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Low expectations: does Italy factor into American foreign policy calculations?

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  05 February 2016

James Sperling
James Sperling*
Affiliation:
University of Akron, Akron, Ohio, USA
*
∗ Email: jcs4@uakron.edu
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Abstract

The American attentive foreign policy elite's perceptions of Italy as a foreign policy actor appear inconsistent with Italy's global role. The paradox of Italy's global status as a middle-power and the absence of status within the American foreign policy community raises three questions: What role should we expect Italy to play in American foreign policy calculations given its structural position in the international system? What role does Italy play in aiding or hindering American foreign policy objectives within the transatlantic community? Is there a disjunction between the American elite's subjectively low expectations for Italy as a foreign policy actor and Italy's objective importance for the successful realisation of American foreign policy objectives?

Keywords

Italian-American relationsforeign policyinternational financial crisisAfghanistan
Type
Research Article
Information
Modern Italy , Volume 15 , Issue 3 , August 2010 , pp. 259 - 276
Copyright
Copyright © Association for the study of Modern Italy 

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