Italian Foreign Policy in the 1980s: What Kind of Role?

M. .any have said that Italy does not have a truly independent foreign policy and that Italy is the most uncritical of America's nato allies. For example, Eugenio Scalfari, editor of the left-wing newspaper, La Repubblica, has called Italy the "Bulgaria of nato," and Enrico Berlinguer, secretary-general of the Italian Communist party, has charged that Italy is the "teacher's pet" in nato. Others contend that Italy has no foreign policy, or that its foreign policy has been beset by "immobility." Still others have argued that Italy's leaders have a "limited vision" which does not extend much beyond domestic affairs. In his book White House Years, Henry Kissinger took this view.