摘要
Since the beginning of the 1990s, Italian foreign policy actors have showed a steady and bipartisan commitment to international criminal justice institutions, the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia （ICTY） and the International Criminal Court （ICC） in particular. This paper aims at investigating the determinants of Italian foreign policy decisions to support and actively sponsor such institutions, as well as at providing a valuable account of the trajectory of the Italian foreign policy decisions with regards the issue under analysis. Starting with an historical account of the Italian contribution to the establishment of the ICTY and the ICC, the analysis will then focus on the internal and external determinants that may have contributed to the formulation of the Italian foreign policy. In this connection, the role played by political elites and their ideas about the Italian aspirated role as a responsible and ethical foreign policy actor will emerge as particularly relevant. Moreover, as observed in other cases connected to the Italian foreign policy in the broader area of human rights, Italy＇s commitment to international values raises the issue of the Country＇s incoherence as for the national implementation of those same values.
