IRDISP-RESEARCH INSTITUTE FOR DISARMAMENT, DEVELOPMENT AND PEACE

ABSTRACT: Fine that there is the arms race, but what has Italy to do with it? Aren't the U.S. and the Soviet Union the promoters of such race? It is true that the two superpowers are the chief responsibles for the arms race. The chief ones but not the only ones. Italy has its share of responsibility as well. A smaller share, but not a negligible one. In absolute numbers, Italy's military expenditure in 1985 was the eighth of the world. As regards the number of men at arms, it is among the first fifteen countries. And the Italians are in the first six positions among the world exporters of armaments. The weight of the military sector on the whole of the Italian economy is still rather limited: The expenditure accounts for 2.7% of the gross domestic product; arms represent 2.7% of the wealth produced by the industry, and 2.3% of the exports. Moreover, the military threats to the security of Italy are less serious than those which many other international actors have to face - including many of our allies. Ther

efore, Italy is in a situation that offers many opportunities to contain the expenditure, experiment conversions to civilian uses of the military productions, and promote a realistic security policy aimed to achieve detente.

Unfortunately, these opportunities are dropped. In fact, there has been a tendency to expansion over the last decade which must be urgently stopped. As of the mid-seventies, Italy has become one of the major exporters of weapons systems, and its military expenditure exceeds the annual growth rates decided at the NATO level. That same period marks the rise of the supporters of a "new military role" for Italy in the Mediterranean. The "White Paper" presented by the Minister of Defence Spadolini in winter 84-85 summarizes and pinpoints these developments, obviously from the point of view of a person who supports them and hopes that they will continue. This book on the contrary highlights the doubts, the questions, the alternative proposals compared to what has been to this moment a monologue carried out by the establishment.

("ITALY AND THE ARMS RACE" - A counter-White Paper of defence - edited by Marco De Andreis and Paolo Miggiano - Preface by Roberto Cicciomessere - Franco Angeli Libri, 1987, Milan)

INTRODUCTION

"Fine that there is the arms race", someone might say, "but what has Italy got to with it?" Aren't the United States and the Soviet Union the promoters of such race?

One of the ambitions of this book is precisely that of informing the readers on the role played by our country in this senseless global race in squandering resources on arms. Arms which less and less give security to those who buy them and instead jeopardize the survival of the human kind.

In absolute figures (Cf. "Sipri Yearbook 1986", pp. 233-237), Italy's military spending in 1985 was the eight of the world. As to the number of men at arms, we are among the fifteen first. And the Italians are in the first six positions among the world exporters of armaments. Therefore we have to realize that we have our share of responsibility, smaller than that of the two superpower, but not a negligible one. The weight of the military sector on the whole of the Italian economy is still rather limited: military spending accounts for 2.7% of the gross domestic product; arms represent 2.7% of the wealth produced by the industry, and 2.3% of the exports. These data should encourage a serious effort to contain the spending and to convert the production to civilian uses. In other countries with a two-digit percentage of incidence, all this would be clearly more difficult politically and more painful socially. Moreover, the military threats to the security of Italy are less serious than those which many other in

ternational actors have to face - including many of our allies.

Unfortunately, these opportunities are neglected. In fact, there has been a tendency to expansion over the last decade which must be urgently stopped. As of the mid-seventies, Italy has become one of the major exporters of weapons systems, and its military spending exceeds the annual growth rates decided at the NATO level. That same period marks the rise of the supporters of a "new military role" for Italy in the Mediterranean.

The "White Paper" presented by the Minister of Defence Spadolini in winter 84-85 summarizes and pinpoints these developments, obviously from the point of view of a person who supports them and hopes that they will continue. Hence the subtitle of this book, a "counter-White Paper of Defence". In our opinion it is all the more urgent to express the doubts, the questions, the alternative proposals. This is necessary if we want what has been to this moment a monologue carried out by the establishment to become a real debate on Italy's security policy. Another of this book's ambitions is contributing to achieve this objective. But in this case too, we want to achieve this by informing the readers. We have cause to believe that the readers will find more data and information here than in the official "White Paper".

The first three chapters of the book do not directly or exclusively concern Italy's military policy. The first and second deal with aspects of the U.S. strategic policy--respectively the control of the nuclear forces and "star wars"--which it is no exaggeration to consider of vital importance. We need not use too many words to explain how much of our security as citizens of the world depends on the U.S.' strategic decisions. The third chapter focuses instead on analysing the Italian situation in the wider framework of the Atlantic debate on the various countries' contributions to common defence: the author's interpretation as you will see is that of the economic theory of alliances. It is a new approach in Italy, which we hope will contribute to doing away with the oversimplification with which even the official "White Paper" dismissed such issues. The other five chapters concern more specifically Italy's military policy and need no further introduction.

Note that the various chapters have been completed in different periods, in a lapse of time between February and August 1986. We realize that more material has been published before the publishing of the book. However, it is necessary to "close" the book sooner or later, or nothing on contemporary events could ever be written.

The list of people to thank for their contribution would be endless, as usual. We apologize for those we left out, thanking only six people.

Roberto Cicciomessere, president of Irdisp, whose innate impatience this book--which it took one year to complete--seriously tried; Alessandro Liberati and Mauro Marč, whose civil service at the Irdisp resulted in far more than their contribution as authors. Claudio Barucca and Frabrizio Fasso, whose technical advice was crucial in developing the database on the Defence's budget. Fabiana Bologna, whose long hours in front of the screen and keyboard prevented further delays".

Marco De Andreis

Paolo Miggiano

Rome, September 1986