Italy

Abstract

Soon after 11 September 2001, the Italian government moved quickly to address the new terrorist threat, both by modifying its national legislation in order to enforce decisions adopted at international levels, and by introducing new measures at the operational level aimed at better protecting Italian territory from a possible terrorist attack. The Italian government acted on two fronts. On the one hand, it enhanced efforts to disrupt and destroy militant Islamic cells based in Italy, and supported international efforts against al-Qa’ida in Afghanistan. On the other, the government undertook a series of active measures to protect the civilian population and specific strategic targets from potential terrorist attacks. Although most of these efforts have proven quite successful, achievements have been hampered by the lack of proper funding for certain projects, and by the growing marginalisation of the Muslim community in Italy, some of whose members fall prey to the terrorist option. The Italian government so far has failed to develop an effective policy to integrate the various Muslim immigrants into Italian society and its economy, and as a result, the potential number of recruits among Muslims is growing.