ABSTRACT
Italian participation in nato intervention in Bosnia was the result of what could be described as a two-level game. Italian policy in the context of the Balkan crisis fluctuated between solidarity, assertiveness and reprisal. The development of the Yugoslavian crises has obviously influenced, and restricted, the sphere of Italian foreign policy. Boutros-Ghali's request for raising the number of "blue helmets" in Bosnia—where the situation had deteriorated and where, for the first time since 1949, nato had opened fire killing four Serb militia—pushed Britain to propose to the Security Council an intervention by Turkish and Italian troops. In order to understand whether Italy will ever achieve a new structure for its armed forces, it is necessary to verify if the current ideological depolarization has attenuated the traditional differences among political groups in matters of defense policy. The 1994 elections therefore outlined, on the basis of new political proposals in electoral programs, a new consensus on the fundamental principles of security policy.
