The Mediterranean sea has been a key geopolitical territory in the global international relations of the twentieth century; of crucial importance to the US, the Middle East and in the history of the EU. As Cold War documents become declassified and these archives become accessible to western historians, this volume reassesses the secret war waged over three decades for control of the Mediterranean Sea. An ""American lake"" in the 1950s, a battlefield for influence in the Cold War of the 1960s, and an increasingly important political arena for the oil-rich Gulf States in the 1970s, the...

The book, which is the outcome of an international conference held under the auspices of the University of Florence, aims at sketching out, through the contributions by distinguished scholars from various nationalities, the origins and characteristics of the system which has been imposed on Europe between the end of the Second World War and the mid-1950s, as well as at analysing the most important consequences of the events which, from the fall of the Berlin Wall to the 'end of the cold war', have radically transformed the European scene.

As of a consequence of the ongoing economic crisis, in 2010 there was a marked deterioration in cross-border relations between Italy and Germany. In both countries the press published articles openly blaming economic hardship on the squandering attitude of southerners or the egoistic and mercantilist policies of northerners. The reigning confusion among economists, split between pro- and anti-Euro positions in both countries, could do nothing to counter this growing wave of populist nationalism.
Out of this situation grew the idea of organizing a conference to discuss the theoretical...

The present volume brings together three different traditions of historical study: national politics, European integration, and political parties. Since the 1980s, there has been an enlargement of the scope of political history. This attempt to transcend national boundaries can intersect with the new strands of European integration history, paying much more attention to transnational perspectives and forces. The chapters comprised in this book attempt to forge a dialogue between these new methodologies and the study of political parties in manifold ways. Firstly, in the study of party foreign...

The Mediterranean sea has been a key geopolitical territory in the global international relations of the twentieth century; of crucial importance to the US, the Middle East and in the history of the EU. As Cold War documents become declassified and these archives become accessible to western historians, this volume reassesses the secret war waged over three decades for control of the Mediterranean Sea. An 'American lake' in the 1950s, a battlefield for influence in the Cold War of the 1960s, and an increasingly important political arena for the oil-rich Gulf States in the 1970s, the...