Abstract

This article examines how the Italian Christian Democrats dealt with the new international order after the collapse of the Berlin Wall. Based on a wide array of sources (documents of the DC and of DC leaders; party press; the DC’s conferences on foreign policy; American, British and French archive materials), the article offers three levels of analysis. The first introduces the overall position adopted by the Italian Christian Democrats with regard to the new international order, a position that can be described as a policy of discontinuity within continuity. The second level takes into consideration the pillars of the new foreign policy agenda of the DC after 1989: Europe and European integration; a strong relationship with the USA; NATO; the OSCE. The third level of analysis deals with the CDs’ attitudes and positions towards German unification.