ITALY’S DISCOURSIVE STRATEGIES IN GREATER MEDITERRANEAN AND AFRICA: INNOVATION AND CONTINUITY

The article examines the policy of the Meloni government in the Mediterranean and Africa from the perspective of a combination of continuity and novelty in relation to the previous period. The author analyzes the conceptual documents of 2020 and 2022, as well as the approaches of previous Italian governments to interaction with the countries of the region and demonstrates that three key elements reflect the continuity of Meloni's approach: 1) normativity, i.e. the desire to formulate a new "model" of relations and play the role of the EU's "normative power" in the Mediterranean and Africa; 2) multilateralism as the need to fit Italy's policy into the EU approach, involving the widest possible range of allies and international organizations; 3) system approach as the desire to involve political institutions, diplomacy, development institutions, business and civil society to implement its policy in the region. The author concludes that despite the discursive “novelty” and activism of the Meloni cabinet, the government's policy in Africa and the Mediterranean is based on the foundation laid at the previous stage.