IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/cog/poango/v11y2023i4p177-187.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Varieties of Anti‐Globalism: The Italian Government’s Evolving Stance on the EU’s Investment Screening Mechanism

Author

Listed:
  • Antonio Calcara

    (Department of Political Science, University of Antwerp, Belgium)

  • Arlo Poletti

    (Department of Sociology and Social Research, University of Trento, Italy)

Abstract

In 2017, Italy, France, and Germany jointly supported the setting up of an EU-wide investment screening mechanism to strengthen the EU’s capacity to screen and eventually block foreign investments. In a few months, however, the Italian government changed position dramatically, shifting from leading supporter to staunchest opposer of this pol-icy initiative. Such a change of positioning was decisive in both watering down the initial proposal and moving for-ward with the idea of a looser mechanism coordinating national investment screening activities. This article develops an explanation of the Italian government’s changing negotiating stance. We develop an argument that stresses how two factors combined to produce this puzzling outcome. First, we stress the role of political parties as drivers of governments’ foreign economic policy choices. More specifically, we show that the preferences of the parties form-ing the Italian government after the 2018 general elections (the Lega Nord and the Five Star Movement) were crucial in shaping Italy’s evolving stance on this important issue. Second, we highlight the implications of the tension that exists between two different “varieties” of anti-globalism. While “self-proclaimed” anti-globalist political parties usu-ally combine a traditional critique of globalization and opposition to further political integration in the EU, they may be forced to prioritize one over the other when they prove incompatible. In this context, we show how Italian anti-globalist parties’ choice to prioritize anti-Europeanism over anti-globalism led them to prefer strengthening domes-tic-level institutions to screen FDIs rather than allowing the EU to acquire new powers.

Suggested Citation

  • Antonio Calcara & Arlo Poletti, 2023. "Varieties of Anti‐Globalism: The Italian Government’s Evolving Stance on the EU’s Investment Screening Mechanism," Politics and Governance, Cogitatio Press, vol. 11(4), pages 177-187.
  • Handle: RePEc:cog:poango:v11:y:2023:i:4:p:177-187
    DOI: 10.17645/pag.v11i4.7037
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.cogitatiopress.com/politicsandgovernance/article/view/7037
    Download Restriction: no

    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.17645/pag.v11i4.7037?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Sophie Meunier & Kalypso Nicolaidis, 2019. "The Geopoliticization of European Trade and Investment Policy," Journal of Common Market Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 57(S1), pages 103-113, September.
    2. Chilton, Adam S. & Milner, Helen V. & Tingley, Dustin, 2020. "Reciprocity and Public Opposition to Foreign Direct Investment," British Journal of Political Science, Cambridge University Press, vol. 50(1), pages 129-153, January.
    3. Luuk Schmitz & Timo Seidl, 2023. "As Open as Possible, as Autonomous as Necessary: Understanding the Rise of Open Strategic Autonomy in EU Trade Policy," Journal of Common Market Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 61(3), pages 834-852, May.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Antonio Calcara & Arlo Poletti, 2023. "Varieties of Anti‐Globalism: The Italian Government’s Evolving Stance on the EU’s Investment Screening Mechanism," Politics and Governance, Cogitatio Press, vol. 11(4), pages 177-187.
    2. Tomasz Jerzyniak, 2024. "The EU De‐Risking of Energy Dependencies: Towards a New Clean Energy Geopolitical Order?," Politics and Governance, Cogitatio Press, vol. 12.
    3. Sarah Bauerle Danzman & Sophie Meunier, 2023. "Naïve no more: Foreign direct investment screening in the European Union," Global Policy, London School of Economics and Political Science, vol. 14(S3), pages 40-53, July.
    4. Clara Weinhardt & Ferdi De Ville, 2024. "The Geoeconomic Turn in EU Trade and Investment Policy: Implications for Developing Countries," Politics and Governance, Cogitatio Press, vol. 12.
    5. Zenobia T. Chan & Sophie Meunier, 2022. "Behind the screen: Understanding national support for a foreign investment screening mechanism in the European Union," The Review of International Organizations, Springer, vol. 17(3), pages 513-541, July.
    6. Patricia Garcia-Duran & L. Johan Eliasson & Oriol Costa, 2023. "Commerce and Security Meet in the European Union’s Trade Defence Instruments," Politics and Governance, Cogitatio Press, vol. 11(4), pages 165-176.
    7. Dylan Bugden & Jesse Brazil, 2024. "The role of geostrategic interests in motivating public support for foreign climate aid," Journal of Environmental Studies and Sciences, Springer;Association of Environmental Studies and Sciences, vol. 14(4), pages 803-813, December.
    8. Simon Hartmann & Thomas Lindner & Jakob Müllner & Jonas Puck, 2022. "Beyond the nation-state: Anchoring supranational institutions in international business research," Journal of International Business Studies, Palgrave Macmillan;Academy of International Business, vol. 53(6), pages 1282-1306, August.
    9. Vrânceanu, Alina & Dinas, Elias & Heidland, Tobias & Ruhs, Martin, 2023. "The European refugee crisis and public support for the externalisation of migration management," Open Access Publications from Kiel Institute for the World Economy 279441, Kiel Institute for the World Economy (IfW Kiel).
    10. Sarah Bauerle Danzman & Sophie Meunier, 2024. "The EU's Geoeconomic Turn: From Policy Laggard to Institutional Innovator," Journal of Common Market Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 62(4), pages 1097-1115, July.
    11. Benjamin Bürbaumer, 2021. "The Limits of Traditional Bargaining under Deep Integration: TTIP Stumbling over Technical Barriers to Trade," Journal of Common Market Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 59(5), pages 1069-1085, September.
    12. Franco, Chiara & Marin, Giovanni & Pietrovito, Filomena, 2022. "Exposure to FDI and attitudes towards multinational enterprises: do M&A impact?," Economics & Statistics Discussion Papers esdp22085, University of Molise, Department of Economics.
    13. Lukas Linsi & Ellie Gristwood, 2024. "The Myth of Deglobalization: Multinational Corporations in an Era of Growing Geopolitical Rivalries," Politics and Governance, Cogitatio Press, vol. 12.
    14. Andrea Christou & Chad Damro, 2024. "Frames and Issue Linkage: EU Trade Policy in the Geoeconomic Turn," Journal of Common Market Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 62(4), pages 1080-1096, July.
    15. Bart-Jaap Verbeek, 2022. "Embedded Neoliberalism and the Legitimacy of the Post-Lisbon European Union Investment Policy," Politics and Governance, Cogitatio Press, vol. 10(3), pages 110-120.
    16. Ayumu TANAKA & Banri ITO & Naoto JINJI, 2022. "Individual Preferences Toward Inward Foreign Direct Investment: A Conjoint Survey Experiment," Discussion papers 22005, Research Institute of Economy, Trade and Industry (RIETI).
    17. Darie Flavius Cosmin & Miron Alexandra Dorina & Ciurea Iulia Cristina, 2024. "Geoeconomic Dynamics in a New Economic Global Order from West to East," Proceedings of the International Conference on Business Excellence, Sciendo, vol. 18(1), pages 469-481.
    18. Andreu Casero-Ripollés & Jorge Tuñón & Luis Bouza-García, 2023. "The European approach to online disinformation: geopolitical and regulatory dissonance," Palgrave Communications, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 10(1), pages 1-10, December.
    19. Jianhong Qi & Kam Ki Tang & Da Yin & Yong Zhao, 2020. "Remaking China’s Global Image with the Belt and Road Initiative: Is the Jury Out?," Discussion Papers Series 635, School of Economics, University of Queensland, Australia.
    20. Azusa Uji & Sijeong Lim & Jaehyun Song, 2024. "From plastic to peace: Overcoming public antipathy through environmental cooperation," Journal of Peace Research, Peace Research Institute Oslo, vol. 61(2), pages 279-293, March.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:cog:poango:v11:y:2023:i:4:p:177-187. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: António Vieira or IT Department (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.cogitatiopress.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.