Iraq 1955: la diplomazia dell’amicizia italiana e il “bastione di cartapesta” inglese

The essay analyses the reactions of Italian diplomacy with respect to the Baghdad Pact. In the early 1950s, while France and Britain were obstinately striving to slow down the inexorable decline of their colonial empires and of their influence in the Mediterranean region, Italy was, instead, very keen on peace and stability in the Middle East, which was to be cultivated and defended by collaboration with all Islamic countries, and certainly not by military force. Italy was one of the few Western countries that could address the coastal Arab countries as a trustworthy, reliable partner, free from any neo-colonial aspirations and, above all, that respected the right of peoples to self-determination. This attitude was in the spirit of the Italian diplomacy of friendship, which was meant to be an original ‘Italian model’ of Mediterranean relations aiming at enhancing dialogue and cooperation between and among peers.