ABSTRACT
This chapter examines Italy’s energy crises in relation to international transformations on the one hand and domestic political decisions on the other. It argues that a recurrent theme in Italian energy policies has been the inability on the part of the government as well as industrialists to promote a long-term coherent plan that can meet the needs of a country that has scarce energy resources. The chapter analyzes some of the main features of Italian energy policies during the Cold War, particularly between the end of the Second World War and the late 1960s. It also examines the consequences the 1973 oil “shock” had on the country’s energy plans and, in particular, on the economic, political, and social crisis that characterized most of the 1970s. The chapter focuses on the crisis of the 1990s and discusses Italian efforts to privatize the energy sector in relation to the end of the First Republic and the end of the Cold War.
