Policies Developed
Elements of a WGA can be found in some Italian policy documents. For example, early EU debates on the comprehensive approach were the main influence behind the initiative taken by the ministries of Defence and Foreign Affairs to draft a joint paper in 2011 and 2012 defining a national multi-dimensional and multilateral approach to crises (Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Ministry of Defence 2012). This was an informal conceptual document that required follow-up at the government level, which did not take place.
Then, in 2014, a new law on development cooperation confirmed that “international cooperation for sustainable development, human rights and peace […] is an integral and qualifying part of Italian foreign policy” (Italian Parliament 2014: Art. 1.1). Italy’s development- cooperation efforts, it continued, will pursue, among other things, “preventing conflicts, supporting peace-building and reconciliation processes, as well as post-conflict stabilisation and the consolidation and reinforcement of democratic institutions” (ibid.: Art 1.2(c)).
Furthermore, the White Paper for International Security and Defence of July 2015 (Ministry of Defence 2015), which was endorsed by the government, acknowledges the role of the armed forces in the context of a comprehensive approach (SSR, capacity-/institution-building, stabilisation, reconstruction), the need for more active non-military participation in order to achieve a global approach to crisis management, the increasing need for better coordination and integration at the national system level, and the need to work closely with diplomatic personnel, personnel from other ministries, and representatives of international governmental and non-governmental organisations. Then, a law passed the following year (Italian Parliament 2016) concerning Italy’s participation in international missions and operations confirmed a comprehensive approach to crises and conflicts by bringing together the participation of armed and police forces in missions and initiatives abroad with participation in humanitarian missions, CIMIC initiatives, development-cooperation initiatives and initiatives aimed at supporting peacebuilding and stabilisation.
However, the above-mentioned laws and documents neither provide for clear commitments nor contain guidelines for implementation or lessons learned processes. Thus, their actual contribution to the concrete implementation of a WGA is limited.
Policy coherence has been furthered mainly by the procedure aimed at approving and allocating for the coming year (but sometimes for a shorter period of time) the special budget needed to fund both military and civilian initiatives abroad. Since there has historically been little room within the regular defence budget for funding missions abroad, a special procedure was put in place, and the regular national budget now provides for a specific fund to finance international missions and initiatives. However, the allocation of this fund to different initiatives is dealt with via a separate, specific procedure.
Until 2016, this procedure provided for a decree with the force of law to be adopted by the government and then debated and enacted into law by the parliament within 60 days. Since 2017, however, the new provisions concerning Italy’s participation in international missions and operations from the 2016 law mentioned above (Italian Parliament 2016) provide for a different process. According to this process, a detailed proposal concerning initiatives to be continued, adapted or newly launched during the coming year is adopted by the government, and then it is discussed (together with a detailed report to be presented by the government on the previous year’s initiatives) and authorised by the parliament (by adopting resolutions that can provide for comments and amendments). Then, one or more decrees are drafted by the prime minister to allocate the authorised funding. And, lastly, the parliament has 20 days to provide its advice on such decrees before they can be formally adopted.
Whatever the procedure being followed, it has become usual practice to present parliament with a package covering various initiatives: military and police missions abroad; specific humanitarian and development-cooperation initiatives related to the crisis areas where those missions are deployed to or where conflicts are ongoing (N.B. The core of the funding for development cooperation and humanitarian assistance comes from the regular budget); and stabilisation, peacebuilding and other initiatives related to the same areas. This package, which bears general resemblances to a WGA to crises and conflicts, is meant to make the proposal of military/police missions more palatable to parliament by taking into account the concerns of the centre/ left political parties and their preference for civilian instead of military initiatives and, if necessary, for military initiatives that are limited in scope and duration.
In recent years, Italy has made progress towards a WGA approach to external crises and conflicts that focuses on countries where Italian military assets (including Carabinieri) are deployed under a national or multinational mandate and, in some cases, as the consequence of a long-term national commitment to a specific country (e.g. Afghanistan or Lebanon).
Italy’s experience with implementing a WGA also includes its contribution to international responses to natural disasters, namely, the 2004 tsunami in South-East Asia and the 2010 earthquake in Haiti. These humanitarian crises provided an opportunity for Italy to transfer abroad the well-established coordination mechanism from the national level led by the Protezione Civile, Italy’s national body for predicting, preventing and managing exceptional events. In particular, the WGA that characterised Italy’s contribution to the international relief efforts in Haiti provided inspiration to then-EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Catherine Ashton for her subsequent work on the comprehensive approach when establishing the EEAS.
Italy’s WGA covers countries in its former colonies and in the broader southern neighbourhood, including Afghanistan, Iraq, Lebanon, Libya, Niger, the Palestinian territories and Somalia. The fields of action can vary from country to country, depending on their specificities. However, humanitarian aid, development cooperation, stabilisation, cultural heritage, training and providing support to civil society and to the most vulnerable (e.g. women, children, migrants, people with disabilities) are always part of Italy’s WGA.
Among Italy’s main thematic priorities, the following are worth mentioning: First, so-called stability policing (SP) is one of the distinctive features of Italy’s contribution to the comprehensive approaches of the EU, NATO and the UN. The Carabinieri had a hand in developing the SP concept, and Italy has assumed a leading international role in developing its doctrine, in training and in actual deployments on the ground. This has also led to the establishment of structures and organisations based in the north-eastern Italian city of Vicenza: the Center of Excellence for Stability Police Units (CoESPU) for the UN and the African Union, the NATO Stability Policing Center of Excellence, and the European Gendarmerie Force (EGF/EUGENDFOR).
A second joint priority is women, peace and security. For example, Article 1 of the 2016 law concerning Italy’s participation in international missions and operations (Italian Parliament 2016) explicitly provides for initiatives aimed at implementing UN Security Council Resolution 1325 (and subsequent resolutions) as well as the national action plans on women, peace and security. Among the many initiatives, a Mediterranean Women Mediators Network was established in 2017.
A third priority is the protection of cultural heritage. In the belief that defending cultural heritage is key to fostering peace and sustainable development, Italy’s WGA always includes initiatives – also in cooperation with the UN and UNESCO – aimed at protecting cultural heritage from terrorism and mass atrocities; supporting Italian archaeological, anthropological and ethnological missions abroad as well as local cultural institutions; and countering the illicit trafficking of cultural artefacts and recovering illegally exported artworks.
Lastly, training is also one of the main priorities of Italy’s WGA. This embraces a number of different fields, including: police and military training; training of local workers (including transfer of technologies) in archaeology, restoration and historic conservation; and technical and legislative assistance in various fields (e.g. anti-corruption).