Lucia Coppolaro is Associate Professor of International History at the University of Padova. Her research focuses on international trade, the history of international economic institutions and European integration. She has published on the European Economic Community’s role in the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade negotiations and the evolution of the European Investment Bank. Her recent publications in include Deciphering the European Investment Bank: History, Politics, and Economics (co-edited with Helen Kavvadia, Routledge, 2022); The Making of a World Trading Power: The European Economic Community in the GATT Kennedy Round Negotiations (1963–1967) (Routledge, 2013).Francesco Petrini is Associate professor in History of International Relations at the University of Padua. His research interests comprise European integration history, Italy’s contemporary history and international economic history. His latest book is about Italy and the external constraint (La sferza del cambio. Il vincolo esterno nella storia dell’Italia repubblicana, Milano, 2025).Leonida Tedoldi is Full Professor of History of International Relations at the University of Bergamo. His research focuses on the history of European and international institutions, democratic transitions and the role of international organizations in postwar political transformations. He has published on constitutional developments, parliamentary history and the influence of external actors on domestic political change. His publications include 'The Constitutive Process of European Central Bank: Issues and Problems of the Institutional Aspects' in Instituta. Journal of History of European and International Institutions, 2023 and 'The “Commission de Coordination' (Cocor) of the ECSC Special Council of Ministers', in Ventunesimo secolo, n. 53, 2023.

• Introduction 1. Competing Visions, Fragmented Strategies: The World Bank’s Loans in Southern Italy (1946-1959) 2. Learning from Early Mistakes: The World Bank’s Design and Evaluation of Cassa per il Mezzogiorno Programs, 1950-1959 3. Passing the baton: The International Bank for Reconstruction and Development and the European Investment Bank in the 1950s and 1960s 4. Italian governments and International Monetary Fund, between the 1940s and 1970s: the Political Role of International Loans 5. The IMF loans to Italy: between international constraints, economic distress, and political challenges (1974-1977) 6. Conditional lending in the Cold War era: Italy, the IMF, and the stand-by arrangement of April 1977 7. The International Monetary Fund and transition to democracy in Portugal (1975-1979) 8. Turkish Democracy, the International Financial Institutions, and the 1980 Military Coup 9. Stabilizing Greece: the IMF’s Long Engagement, 1947-1980

Lucia Coppolaro is Associate Professor of International History at the University of Padova. Her research focuses on international trade, the history of international economic institutions and European integration. She has published on the European Economic Community’s role in the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade negotiations and the evolution of the European Investment Bank. Her recent publications in include Deciphering the European Investment Bank: History, Politics, and Economics (co-edited with Helen Kavvadia, Routledge, 2022); The Making of a World Trading Power: The European Economic Community in the GATT Kennedy Round Negotiations (1963–1967) (Routledge, 2013).Francesco Petrini is Associate professor in History of International Relations at the University of Padua. His research interests comprise European integration history, Italy’s contemporary history and international economic history. His latest book is about Italy and the external constraint (La sferza del cambio. Il vincolo esterno nella storia dell’Italia repubblicana, Milano, 2025).Leonida Tedoldi is Full Professor of History of International Relations at the University of Bergamo. His research focuses on the history of European and international institutions, democratic transitions and the role of international organizations in postwar political transformations. He has published on constitutional developments, parliamentary history and the influence of external actors on domestic political change. His publications include 'The Constitutive Process of European Central Bank: Issues and Problems of the Institutional Aspects' in Instituta. Journal of History of European and International Institutions, 2023 and 'The “Commission de Coordination' (Cocor) of the ECSC Special Council of Ministers', in Ventunesimo secolo, n. 53, 2023.

• Introduction 1. Competing Visions, Fragmented Strategies: The World Bank’s Loans in Southern Italy (1946-1959) 2. Learning from Early Mistakes: The World Bank’s Design and Evaluation of Cassa per il Mezzogiorno Programs, 1950-1959 3. Passing the baton: The International Bank for Reconstruction and Development and the European Investment Bank in the 1950s and 1960s 4. Italian governments and International Monetary Fund, between the 1940s and 1970s: the Political Role of International Loans 5. The IMF loans to Italy: between international constraints, economic distress, and political challenges (1974-1977) 6. Conditional lending in the Cold War era: Italy, the IMF, and the stand-by arrangement of April 1977 7. The International Monetary Fund and transition to democracy in Portugal (1975-1979) 8. Turkish Democracy, the International Financial Institutions, and the 1980 Military Coup 9. Stabilizing Greece: the IMF’s Long Engagement, 1947-1980

Lucia Coppolaro is Associate Professor of International History at the University of Padova. Her research focuses on international trade, the history of international economic institutions and European integration. She has published on the European Economic Community’s role in the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade negotiations and the evolution of the European Investment Bank. Her recent publications in include Deciphering the European Investment Bank: History, Politics, and Economics (co-edited with Helen Kavvadia, Routledge, 2022); The Making of a World Trading Power: The European Economic Community in the GATT Kennedy Round Negotiations (1963–1967) (Routledge, 2013).Francesco Petrini is Associate professor in History of International Relations at the University of Padua. His research interests comprise European integration history, Italy’s contemporary history and international economic history. His latest book is about Italy and the external constraint (La sferza del cambio. Il vincolo esterno nella storia dell’Italia repubblicana, Milano, 2025).Leonida Tedoldi is Full Professor of History of International Relations at the University of Bergamo. His research focuses on the history of European and international institutions, democratic transitions and the role of international organizations in postwar political transformations. He has published on constitutional developments, parliamentary history and the influence of external actors on domestic political change. His publications include 'The Constitutive Process of European Central Bank: Issues and Problems of the Institutional Aspects' in Instituta. Journal of History of European and International Institutions, 2023 and 'The “Commission de Coordination' (Cocor) of the ECSC Special Council of Ministers', in Ventunesimo secolo, n. 53, 2023.

• Introduction 1. Competing Visions, Fragmented Strategies: The World Bank’s Loans in Southern Italy (1946-1959) 2. Learning from Early Mistakes: The World Bank’s Design and Evaluation of Cassa per il Mezzogiorno Programs, 1950-1959 3. Passing the baton: The International Bank for Reconstruction and Development and the European Investment Bank in the 1950s and 1960s 4. Italian governments and International Monetary Fund, between the 1940s and 1970s: the Political Role of International Loans 5. The IMF loans to Italy: between international constraints, economic distress, and political challenges (1974-1977) 6. Conditional lending in the Cold War era: Italy, the IMF, and the stand-by arrangement of April 1977 7. The International Monetary Fund and transition to democracy in Portugal (1975-1979) 8. Turkish Democracy, the International Financial Institutions, and the 1980 Military Coup 9. Stabilizing Greece: the IMF’s Long Engagement, 1947-1980