The London School of Economics and Political Science Italy and The

The London School of Economics and Political Science Italy and the Community of Sant’Egidio in the 1990s. ‘Coopetition’ in post-Cold War Italian foreign policy? Carolina De Simone A thesis submitted to the Department of International Relations of the London School of Economics for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy, London, May 2017 Declaration I certify that the thesis I have presented for examination for the MPhil/PhD degree of the London School of Economics and Political Science is solely my own work other than where I have clearly indicated that it is the work of others (in which case the extent of any work carried out jointly by me and any other person is clearly identified in it). The copyright of this thesis rests with the author. Quotation from it is permitted, provided that full acknowledgement is made. This thesis may not be reproduced without my prior written consent. I warrant that this authorisation does not, to the best of my belief, infringe the rights of any third party. I declare that my thesis consists of 76,492 words. 2 Abstract The aim of this thesis is to explore a specific feature of post-Cold War Italian foreign policy, throwing light from a perspective blending Foreign Policy Analysis (FPA) and other International Relations (IR) insights, on the interactions occurred in the 1990s between the Italian state institutions and the Community of Sant’Egidio (CSE), a Catholic lay organisation, one of the most influential non-governmental organisations (NGOs) based in Italy, with a remarkable level of international activity. Firstly, this work offers a detailed account of the Italian “Foreign Policy Community” (Santoro 1991; Hilsman 1967 and 1993) and of the Community of Sant’Egidio, taking into consideration the international and domestic changes occurred after the demise of the Cold War, in order to understand where foreign policy governmental actors and a non state actor (NSA) such as Sant’Egidio fit within the bigger picture of the foreign policy process in Italy. This mapping exercise demonstrates that the country’s foreign policy setting is rather fragmented, featuring a) centres of power and influence scattered along different “rings”, according to the different issues and sub- policies at stake, on a case-by-case basis; and b) an institutional “inner ring” with a relatively high number of “access points” for external actors, i.e. a proactive NGO such as Sant'Egidio, which is located in the “second ring”. Secondly, after identifying slowly emerging “policy subsystems” (Verbeek and van Ufford 2001) in the specific foreign policy subfields of a) preventive diplomacy/crisis management and b) peace-making, in which the Italian governmental foreign policy machinery and the Community are among the extremely small number of actors playing a role and enjoying a certain degree of policy autonomy, this thesis focuses on these two foreign policy areas, in order to try to understand how relations unfolded between the two actors in the cases of the Algerian crisis of 1994-1998 and of the Mozambican peace process of 1990-1992. The examination of these events has showed both competitive (even conflicting) and cooperative relations, respectively on the Algerian dossier and in the Mozambican case. This thesis argues therefore that “coopetition”, a concept borrowed from literature on regulatory theory, and defined as “a flexible mix of competition and cooperation between governmental and non-governmental actors” (Esty and Geradin 2000), is – with some modifications – possibly the most accurate definition to capture the nature of interactions analysed. 3 Acknowledgements I would never have imagined to try to enter the final stage of my doctorate without the constant encouragement of my supervisor, Professor Chris Alden. I owe a tremendous debt of gratitude to him: I think he believed in me, in this enterprise and in this topic much more than myself, especially after the unexpected evolutions of my professional career outside the academia, occurred right in the middle of this long journey, started to seriously discourage me from carrying on. I am grateful to the institutions that have financially supported the first part of my PhD studies (LSE, Inpdap). Special thanks go to my family, close friends and colleagues inside and outside the LSE: they have all shared with me the enormous challenges of this invaluable but very demanding experience. 4 To G., who left us all too soon 5 Table of contents List of acronyms 10 Introduction 13 Plan of the thesis 14 Part I - Research outline, analytical framework, literature review and mapping of the object of inquiry 18 Chapter 1. Research questions, literature review, analytical framework and methodology 19 1.1 Chapter outline 19 1.2 Why studying post-1989 Italian foreign policy? 19 1.2.1 Why Italy as a single case study? 20 1.3 Main research question 21 1.3.1 Related research questions 22 1.4 Methodology 22 1.5 Literature review 24 1.5.1 Non State Actors in International Relations 24 1.5.2 State and Non State Actors (NSAs) in Foreign Policy Analysis 29 1.5.3 Catholic NGOs and foreign policy 31 1.6 Analytical framework 32 1.6.1 Definitions of the objects of inquiry 32 1.6.2 Relations between states and NGOs 41 1.6.3 Assessing relations between Italy and the Community of Sant'Egidio 42 1.7 Case selection 45 1.8 Contribution of this thesis to the existing literature 47 Chapter 2. Italian foreign policy after the Second World War. 49 Literature review 2.1 Chapter outline 49 2.2 Background: remarks on the study of IR in Italy 49 6 2.2.1 The belated and difficult establishment of IR in Italy 49 2.2.2 IR in Italy after the end of the Cold War 52 2.2.3 Consequences on the research on Italian foreign policy 53 2.3 Literature review 55 2.3.1 From the outside looking in. External-centred explanations 56 2.3.2 “Foreign policy begins at home”. Domestic-focused accounts 58 2.3.3 More complex interpretations. The international/domestic nexus 61 2.3.4 Studies on internationally active Catholic NGOs based in Italy 63 2.4 Conclusions: gaps in the literature and contribution of the thesis 65 Chapter 3. The Italian Foreign Policy Community after the end of the Cold War 69 3.1 Chapter outline 69 3.2 The Foreign Policy Community 70 3.2.1 Definitions 70 3.2.2 Time frame 72 3.3 The ‘inner ring’. The institutional machinery 73 3.3.1 Ministry of Foreign Affairs 73 3.3.2 Prime Minister Office 77 3.3.3 Ministry of Defence 79 3.3.4 Ministry of Economic Development 80 3.3.5 Foreign Affairs Parliamentary Committees 82 3.4 Between the 'inner ring' and the 'second ring' 84 3.4.1 Political parties 84 3.5 The ‘second ring’. Non state actors 86 3.5.1 Large business corporations 86 3.5.2 Media 89 3.5.3 Academia 90 3.5.4 Think-tanks 92 3.5.5 NGOs 94 3.6 The ‘outer ring’ 96 3.6.1 Public opinion 96 3.7 Conclusions. Back and forth from from the ‘second ring’ to the ‘inner 97 ring’. Possible interactions between the state and NGOs ------oooo----- Italian foreign policy between 1989 and 2001. Background 99 7 Basic features 99 Preventive diplomacy/crisis management in post-Cold War Italian foreign policy 103 Peace-making in post-Cold War Italian foreign policy 107 Chapter 4. The Community of Sant’Egidio 110 4.1 Chapter outline 110 4.2 1968-1973. The early days. The birth of an ‘innovative’ Catholic non 110 state actor in Italy 4.3 1973-1989. The Cold War era: quite a ‘classic’ Catholic-oriented NGO 116 4.4 1989-2001. The post-bipolar world: Sant’Egidio enters the 120 international arena 4.4.1 The Community and preventive diplomacy/crisis management 121 4.4.2 The Community and peace-making 124 4.5 Sant’Egidio: structure and who’s who 130 ------oooo----- A slowly emerging policy subsystem in preventive diplomacy/crisis 133 management? A slowly emerging policy subsystem in peace-making? 134 Part II - Empirical cases 136 Chapter 5. Italy and the Community of Sant’Egidio during the 137 Algerian crisis (1994-1998) 5.1 Chapter outline 137 5.2 Background 137 5.2.1 Algeria in Italian foreign policy 137 5.2.2 The Community of Sant’Egidio and Algeria 141 5.3 Relations between Italy and the Community of Sant’Egidio during the 142 Algerian crisis 5.3.1 Eruption of the crisis and first initiatives (1994) 144 5.3.2 Sant’Egidio’s “Rome Platform” and the government in a ‘wait-and-see’ 146 mode (1994-1995) 5.3.3 The governments weighs in: “no preconditions for parallel diplomacy” 156 (1996-1998) 5.4 Conclusions. Competitive relations 164 8 Chapter 6. Italy and the Community of Sant'Egidio during the 166 Mozambican peace process (1990-1992) 6.1 Chapter outline 166 6.2 Background 166 6.2.1 Mozambique in Italian foreign policy 166 6.2.2 The Community of Sant’Egidio and Mozambique 170 6.3 Relations between Italy and the Community of Sant’Egidio during the 173 Mozambican peace process 6.3.1 Sant’Egidio’s preliminary steps on the Mozambican dossier (1988-1990) 175 6.3.2 The government steps in: multiparty negotiations in full swing (1990-1992) 177 6.3.3 The signing of the “General Peace Agreement” (1992) 185 6.4 Conclusions. Cooperative relations 190 Part III - Conclusions and implications for further research 194 Conclusions. ‘Coopetition’? 195 Implications for further research 208 References 211 9 List of acronyms AIS Algerian Armée islamique du salut (Islamic Salvation Army) AVSI Associazione Volontari per il Servizio Internazionale (International Service Volunteers Association) CeSPI Centro Studi di Politica Internazionale (Centre for Studies on International Politics) CIRCaP/LAPS Centro Interdipartimentale di Ricerca sul Cambiamento Politico/Laboratorio

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