.pdf.Google Scholar
Camera dei Deputati (2006b) III Commissione Permanente (affari esteri e comunitari), Interrogazioni a risposta immediata, 28 July. Retrieved 24 May 2018 from http://www.camera.it/_dati/leg15/lavori/bollet/200607/0728/pdf/03.pdf.Google Scholar
Camera dei Deputati (2006c) XV Legislatura, Assemblea, 41a seduta pubblica, 25 September. Retrieved 24 May 2018 from http://www.camera.it/_dati/leg15/lavori/bollet/200609/0925/pdf/0304.pdf.Google Scholar
Carati, A Locatelli, A (2015) ‘Ticket to ride: Italy’s participation to multilateral missions and the preservation of its international status’. Paper presented at the BISA Annual Conference, June 17, London.Google Scholar
Carati, A Locatelli, A (2017) Cui prodest? Italy’s questionable involvement in multilateral operations amid ethical concerns and national interest. International Peacekeeping 24(1): 86–107.Google Scholar
Ceccorulli, M Coticchia, F (2017) Stick to the plan? Culture, interests, multidimensional threats, and Italian defence policy. Italian Political Science Review 47(2): 183–203.Google Scholar
Ceccorulli, M Coticchia, F (2015) Multidimensional threats and military engagement: the case of the Italian intervention in Libya. Mediterranean Politics 20(2): 303–321.Google Scholar
Cladi, L Webber, M (2011) Italian foreign policy in the post-Cold War period: a neoclassical realist approach. European Security 20(2): 205–219.Google Scholar
Coticchia, F Giacomello, G (2008) Esiste una Via Italiana alla Cultura di Difesa? Biblioteca della Libertà XLIII 193, 109–122.Google Scholar
Coticchia, F Moro, F (2015) Adapt, Improvise, Overcome? The Transformation of Italian Armed Forces in Comparative Perspective, Abindgon: Routledge.Google Scholar
Croci, O (2007) Italian foreign policy after the end of the Cold War: the issue of continuity and change in Italian-US relations. Journal of Southern Europe and the Balkans 9(2): 117–131.Google Scholar
D’Alema, M (2006) La politica estera dell’Italia. Affari esteri 38(151): 460–462.Google Scholar
Davidson, JW (2013) France, Britain and the intervention in Libya: an integrated analysis. Cambridge Review of International Affairs 26(2): 310–329.Google Scholar
Davidson, JW (2009) Italy-U.S. relations since the end of the Cold War: prestige, peace, and the transatlantic balance. Bulletin of Italian Politics 1(2): 289–238.Google Scholar
Engberg, K (2010) To intervene or not to intervene? The EU and the military option in the Lebanon war of 2006. Perspectives on European Politics and Society 11(4): 408–428.Google Scholar
Finnemore, M (1996) Constructing norms of humanitarian intervention, in PJ Katzenstein (ed.) The Culture of National Security: Norms and Identity , New York: Columbia University Press, pp. 153–185.Google Scholar
Freedman, L (1976) Logic, politics and foreign policy processes: a critique of the bureaucratic politics model. International Affairs 52(3): 434–449.Google Scholar
Gegout, C (2009) The west, realism and intervention in the democratic republic of Congo (1996-2006). International Peacekeeping 16(2): 231–244.Google Scholar
Gilpin, R (1981) War and Change in World Politics, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Giunchi, E (2007) La guerra in Libano, in A Colombo and N Ronzitti (eds) L’Italia e la politica internazionale , Bologna: Il Mulino, pp. 67–80.Google Scholar
Harnish, S (2001) Change and continuity in post-unification German foreign policy. German Politics 10(1): 35–60.Google Scholar
Hudson, K (2012) The New European Left: A Socialism for the Twenty-First Century. Houndmills, Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan.Google Scholar
IISS (2007) The Military Balance, London: Routledge.Google Scholar
Ignazi, P, Giacomello, G Coticchia, F (2011) Italian Military Operations Abroad: Just Don’t Call it War, London: Palgrave Macmillan.Google Scholar
International Conference on Lebanon (2006) Co-Chairmen Statement, Rome, 26 July. Retrieved 24 May 2018 from http://www.state.gov/documents/organization/98981.pdf.Google Scholar
Isernia, P Longo, F (2017) The Italian foreign policy: challenges and continuities. Italian Political Science Review 47(2): 107–124.Google Scholar
Johnston, AI (1995) Cultural Realism: Strategic Culture and Grand Strategy in Chinese History, Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.Google Scholar
Kaarbo, J (1996) Power and influence in foreign policy decision-making: the role of junior coalition partners in German and Israeli foreign policy. International Studies Quarterly 40(4): 501–530.Google Scholar
Katzenstein, PJ (ed.) (1996) The Culture of National Security, New York: Columbia University Press.Google Scholar
Keohane, R (1984) After Hegemony: Cooperation and Discord in the World Political Economy, Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.Google Scholar
Knudsen, TB (2013) The responsibility to protect: European contributions in a changing world order, in KE Jørgensen and KV Laatikainen (eds). The European Union and International Institutions: Performance, Policy, Power, Abingdon: Routledge, pp. 157–170.Google Scholar
Larson, DW Shevchenko, A (2010) Status seekers. Chinese and Russian responses to U.S. primacy. International Security 34(4): 63–95.Google Scholar
Legro, JW (2005) Rethinking the World: Great Power Strategies and International Order, Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press.Google Scholar
Makdisi, K (2011) Constructing security council resolution 1701 for Lebanon in the shadow of the ‘war on terror. International Peacekeeping 18(1): 4–20.Google Scholar
Makdisi, K, Göksel, T, Hauck, HB Reigeluth, S (2009) UNIFIL II: emerging and evolving European engagement in Lebanon and the Middle East. EUROMERSCO Paper No. 76, January. Retrieved 24 May 2018 from http://website.aub.edu.lb/ifi/Documents/images/paper76eng.pdf.Google Scholar
Markey, D (1999) Prestige and the origins of war: returning to realism’s roots. Security Studies 8(4): 126–173.Google Scholar
Marozzi, M (2006) Prodi: pronti a participate a una forza di pace in Libano. La Repubblica, 18 July.Google Scholar
Marsh, D (2008) Understanding British government: analysing competing models. British Journal of Politics and International Relations 10(2): 251–268.Google Scholar
Marta, L (2009) The UNIFIL mission in Lebanon: Italy’s contribution. Security and Defence – ARI Paper No. 125. Retrieved 24 May 2018 from http://www.realinstitutoelcano.org/wps/portal/web/rielcano_en/contenido?WCM_GLOBAL_CONTEXT=/elcano/elcano_in/zonas_in/defense+security/ari125-2009.Google Scholar
Ministero della Difesa (2007) Nota aggiuntiva allo stato di previsione per la Difesa per l’anno 2007. Retrieved 24 May 2018 from http://www.difesa.it/Content/Documents/nota_aggiuntiva/86808_NotaAggiuntiva2007.pdf.Google Scholar
Morgenthau, HJ (1985) Politics Among Nations, 6th edn, New York: Knopf.Google Scholar
Olmastroni, F (2014) Patterns of isolationism: a quantitative assessment of Italy’s defence and foreign policy from government alternation to ‘grand coalitions’. Contemporary Italian Politics 6(3): 285–299.Google Scholar
Panke, D Risse, T (2007) Liberalism, in T Dunne, M Kurki and S Smith (eds) International Relations Theories: Discipline and Diversity, Oxford: Oxford University Press, pp. 90–107.Google Scholar
Pirani, P (2010) ‘The way we were’: the social construction of the Italian defence policy. Modern Italy 15(2): 217–230.Google Scholar
Podrazik, P (2007) Reluctant to lead: the Lebanese conflict and the EU’s common security policy. Yale Journal of International Affairs 2(2): 4–16.Google Scholar
Pohl, B, van Willigen, N van Vonno, C (2016) Governmental interest, new Liberalism and the CSDP, in L Cladi and A Locatelli (eds) International Relations Theory and European Security: We Thought We Knew, Abingdon: Routledge, pp. 65–83.Google Scholar
Ratti, L (2012) All aboard the Banwagon? Structural realism and Italy’s international role. Diplomacy and Statecraft 23(1): 87–109.Google Scholar
Renshon, J (2017) Fighting for Status: Hierarchy and Conflict in World Politics, Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.Google Scholar
Robinson, P (2001) Theorising the influence of media on world politics: models of media influence on foreign policy. European Journal of Communication 16(4): 523–544.Google Scholar
Romano, S (2009) Italian foreign policy after the end of the cold war. Journal of Modern Italian Studies 14(1): 8–14.Google Scholar
Romero, F (2016) Rethinking Italy’s shrinking place in the international arena. The International Spectator 51(1): 1–12.Google Scholar
Ronzitti, N (2007) L’UNIFIL II in Libano: un bilancio della presenza italiana, Affari Internazionali, 10 December. Retrieved 24 May 2018 from http://www.affarinternazionali.it/articolo.asp?ID=683.Google Scholar
Salleo, F Pirozzi, N (2008) Italy and the United Nations security council. The International Spectator 43(2): 95–111.Google Scholar
Santoro, CM (1991) La Politica Estera di una Media Potenza. L’Italia dall’Unità ad Oggi, Bologna: Il Mulino.Google Scholar
Senato della Repubblica (2006a) ‘XV Legislatura, Assemblea, 6a seduta pubblica’, 19 May. Retrieved 24 May 2018 from http://www.senato.it/service/PDF/PDFServer/BGT/00208760.pdf.Google Scholar
Senato della Repubblica (2006b) XV Legislatura, Commissioni Congiunte 3a (Affari esteri, emigrazione) del Senato della Repubblica e III (Affari esteri e comunitari) della Camera dei deputati, Audizione del Ministro degli Affari Esteri sugli sviluppi della situazione in Medio Oriente, 27 July. Retrieved 24 May 2018 from http://www.senato.it/japp/bgt/showdoc/frame.jsp?tipodoc=SommComm&leg=15&id=215720.Google Scholar
Senato della Repubblica (2006c) XV Legislatura, Assemblea, 54a seduta pubblica, 17 October. Retrieved 24 May 2018 from http://www.senato.it/service/PDF/PDFServer/BGT/220628.pdf.Google Scholar
Senato della Repubblica (2006d) XV Legislatura, Assemblea, 55a seduta pubblica, 17 October. Retrieved from http://www.senato.it/service/PDF/PDFServer/BGT/220869.pdf.Google Scholar
Sil, R Katzenstein, PJ (2010) Beyond Paradigms: Analytic Eclecticism in the Study of World Politics, Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan.Google Scholar
Smith, CS (2006) Europe pledges a larger force inside Lebanon, New York Times, 26 August.Google Scholar
Sørensen, G (2008) The case for combining material forces and ideas in the study of IR. European Journal of International Relations 14(1): 5–32.Google Scholar
Tercovich, G (2016) Italy and UN peacekeeping: constant transformation. International Peacekeeping 23(5): 681–701.Google Scholar
The Economist (2006) Taking shape: Italy is ready to lead a UN peacekeeping force in Lebanon, with France taking only a secondary role’, The Economist, 23 August.Google Scholar
Thies, CG Breuning, M (2012) Integrating foreign policy analysis and international relations through role theory. Foreign Policy Analysis 8(1): 1–4.Google Scholar
United Nations (2006) Security Council calls for end to hostilities between Hizbollah, Israel, unanimously adopting resolution 1701. New York, 11 August. Retrieved from http://www.un.org/press/en/2006/sc8808.doc.htm.Google Scholar
US Department of State (2006a) ‘Statement by Group of Eight Leaders’, G8 Summit, St. Petersburg, 16 July. Available at: https://2001-2009.state.gov/p/eur/rls/prsrl/69054.htm.Google Scholar
US Department of State (2006b) President Bush and British Prime Minister Blair discuss the Middle East, Iraq, and Iran during meeting. Cottage Nine, Konstantinovsky Palace Complex Strelna, Russia, 16 July. Retrieved from http://2001-2009.state.gov/p/eur/rls/rm/69051.htm.Google Scholar
Valigi, M (2010) Il comportamento delle medie potenze in ambiente anarchico: un modello. Quaderni di Scienza Politica 17(1): 163–204.Google Scholar
Vanhoonacker, S, Dijkstra, H Maurer, H (2010) Understanding the role of bureaucracy in the European security and defence policy: the state of the art. European Integration Online Papers 14(1): 1–33.Google Scholar
Volgy, T, Corbetta, R, Grant, K Baird, R (eds.) (2011) Major Powers and the Quest for Status in International Politics, New York: Palgrave-MacMillan.Google Scholar
Waltson, J (2007) Italian foreign policy in the ‘Second Republic’: changes in form and substance. Modern Italy 12(1): 91–104.Google Scholar
Wood, S (2013) Prestige in world politics: history, theory, expression. International Politics 50(3): 387–411.Google Scholar