White Paper: Objectives, Criteria, Lines of Action Armed Forces: from a joint vision to a joint reality In entering the new millennium Italy lagged behind on many fronts. Three main areas of concern characterized the sector of international security and defence: political and institutional participation in the defence debate, the structure and functioning of the administration and the relationship between Italian citizens and Defence. A country that pays no attention to Defence themes makes it difficult to intervene on its military to improve it. A political system that steers clear from these problems hampers the establishment of a strong relationship between the people and the Armed Forces, a relationship able to strengthen their sense of belonging to the national community and their trust in the institutions. So far, these weaknesses have prevented our country from timely and effectively tackling both the modernization of the Defence system and the many challenges we have been confronting for a long time. The requirement for a State more capable of protecting our national interests stems from the changes we are witnessing in an ever more complex world. The new millennium, in fact, is especially characterized by two historical changes: globalization and the digital revolution, which nurture an ever stronger interconnection and interdependence between geographical areas, countries, economic sectors, markets and cultures. A farsighted, pragmatic international security and defence policy is of fundamental importance to provide our country with a military able to safeguard our most important achievement, accomplished at the cost of great -7-