This National Conference provided an opportunity for comparing the experiences of Italians who have managed to carve out brilliant careers and hold very high-level positions outside Italy, with a view to contributing to a better understanding of the country’s problems and areas of potential, and to identifying better long-term relationship-building and global integration prospects.
The experiences compared pointed to a number of common traits typical of the Italian “national character” – of both a positive and negative nature. On the positive side, these included flexibility, adaptability, and a capacity for dialogue and, hence, an ability to handle conflict/crisis situations. All of these, it was noted, are traits that at times have enabled Italians to secure key positions in the international arena, including geopolitically strategic roles.
However, a number of aspects that are decidedly negative also emerged, which in many cases coincide with stereotypical preconceptions of Italy. These include an overall unreliability in terms of organizational capacity, together with the country’s structural weaknesses such as its Byzantine bureaucracy, poor infrastructure, regulatory uncertainty, delays in the administration of justice, high labor costs, and a high tax burden on businesses. Added to these observations were the experiences of those who had only found it possible to realize their full potential abroad, whilst in Italy they had encountered culturally-bound barriers to entry such as a lack of transparency and a failure to recognize merit.
A broader perspective, which takes into account not just contemporary comparisons but is also capable of gauging the intertemporal significance of phenomena, gives grounds for greater optimism. Thus, fields of scholarship such as philology and law have provided fertile ground for the establishment of a cultural role for Italy in modern-day relations with countries in the Far and Near East, with beneficial results. Cases in point are China’s focus on Roman law as a constitutive element of its legal system, and the recent formulation of a proposed Global Legal Standard as a legal response to economic globalization.
Nevertheless, the participants felt it was worth noting that whilst until recently the experiences of many “successful Italians” abroad were seen by the average Italian as a cause for optimism or even as a role model to be emulated, there are now increasingly signs of resentment on the part of many Italians, who have come to consider that, when all is said and done, those living and working abroad “have got it good”.
Moving on to examine the challenges to be met, from a national interest perspective, in order to build global skills and networks, the participants stressed three core issues: the national character, method and goals. It was acknowledged that work is clearly needed in respect of the latter two, with a focus on circulating knowledge and information, and formulating shared goals to be pursued collectively as a national community. In order to develop Italy’s human resources to the best extent possible, it is essential that education levels in both schools and universities be improved. Among other things, enhancing the reputation of the Italian education system would also improve the country’s attractiveness to foreign students, another area in which Italy lags behind.
Finally, the participants addressed the issue of coordination. It was observed that better global cooperation networks, particularly relations with international organizations, could help more readily draw attention to the career profiles of Italians, and that improved mechanisms for cooperating with Italy could also facilitate an influx of knowledge and bring benefits for the country’s economy and education system, without the need for Italians who have acquired expertise abroad to return permanently to Italy. All this, it was concluded, should form part of the “brain circulation” that global communication systems have at last made possible.
