Edinburgh Research Archive logo

Edinburgh Research Archive

University of Edinburgh homecrest
View Item 
  •   ERA Home
  • History, Classics and Archaeology, School of
  • History and Classics PhD thesis collection
  • View Item
  •   ERA Home
  • History, Classics and Archaeology, School of
  • History and Classics PhD thesis collection
  • View Item
  • Login
JavaScript is disabled for your browser. Some features of this site may not work without it.

Italy: defence industries and the arms trade 1949-1989

View/Open
MacIntoshEC_1989redux.pdf (53.88Mb)
Date
1990
Author
MacIntosh, Elizabeth C.
Metadata
Show full item record
Abstract
 
 
Italy became one of the major exporters of arms by the early 1980s, behind only the United States, the Soviet Union, and France. Although its position was later overtaken, it remained one of Europe's main producers and suppliers, without the presence of pronounced military and foreign policy ambitions at the state level. The military industries grew as a result of Italy's close association with other Western and in particular the American defence establishment beginning in the late 1940s. The Italians had access to some of the most advanced military technology through co-production and licence arrangements with its senior allies. By the 1970s, the defence area became the fastest growing sector of the Italian economy when markets were exploited mainly in the Third World.
 
Although about two-thirds of the industry was state-owned, Italian businessmen acted independently in selling arms through Italian trade networks which thrived with very little government direction or intervention. The absence of government assistance actually appeared to favour the export of Italian weapons, because the lack of interest in the sector also meant that Italy maintained perhaps the most lenient export legislation in the West. As the industry expanded, manufacturers availed themselves increasingly of representatives of the foreign trade ministry, the secret services and military attaches abroad in the promotion of Italian war equipment. And as Italy came into the circle of the world's major economic powers, its politicians attempted for a time to adopt the defence industry a's a tool of international prestige. However supporters of the industry did not resolve the contradiction between the low priority Italy continued to give to defence and foreign policy, and the success of the country's industrialists in supplying arms to areas of tension. As business began to decline sharply in the late 1980s for Italy's defence firms, industrialists turned to the possibility of reconversion programs.
 
URI
http://hdl.handle.net/1842/26707
Collections
  • History and Classics PhD thesis collection

Library & University Collections HomeUniversity of Edinburgh Information Services Home
Privacy & Cookies | Takedown Policy | Accessibility | Contact
Privacy & Cookies
Takedown Policy
Accessibility
Contact
feed RSS Feeds

RSS Feed not available for this page

 

 

All of ERACommunities & CollectionsBy Issue DateAuthorsTitlesSubjectsPublication TypeSponsorSupervisorsThis CollectionBy Issue DateAuthorsTitlesSubjectsPublication TypeSponsorSupervisors
LoginRegister

Library & University Collections HomeUniversity of Edinburgh Information Services Home
Privacy & Cookies | Takedown Policy | Accessibility | Contact
Privacy & Cookies
Takedown Policy
Accessibility
Contact
feed RSS Feeds

RSS Feed not available for this page