Italy will be the focus of a debate in Sydney on how the Country evolved into a regional power and on how it has changed from the Unification of Italy to date. The debate will follow the presentation of Gabriele Abbondanza’s book “Italia potenza regionale: il contesto africano dall’Unità ai giorni nostri” (“Italy, a regional power: the African scenario from the Unification of Italy to date”) at the Italian Cultural Institute in Sydney on August 18. Through his research, images, tables, maps, confidential documents and two exclusive interviews, the book explores the degree of influence exercised by Italy within its geopolitical context, with a special focus on Libya and the Horn of Africa. It gives an overview of the different phases in Italy’s foreign policy within its own sphere of influence, tracking the successes and failures from early colonial policies to the latest current events. Mr Abbondanza will be interviewed by Domenico Gentile of SBS Radio.
Gabriele Abbondanza is an Italian-Australian researcher born in Rome and residing in Sydney. He has a degree in Political Science from Rome’s Roma Tre University and a PhD in International Security from the University of Sydney. After moving to Australia in 2012, he published “La geopolitica dell’Australia nel nuovo millennio: il contesto Asia-Pacifico” (“The geopolitics of Australia in the new millennium: the Asia-Pacific context”), in addition to several other essays in scientific reviews.
After settling down in Sydney, he started working for the daily “L’Indro” as correspondent from Australia and New Zealand. The Roman-born researcher has a very special relationship with Australia, which he considers to be his second homeland and which he has explored in more than 25 different trips during which he established close contacts with local institutions, the world of academia and with the media holding his same interests. In November 2015 he started working as a political analyst with Australia’s SBS national broadcasting company, doing in-depth stories on Australian and international politics.
