This book offers new insights into the position Italy has attained in the international community in the 21st century. It explores how the country has sought to take advantage of its passage from a bipolar to a multipolar system and assesses the ways in which it has engaged internationally, its new responsibilities, and the manner in which it conducts its policies in the pursuit of its interests, whether political or commercial.

Ludovica Marchi Balossi-Restelli (pen-name: Ludovica Marchi) is an International Relations political scientist, former Teaching Assistant at the University of Cambridge, UK and External Examiner on the International Relations and Global Politics programme at the American University in Rome.

Richard G. Whitman is Director of the Global Europe Centre and Professor of Politics and International Relations at the University of Kent, UK and Associate Fellow at Chatham House (the Royal Institute of International Affairs).

Geoffrey Edwards is Senior Fellow and Emeritus Reader in European Studies in the Department of Politics and International Studies at the University of Cambridge, UK.

1. Introduction Ludovica Marchi Balossi-Restelli, Richard Whitman and Geoffrey Edwards Part I -Context and processes 2. Italy in a wide framework Federico Eichberg 3. Processes of Italian foreign policy since 1989 - how black boxes can change Paul Furlong 4. The EU post-Lisbon milieu: a context available to Italy? Geoffrey Edwards Part II - Italy in a new global order 5. All quiet on the western front: Italy and transatlantic relations Osvaldo Croci 6. Italy in Europe: Between the first and second republic Antonio Missiroli 7. Italy and the BRICs - The political economy of a complex relationship Andrea Billi, Andrea Goldstein, Luigi Manzetti and Francesca Spigarelli Part III - Perspectives on security and defence policies 8. What is defence now for Italy? The armed forces Lucio Martino 9. Actors in defence decision-making in the light of contribution to European Defence Claudio Catalano 10. Finmeccanica: evolving the role of enterprise in Italian foreign policy Alberto DeBenedictis 11. Sant'Egidio's diplomacy in crisis areas Roberto Morozzo Della Rocca 12. Italy and the challenge of mass migration: risks and opportunities Germano Dottori and Emanuela Paoletti 13. 'Stable Unpredictability'? An assessment of the Italian-Libyan relations Nicola Chelotti and Elisabeth Johansson-Nogués 14. Values promotion and security management in Euro-Mediterranean relations: The case of Italy Fabrizio Tassinari and Ulla Holm 15. Conclusions Ludovica Marchi Balossi-Restelli, Richard Whitman and Geoffrey Edwards