Relations between Italy and Libya (1983-1987)

The recent history of relations between Italy and Libya dates back to the Italian colonial enterprise in Tripolitania and Cyrenaica, and even today, in a context of migratory crisis and terrorist threat, it remains more topical than ever. This essay is an opportunity to look back at what makes these bilateral relations special, while looking back at a significant period in them. The book traces the events of these five years (1983-1987) during which the first President of the Italian Socialist Council Bettino Craxi and his emblematic Foreign Minister Giulio Andreotti had to face the unpredictable Colonel Gaddafi, then "enemy number one" declared by Ronald Reagan's United States, Italy's allies. We will now discover this incredible balancing act, against the backdrop of the Cold War, the oil fields and domestic politics, between these two nations who denounced each other as much as they needed each other economically and politically.