Italy: an aspiring Mediterranean middle power wavering between bilateralism and multilateralism

Itália: uma potente potência média mediterrânea oscilando entre bilateralismo e multilateralismo

Authors

  • Lili Takács National University of Public Service (Hungary, Budapest)
  • Anna Molnár National University of Public Service

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.5752/P.2317-773X.2020v8n2p47-69

Keywords:

Italy, Mediterranean, middle power, armed forces, foreign policy

Abstract

Italy managed to be an important actor in European affairs, its status as major power was several times called into question. Italy’s domestic political instability, the frequent government crises, severe economic and financial problems hinder the country’s goal to become a recognized middle power, especially in the Mediterranean region. Bilateral and multilateral tools are used alternately by government coalitions to carry out foreign policy which has been dominated by migration. Due to the afore-mentioned internal problems security and defence policy is not capable of supporting foreign policy to the necessary extent.

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Author Biographies

Lili Takács, National University of Public Service (Hungary, Budapest)

Lili Takács is a PhD candidate at Doctoral School of Military Sciences at the National University of Public Service in Budapest. Her research focuses on Italian foreign and security policy within the Mediterranean region, and Italian-Libyan relations.

Anna Molnár, National University of Public Service

Anna Molnár is an Associate Professor at the National University of Public Service (Budapest) and Head of the Department of International Security Studies. She is the Head of International Public Management bachelor’s program. She was the Head of Programme of MA in international studies at the University of Pannonia at the University of Pannonia (Institute of Social Sciences and International Studies, Veszprém) between 2010 and 2013. She received her Ph.D. in international relations from the Corvinus University of Budapest (2003). Her published papers cover a wide range of topics whose central theme is focusing on security studies, EU CFSP/ CSDP, europeanization of Hungary, the European Union’s Mediterranean policy and on the Italian history and politics. She gives courses at Hungarian and foreign universities on European integration, international studies and Italian politics. She had a Bolyai Research Fellowship of the Hungarian Academy of Science (2007–2010).

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Published

2020-07-31

How to Cite

Takács, L., & Molnár, A. (2020). Italy: an aspiring Mediterranean middle power wavering between bilateralism and multilateralism: Itália: uma potente potência média mediterrânea oscilando entre bilateralismo e multilateralismo. Estudos Internacionais: International Relations Journal of PUC Minas, 8(2), 47–69. https://doi.org/10.5752/P.2317-773X.2020v8n2p47-69

Issue

Vol. 8 No. 2 (2020): ESTUDOS INTERNACIONAIS - JULHO

Section

Artigos

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