The early revival of European geopolitics and Berlusconi’s comebacks in politics
Stefano Guzzini lectures at European Union Center of Excellence in Montreal
Illustration © Pexels. Jens Mahnke. copyright license
In the Lecture Series at EUCE, Stefano Guzzini will present both the results of his analysis on the unexpected revival of geopolitical thought in Europe right after the end of the Cold War and a discussion for success of Berlusconi in Italian politics.
The first lecture at the Université de Montréal on 16 October deals with the central thesis that the geopolitical revival took place right after 1989 and hence well before 9/11 and the different Russian crises. Based on a comparative study of the revival (and non-revival) of geopolitical thought in six European countries (CZ, D, EST, I, RUS, TK) in the 1990s, the research proposes to think of it as one of the possible responses to the foreign policy identity crises that foreign policy discourses experienced with the end of the Cold War. Seen in this way, the recent revival of geopolitics in Europe is following the revival of geopolitical thought and not vice versa. The second lecture at McGill on 17 October, entitled 'Why Berlusconi?', tries to locate Berlusconi's success in Italian politics less in the usual, and partly folkloristic explanations, but in the ongoing difficulty for Italian society to find a viable and legitimate social contract after the demise of the Christian-Democratic one in the early 1980s. Berlusconi appears here both as the potential saviour of such a contract (by putting old wine in new bottles) and yet, for his very particular position in Italian society and need to protect his own interests, also as the very reason he cannot create it.
The first lecture at the Université de Montréal on 16 October deals with the central thesis that the geopolitical revival took place right after 1989 and hence well before 9/11 and the different Russian crises. Based on a comparative study of the revival (and non-revival) of geopolitical thought in six European countries (CZ, D, EST, I, RUS, TK) in the 1990s, the research proposes to think of it as one of the possible responses to the foreign policy identity crises that foreign policy discourses experienced with the end of the Cold War. Seen in this way, the recent revival of geopolitics in Europe is following the revival of geopolitical thought and not vice versa. The second lecture at McGill on 17 October, entitled 'Why Berlusconi?', tries to locate Berlusconi's success in Italian politics less in the usual, and partly folkloristic explanations, but in the ongoing difficulty for Italian society to find a viable and legitimate social contract after the demise of the Christian-Democratic one in the early 1980s. Berlusconi appears here both as the potential saviour of such a contract (by putting old wine in new bottles) and yet, for his very particular position in Italian society and need to protect his own interests, also as the very reason he cannot create it.