Don't kiss and tell: The Italian parliament’s security policy: patterns of continuity and change after the 2022 general elections

After the end of the Cold War, Italian security and defence policy has radically transformed, becoming much more assertive. In fact, since then, Italy has deployed its armed forces in a large and constantly growing number of military interventions across the world, including those in former Yugoslavia, Afghanistan, Iraq, and Libya. This policy shift was permitted by changes in the distribution of power within the international system, but it would not have been possible without the consent of successive Italian cabinets, irrespective of their ideological leaning. Yet, in recent years a stunning variance affected Italian politics: after the full-populist Yellow Green (2018-2019) and the M5S/Pd (2019-2021) executives, a technocratic government led by Mario Draghi ruled until the 2022 general elections, when a (centre)right coalition came back to power. How did such change in domestic politics reflect on Italian defence and security politics? What was instead the impact of the evolution of external events (e.g., the war in Ukraine) on the approaches adopted by the new Meloni’s government? This article aims to analyse recent developments in Italian security and defence policy, confronting the current and the last legislature, employing a wide range of empirical material (as data on military deployments, parliamentary speeches and votes, elite interviews, etc.) to identify patterns of continuity and change. The paper focus especially on Italy’s reaction to the escalation of the War in Ukraine and to the different positions adopted by parties.