"Least of the great powers" is a label used to conceptualizeItaly's status as a borderlinegreat power.[1][2][3][4] The concept originated with theunification of the country in the late 19th century, when the newly establishedKingdom of Italy was invited into thegreat power system, a promotion from themiddle power status of its predecessorPiedmont-Sardinia. However, the Italian military,colonial and industrial output, while too significant to be ignored, could not rival that of the rest of the great powers. In the 21st century, Italy is part of great power concerts such as theEU trio, theNATO Quint, theG7 and variousInternational Contact Groups.[5][6][7][8][9][10] Italy is also one of the world'smajor economies, one of theUN's core financial supporters, the leading nation of theUniting for Consensus, and leads inshipping services,[11]air transport, andindustrial development. Similar terms used by academics to describe Italy's role in global affairs include "awkward great power",[12] "intermittent major power",[13] and "small great power".[14]
Italy's great power strength includesa vast advanced economy[15][16] (in terms ofnational wealth, net wealth per capita and nationalGDP), a strong manufacturing industry (ranking 7th on thelist of countries by manufacturing output),[17] a largeluxury goods market,[18] a largenational budget and the third largestgold reserve in the world. It has one of the largestSDRs and Voting Power in theIMF.[19] The country is acultural superpower[20] and it has close ties with the rest of theCatholic world as the home of thePope. Italy is a key player in maintaininginternational security, especially in the wider Mediterranean region,[note 1] by performingair policing duties for its allies and commanding multinational forces in foreign countries. The country has therefore developed considerable military capabilities by building twoaircraft carriers and establishing someoverseas military bases. The Italian navy was the first to launch anintermediate-range ballistic missile from the sea, anUGM-27 Polaris launched from the cruiserGiuseppe Garibaldi. The country is home to two nuclear bases and, as part of theNATO nuclear sharing program, therefore has a retaliatory nuclear capacity despite nominally being a non-nuclear state. According to the former Italian PresidentFrancesco Cossiga, Italy's plans of nuclear retaliation during theCold War consisted of targeting nuclear weapons inCzechoslovakia andHungary in case theSoviet Union waged nuclear war against NATO.[21] He acknowledged the presence of U.S. nuclear weapons in Italy, and speculated about the possible presence of British and French nuclear weapons.[22]
Italy secretly developed its ownnuclear weapons program, and one in collaboration with France and Germany, but abandoned such projects when it joined the nuclear sharing program.[23][24] The country has developed theABMPAAMS system.[25] It has developed several space-launch vehicles such asAlfa and more recentlyVega. In more recent years, under the auspices ofEuropean space agency, it has demonstrated thereentry and landing of a spacecraft, theIntermediate eXperimental Vehicle. Italy is home of one of two ground operations centres of theGalileo global satellite navigation system.
Italycontributes greatly to scientific research[citation needed] and operates some permanentresearch stations in Antarctica. In terms of spaceflight capability, the country owns theBroglio Space Centre. The country is a major contributor to theEuropean Space Agency and theInternational Space Station.
Italy is regarded as strong militarily, with theItalian Armed Forces having the 12th-largest budget in the world and 168,000 active military personnel.
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Italy's weakness and structural problems include internal political instability, a largepublic debt,[26] slow economic and productivity growth[26][27], and significant economic drag imposed by the productivity insouthern Italy[28], partially caused by longstandingpublic corruption, which has required ongoing fiscal support from the more prosperousnorth, placing a strain on the national budget.
Following theRisorgimento, the newly united Italy was recognized as the "sixth great power" byAustria,Prussia,France,Russia and theUnited Kingdom.[29] Italians achieved unification following a series of wars against Austria and theKingdom of the Two Sicilies, securing national unification in 1861; Rome became the country's capital in 1871, following thecapture of the city a year before.[30][31][32] The same year Italy was admitted into the concert of great powers as a signatory of theTreaty of London (1871). In 1882, Italy formed theTriple Alliance with Germany andAustria-Hungary. In the same year, the coastal town ofAssab on theRed Sea was taken over by the Italian government, becoming Italy's first overseas territory.
Italydefeated the Ottoman Empire in 1911–1912.[33] By 1914, Italy had acquiredEritrea, a large protectorate inSomalia and administrative authority in formerly TurkishLibya. Outside of Africa, Italy possessed a smallconcession in Tientsin in China (following the intervention of theEight-Nation Alliance in theBoxer Rebellion) and theDodecanese Islands off the coast of Turkey.
Italy took part inWorld War I against the Central Powers as aprincipal allied power alonhwith France, the UK andJapan. It defeated the Austrian Empire atVittorio Veneto in 1918 and became one of the permanent members of theLeague of Nations' executive council.
TheFascist government that came to power withBenito Mussolini in 1922 sought to increase the size of the Italian empire and to satisfy the claims ofItalian irredentists. In 1935–36, in itssecond invasion of Ethiopia Italy was successful andmerged its new conquest with its older east African colonies. In 1939,Italy invaded Albania (brought under Italian protection in the previous decades)[34] and incorporated it into the Fascist state. DuringWorld War II, Italy fought first as one of theAxis powers along withGermany and Japan (1940-1943) and, following the armistice signed with the Anglo-Americans and the subsequentGerman invasion with the emergence of theItalian resistance movement, as a co-belligerent of the Allies (1943-1945).
Following thecivil war and the economic depression caused by World War II, Italy enjoyed aneconomic miracle, promoted European unity, joined NATO and became an active member of the European Union.[35] Italy was granted aUnited Nations trust territory toadminister Somaliland in 1950. When Somalia became independent in 1960, Italy's eight-decade experience with colonialism ended.
For most of the second half of the 20th century, theChristian Democrats dominated the Italian political landscape pursuing a foreign policy aimed at strengthening East–West dialogue. As a consequence of that, Italy decided to build close relations with the Arab world and the USSR despite being part of thefree world.
In 1962, Prime MinisterAmintore Fanfani favoured the compromise between the US and the Soviet Union during theCuban Missile Crisis by removing theJupiter ballistic missiles from Italian soil.
In the 80s, under the leadership of the socialistBettino Craxi, Italy acted as an aggressive regional power in the Mediterranean. Craxi warnedGaddafi of the1986 United States bombing of Libya, allowing him to survive the attack, and ordered the Italian intelligence services to plan acoup d'état in Tunisia supporting the instalment ofZine El Abidine Ben Ali as the new president of the country.
Giulio Andreotti was the last Christian Democrat to serve as Prime Minister between 1989 and 1992. Despite being hostile toGerman reunification, he became one of the fathers of theMaastricht Treaty along with German ChancellorHelmut Kohl and French PresidentFrançois Mitterrand, often in contrast withMargaret Thatcher.
U.S., Russia, China, France, Germany, U.K. and Italy - Table on page 56,72 (Major powers-great power criteria)
Traditionally, great powers have been defined by their global reach and ability to direct the flow of international affairs. There are a number of recognised great powers within the context of contemporary international relations – with Great Britain, France, India and Russia recognised as nuclear capable great powers, while Germany, Italy and Japan are identified as conventional great powers