La specializzazione mancata : la diplomazia italiana e la tecnicizzazione delle relazioni internazionali

The paper discusses the adaptation of the Italian diplomatic bureaucracy to the growing complexity of international relations, which occurred during the Cold War. Starting from the late 1940s technicalities and scientific dossiers were included in the diplomatic agenda. Traditional diplomats proved to be unfit to understand and address by their own those problems. As a result, the diplomatic bureaucracies of Western advanced countries had to reform the structures responsible for the foreign policy-making. In Italy, this reform was only partially accomplished: the lack of openness of the diplomatic elite left the door closed to those technical experts, who could add value to the international action of Italy, both in the bilateral and in the multilateral arena. [Publishers' text].