ABSTRACT
This chapter examines many of the kinds of roles, missions, functions and tasks that the regular armed forces of many Western states have undertaken in the past century. In Italy and Spain, Fascist governments did not hesitate to employ their armed forces in a wide range of domestic operations, many of them designed to enforce their laws and, not incidentally, preserve the government. During the Cold War, most European armies were fully occupied with their homeland defense tasks, but were frequently tasked to support law enforcement organizations, particularly with regard to anti-terrorism tasks. Moreover, the Italian Army provided support to Italian law enforcement organizations during the kidnapping of US Army general James Dozier in 1981. Italian armed forces have participated in a broad range of civil support operations since the end of World War II, ranging from protecting key facilities and critical infrastructure to providing relief in the event of natural catastrophes.
