Italy in East Asia: Colonial Ambitions, Power Politics and Failures

Abstract

The demographic-migration issue was to become a key alibi in Rome’s effort to take colonies, in which Italians were promised cultivable land, opportunities, social stature and advancement. The channeling of the surplus population in other areas constituted one of the pillars of Italian colonial policy and, by extension, reinforced the rhetoric linking the demographic issue with the quest for colonies. This justification of Italian colonialism as an alternative solution to the population problem had a more logical basis compared to the potential economic and raw material benefits of Africa or Asia.