Parliament, defense policy, and the Italian transition, 1987-2001

Since the 1990s, Italian military policy has experienced considerable dynamism leading to a redefinition of the interests of those involved in defense policy making, changing their perception of military issues and triggering change or accelerating those underway. Moreover, behind these pressures and in parallel with the prominence acquired on the government agenda, military security issues have emerged from the restricted and closed circle of experts to engage the general public and, through their views, influence policy. Nevertheless, only a few studies have analyzed these transformations through empirical research from a political science standpoint rather than from a historical, sociological, or legal one. Additionally, many studies focus on major decisions or just on the most striking ones, neglecting what is the “normal” defense policy making. Our goal is to fill this knowledge gap and conduct an initial survey of the changes that have taken place in this domain of public intervention at the dawn of the Italian transition.