Giochi diplomatici. Sport e politica estera nell'Italia del secondo dopoguerra (1943-1953)

The argument of the present work is that sport is a peripheral and not vital phenomenon in the international political system, but because of its high public visibility it has to be considered both as a part of international relations and a foreign policy tool for governments and diplomacy. The present PhD study aims at inquiring, in a historical-political approach, into the international role of sport in the decade 1943-1953. It will give particular attention to the actors and institutions of the “sporting foreign policy”, to the Italian re-entering into the international sport arena and its soft power; in addition, attention will be drawn to some particular “political crises” that touched the sporting activity and to some “sporting crises” obliging the intervention of the government and diplomacy. The final aim of the study is to understand if and how sport was consciously used as a foreign policy tool, and at what degree of intensity the international activity of the Italian sport was influenced by the development and the balance of power in international politics.