The world of the right: Europe and the West in the political culture of Alleanza Nazionale

The article reconstructs the conceptualization of international relations within the political culture of Alleanza Nazionale (A.N.), with a particular focus on the period from 2001 to 2006. This timeframe enables an in-depth examination of A.N.’s engagement with the so-called ‘war on Terror’ following 9/11, as well as the debate surrounding the European constitution. During these years, A.N. leader Gianfranco Fini served as Deputy Prime minister and later as minister of Foreign Affairs, as well as the Italian government’s representative at the European convention on the Future of Europe. This trajectory reflects Fini’s attempt to position his party within the broader tradition of European Liberal-democratic and Conservative right-wing movements. At the same time, the article highlights the internal frictions that this strategy created within A.N. and, more broadly, within the Italian right, foreshadowing Fini’s eventual political isolation.