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L'Italia e la politica internazionale. Edizione 2004

20/06/2004

The fifth edition of the yearbook put out by the IAI and ISPI covers Italy’s politics and economics in 2003. The year was marked by two main events, although not of equal importance: the war in Iraq and the European Union’s process of constitutional reform. The war in Iraq has impacted decisively on the international order, transatlantic relations and Italy’s foreign policy. The first part of the yearbook examines the legal, political and strategic aspects of the conflict and speculates on the future of the United Nations and transatlantic relations, as the war caused a profound fracture between the United States and Europe and within Europe itself. In this situation, aggravated by the difficulties and uncertainties of postwar Iraq, Italy sided with the Anglo-American coalition, along with Spain and the new NATO members. The European Convention, the Thessaloniki summit and the six-month Italian EU presidency are the focus of the second part of the yearbook. It looks at the constitutional project and Italy’s commitment to concluding the Intergovernmental Conference positively by the end of 2003. The third part of the yearbook is dedicated to economic policy and gives special attention to international trade relations, Europe’s monetary and budgetary decisions in a particularly difficult economic context and the Stability and Growth Pact. The section closes with considerations on the pension problem at the European and Italian levels and world health policy in dealing with the SARS epidemic. Following in Part Four are the usual chapters on regional areas, above all the Middle East and the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. This issue also contains a chapter on the Holy See, which outlines its position on the Iraqi and Israeli-Palestinian conflict and, more generally, its strategy towards Islam.

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