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Ace in the Hole or Hole in the Pocket? The Italian Mezzogiorno and the Story of a Troubled Transition from Development Model to Development Donor

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  27 December 2016

SARA LORENZINI
SARA LORENZINI*
Affiliation:
School of International Studies, University of Trento, Via T. Gar 14, 38122 Trento (Italy); sara.lorenzini@unitn.it
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Abstract

This article studies the Italian contribution to shaping the ideas and practices of development in the 1950s and early 1960s, when Italy changed from a case study for social scientists dealing with the problems of development into a model, and finally into a reluctant donor to less developed countries. It describes Italian thinking regarding economic and social development in the underdeveloped areas of the South. It also discusses the effectiveness of expert networks in promoting the Mezzogiorno as a case study of development practices in the 1950s. It then focuses on development aid to Somalia and shows how this could hardly be construed as a replication of the Mezzogiorno model in an underdeveloped post-colonial setting. Finally, through an analysis of Italian strategy within the DAC, the Development Assistance Committee of the OECD, it argues that the Italian authorities were incapable of building on Italy's economic miracle or making any significant contribution to Western development aid, squandering the trust acquired throughout the 1950s.

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Articles
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Contemporary European History , Volume 26 , Issue 3 , August 2017 , pp. 441 - 463
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Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2016 

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85 DAC/AR(64)1/12, PAAA, B58, IIIB1 381.

86 DAC/AR/M(63) 11 (Prov.), 5, PAAA B58, IIIB1 381.

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90 Respectively Document 81.01/7 Bonn, 13 Dec. 1963, Eventuelle Gesprächsthemen, PAAA, B58 IIIB1 329, and Bonn, 8 Jan. 1964, Deutsch-italienische Zusammenarbeit auf dem Gebiet der Entwicklungshilfe, PAAA, B58 IIIB1 777.

91 Aufzeichnung. Betr. Deutsch-italienischer Ausschuss für wirtschaftliche Zusammenarbeit (Dr. Sachs), 1–2, PA AA B58 IIIB1 922. A similar attitude is to see also in the 1967 meeting, see Tagung des deutsch-italienischen Ausschusses für wirtschaftliche Zusammenarbeit in Rom von 8. bis 9. Juni 1967, 2 Aug. 1967, 25.

92 DAC/AR (66) 2/12 in PA AA B58 IIIB1 591, 3.

93 DAC/AR (66) 2/12 and French comment in DAC/M (65) 14 (Prov.), in PA AA B58 IIIB1 591, 8.

94 Unger, ‘Histories’, 9.

95 See Mario Zagari quoted in Calandri, Prima, 86.

96 Bini, Potente benzina, 214.

97 In ‘Reflections on Regional Development’, 31 July 1963, quoted in Alacevich, ‘Postwar’, 105.

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