Cold War Republic: The 'External Constraint' in Italy During the 1970s

This article examines the relationship between Italian politics and the Cold War in the 1970s. It assumes that the close interconnection between the international and domestic spheres in Italy makes it an extremely significant case study of how the shape of the Cold War lasted in Europe despite global changes – and thus also helps us to appreciate Europe’s particular place in the Cold War. By bringing into the picture both sides of the national and international scene, it argues that developments in this decade - significant and tumultuous as they were - did not fundamentally change the pattern of political relations between Italy and the Cold War order that had been established in the aftermath of the Second World War.