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„Pubblica Sicurezza“ in the European Context – Italy and the Internationalisation of Counterterrorism Policy (1972-1982)

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„Pubblica Sicurezza“ in the European Context – Italy and the Internationalisation of Counterterrorism Policy (1972-1982) IMT School for Advanced Studies, Lucca Lucca, Italy „Pubblica Sicurezza“ in the European context – Italy and the internationalisation of counterterrorism policy (1972-1982) PhD Program in Political History XXIX Cycle By Lisa Bald 2017 The dissertation of Lisa Bald is approved. Program Coordinator: Prof. Dr. Giovanni Orsina, University LUISS-Guido Carli, Roma Supervisor: Prof. Dr. Eckart Conze, Philipps-Universität Marburg Supervisor: Dr. Hagen Schulz-Forberg, Aarhus University Tutor: Dr. Domenico Maria Bruni, University LUISS-Guido Carli, Roma The dissertation of Lisa Bald has been reviewed by: Prof. Dr. Giovanni Mario Ceci, Università degli Studi Roma Tre, Roma Prof. Dr. Guido Panvini, University LUISS-Guido Carli, Roma IMT School for Advanced Studies, Lucca 2017 To Liliane & Sophie Contents 1 Introduction ....................................................................................................................................... 1 1.1. Outline and theoretical framework ................................................................................. 1 1.1.1. Aim and research questions ............................................................................................ 2 1.1.2. Studied time and area ..................................................................................................... 3 1.1.3. State of the art and contribution ..................................................................................... 5 1.1.4. Methodology and concepts ........................................................................................... 13 1.1.5. Studied sources ............................................................................................................. 22 1.2 Historical context: Italy in the 1970s ............................................................................. 25 1.2.1 Institutions and political culture .................................................................................... 25 1.2.2 Italy in its international context ..................................................................................... 29 1.2.3 Structure, understanding and legal base of “pubblica sicurezza” .................................. 33 2 The evolution of a multiple threat perception ................................................................................. 43 2.1 Terrorism – a communication process .......................................................................... 43 2.1.1 A performative grasp of counterterrorism policy .......................................................... 44 2.1.2 Security: a vehicle in political discourse ........................................................................ 46 2.1.3 Label “Terrorism” – securitising political violence ......................................................... 48 2.2 Terrorism as threat to order and security – the political debate in 1970s’ Italy ............ 52 2.2.1 The political debate on Italian terrorism: 4 phases ....................................................... 53 2.2.2 How did the debate precipitate in legislation ................................................................ 68 2.3 The transnational dimension of the Italian debate ........................................................ 76 2.3.1. Perception of terrorism and counterterrorism abroad .................................................. 76 2.3.2. Attacks on Italian soil by foreign terrorist groups .......................................................... 83 2.3.3. Links between Italian and foreign terrorist groups ........................................................ 91 2.3.4. Multiple tensions in the Cold War situation .................................................................. 97 2.4. Dynamics in the communicative field .......................................................................... 103 vi 3 Bilateral Cooperation ..................................................................................................................... 107 3.1 Italian‐German cooperation against terrorism ............................................................ 107 3.1.1 1972‐77: Friendly relations and prejudices.................................................................. 107 3.1.2 1977: Crisis and turning point ...................................................................................... 116 3.1.3 1978: “Every kind of support” ..................................................................................... 123 3.1.4 1979‐82: Systematic exchange ‐ technology vs data ................................................... 129 3.2 Italian‐British cooperation against terrorism ............................................................... 136 3.2.1 1972‐77: Slowly evolving collaboration ....................................................................... 137 3.2.2 1978 March‐May: The Moro abduction ....................................................................... 147 3.2.3 1978‐82: British aid to Italy.......................................................................................... 152 3.3 Italian – American Relations ........................................................................................ 160 3.3.1 Early 1970s: The PCI as a threat to Italian democracy ................................................. 160 3.3.2 March 1978: “An unusually good opportunity” ........................................................... 176 3.3.3 1980s: “An enduring task” ........................................................................................... 189 3.4 More than “big words, which fade after the case is over” .......................................... 194 3.4.1. Italian – German transfers ........................................................................................... 195 3.4.2. Italian‐British transfers ................................................................................................ 202 3.4.3. Italian‐American relations and transfers ..................................................................... 206 4 Multilateral cooperation against terrorism .................................................................................... 210 4.1 The EC TREVI network ................................................................................................. 213 4.1.1. Organising transfer processes ..................................................................................... 213 4.1.2. Structure and coordination – searching for the right measure .................................... 225 4.1.3. Impact of TREVI ........................................................................................................... 230 4.2 “Clubs”of internal security experts .............................................................................. 235 4.2.1. The Club of Berne ........................................................................................................ 237 4.2.2. The Club of Vienna and the Club of the Five ................................................................ 243 4.2.3. The impact of the “Clubs” ............................................................................................ 251 4.3 Counterterrorism in the NATO framework .................................................................. 254 4.4 Italy`s takeaways from multilateral cooperation ......................................................... 262 4.4.1. Italy’s takeaways from TREVI ....................................................................................... 264 4.4.2. Italy‘s takeaways from the “Clubs” .............................................................................. 267 4.4.3. Italy’s takeaways from the NATO Special Committee .................................................. 269 vii 4.4.4. The impact of the multilateral panels .......................................................................... 270 5 Conclusion …………………………………………………………………..………………………………………………….273 5.1 Transfer processes in politics, policy and polity ........................................................... 273 5.2 The conception of internal security ............................................................................. 280 5.3 Concluding remarks ..................................................................................................... 284 References………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….295 Published Literature .......................................................................................................................... 295 Unpublished archive sources ............................................................................................................ 312 Online archives .................................................................................................................................. 313 List of Figures A.1 European Cooperation against Terrorism 1972‐1982 ……………………………………………………...294 A.2 Möbius Strip…………………………………………………………………………………………………….……………….295 viii ix Acknowledgements The research for this work was carried out during the years 2013-2017 at IMT School for Advanced Studies Lucca, at Aarhus University, at King’s College London, and at Philipps-Universität Marburg. Many people have contributed to this study, and I am grateful to all of them. Firstly, I would like to express my sincere gratitude to my supervisors Prof. Dr. Eckart Conze and Dr. Hagen Schulz-Forberg for their support of my PhD study and related research; for their patience, motivation, and for sharing their immense knowledge.
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