Professor Simona Piattoni receives the 2022 CONGRIPS Life Achievement Award

The CONGRIPS 2022 LIFE ACHIEVEMENT AWARD JURY considers Simona Piattoni (University of Trento) to be an outstanding example of the purpose of the prize in recognising an outstanding contribution to raising the profile of Italy and Italian political science beyond Italy.

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WEBINAR – How is Italy addressing international challenges stemming from Russian invasion of Ukraine?

7 JULY 2022
15:30 – 17:00 CEST

REGISTER 

While Italy has resolutely condemned the 2014 Russian annexation of Crimea and Moscow’s subsequent destabilization of Eastern Ukraine, it has also joined EU efforts to challenge Russia through sanctions. In the meantime, however, Italy has often sought to balance EU responses with its national interests towards Russia. Contrary to the past, Mario Draghi’s government took an unequivocal firm stance towards Russia’s recent invasion of Ukraine. Not only has the Italian government vocally reaffirmed the strength of the transatlantic bond between Rome and Washington, but it has also been the promoter of EU sanctions and of granting Ukraine official status as an EU candidate.

As the 2022 Ukraine War seems to have been a game changer in Italy’s foreign policy, a series of questions arises: To what extent has Italy’s diplomatic position evolved with the outbreak of the Ukraine war and how? What are the implications of the Italian government stance for Italian domestic politics? And how is Italy addressing international challenges stemming from Russian invasion of Ukraine?

To address such questions, this seminar will examine the internal and external dimension of Italy’s position on the Ukraine war. First, it will take stock of the reaction of Italian domestic politics and of the Italian diplomacy’s response to the war. Then, it will analyse two crucial issues for Italy’s position in the EU and the international arena: the migration and refugee dimension and energy security.Speakers: Lorenzo De Sio (LUISS Guido Carli); Serena Giusti (Sant’Anna School of Advanced Studies)
Marco Giulia (Brussels School of Governance)
Michela Ceccorulli (University of Bologna)

Chair: Maria Giulia Amadio Viceré (EUI)
Organizer: Erik Jones (Director of the Rober Schuman Centre, EUI)

 The Webinar is a joint venture sponsored by Congrips, the European University institute, the Italian Political Science Association (SISP) and The Loop (ECPR’s Political Science Blog). 

CONGRIPS Business Meeting


The CONGRIPS Business Meeting will take place on Friday 16 September 18.30 – 19.30 during the PSA Annual Meeting & Exhibition | Montréal, Québec, Canada (venue to be confirmed). 


The Business Meeting is open to all existing members, potential members and those who wish to learn more about CONGRIPS. CONGRIPS is dedicated to analysing Italy not only on an individual basis but, more importantly, on a comparative basis, which means we encourage interest from specialists from other countries. Membership is only $10 per year or free if you are already a member of APSA.

This year’s meeting will include:
• Discussion of the CONGRIPS webinar series, following the highly successful January webinar on the Italian presidential elections.
• Discussion on the latest Open Access opportunities in journal publishing.
• “Meet the Editors”: an introduction to Blogging and The Loop, ECPR’s political science website, and the opportunities that academic blogs represent for wider dissemination of research
• CONGRIPS Lifetime Achievement Awards: 2020 (postponed due to Covid, but will be presented to Prof. Richard Katz) and 2022 (jury is deliberating).
 
We hope that you will be able to join us at APSA for both the panel and our Business Meeting!

2022 APSA Annual Meeting & Exhibition | Montréal, Québec, Canada | September 15-18th

Contemporary Italian Politics – Thu, September 15, 8:00 to 9:30am, TBA

Chair/Discussant: Erik Jones (European University Institute)

Italian politics changed dramatically in the last four years, starting with the March 2018 parliamentary elections and continuing through the Presidential elections of February 2022. Given the importance of Italy to the stability of European financial markets and the future of the euro as a common currency, understanding how and why that change has taken place is essential to understanding Europe’s future.

‘Happy-Go-Lucky or Dancing with Wolves? The Populist Radical Right on TikTok’
Donatella Bonansinga (University of Birmingham) & Daniele Albertazzi (University of Birmingham)

‘Quality of Elections and the Italian Case: Concepts, Measures and Applications’
Fulvio Venturino (University of Cagliari) & Stefano Rombi (University of Cagliari)


 ‘The Administrative Elections of September 2021’
Salvatore Vassallo (University of Bologna)


 ‘The Italian Communist Party and the Meltdown of the Italian Party System’
Martin Bull (University of Salford)

The 2022 Italian presidential election

A roundtable with four experts who will assess the significance of this election and its outcome

The Robert Schuman Centre (EUI), the Conference Group on Italian Politics (CONGRIPS), the Società Italiana di Scienza Politica (SISP) and the ECPR’s political science blog LOOP have organized a roundtable bringing together four experts of Italian and international politics who will assess the significance of this election and (hopefully) its outcome.

31 January 2022 – 18:30 – 19:45 CET

Please register for this online webinar for an exciting and lively discussion:
https://www.eui.eu/events?id=546383

Speakers:

Bill Emmott | former Editor-in-Chief of The Economist

Prof. Selena Grimaldi | Università di Padova

Prof. Gianfranco Pasquino | University of Bologna

Prof. Simona Piattoni | Università degli Studi di Trento

Silvia Sciorilli Borrelli (Milan Correspondent for the Financial Times)

Chair:
Prof. Martin Bull | University of Salford

Moderator
Prof. Erik Jones | Robert Schuman Centre, European University Institute

Reading suggestions…

Conti, N., Di Mauro, D., & Memoli, V. (2021). Think European, act local: do Italians think of Europe when they vote in national elections?. European Politics and Society, 1-22.

Vampa, D. (2021). The 2020 regional elections in Italy: sub-national politics in the year of the pandemic. Contemporary Italian Politics, 1-15.

Bergman, M. E., & Passarelli, G. (2021). Conflicting messages of electoral protest: The role of systemic and elite discontent in the Italian 2016 constitutional referendum. Politics, 0263395720974975.

Cachia, J. C. (2021). The europeanization of the covid-19 pandemic response and the EU’s solidarity with Italy. Contemporary Italian Politics, 1-24.

Jones, E. (2021). Italy and Europe: from competence to Solidarity to competence. Contemporary Italian Politics, 1-14.

Politica in Italia/Italian Politics 2021 – Online Event – Saturday, November 28th, from 9:00 to 18:00

Politica in Italia/Italian Politics 2021 – A One-Day Authors Workshop 

Saturday, November 28th, from 9:00 to 18:00 – Online Event

 

Need to catch up with recent developments of Italian Politics? You cannot miss this!

CLICK HERE TO REGISTER

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CONGRIPS call for papers for the 2021 APSA Annual Meeting & Exhibition

CONGRIPS call for papers for the 2021 APSA Annual Meeting & Exhibition (Sep 29 – Oct 03, 2021, Seattle)

Pluralism, Pandemic, Prejudice, and Promise in Italian Politics and Society
Conference Group on Italian Politics
Erik Jones (Johns Hopkins University) and Antonella Seddone (University of Turin)

The theme for the 2021 theme for the APSA Annual Meetings is ‘Promoting Pluralism’. The conference chairs interpret that theme in political, empirical, and methodological terms. The Conference Group on Italian Politics and Society (CONGRIPS) would like to use that theme to highlight the many challenges we face understanding where Italy is at the moment, how Italians got to this place, and where they are headed.

The Italian political landscape and society were already going through a phase of great instability, where different (and new) trends crossed the country as populist and Eurosceptic pressures were reshaping the public debate. The Covid-19 emergency broke into an already confusing scenario, once again redefining the nature of political and social challenges and imposing new agendas while de-facto raising the stakes. Crises like this one have an impact on societies in terms of both vertical and horizontal trust: they can bring societies together in the face of common adversity, but they may further strengthen political polarization. Also, the economic consequences lead (and even deepen) societal inequalities. Economic disadvantages coming from the Covid-19 emergency may intersect with issues of race and ethnicity. In addition, the risk perception combined with emotional reactions (i.e. fear, threat, distrust) are often associated with higher levels of intolerance and prejudice toward out-groups. In this period of enormous complexity, it is essential to move beyond consolidated notions, theories and research frameworks and to venture into new paths able to grasp more effectively the sense of what happened and to better understand how our societies have been reshaped (and still are) by the epidemic emergency.

Italy confronts a wide range of powerful political, economic, and social forces. Some of these are longstanding, and derive from changes in demographics, industrial paradigms, trading patterns, and relations with other countries. Other forces are newer and emerge from the collapse of traditional political parties alongside the rise of political and social movements. Still others are immediate and relate not just to the Covid-19 pandemic but also to the unprecedented implications of policy efforts to try and stop the spread of the virus.

Like the conference program chairs, we invite contributions that are messy and inconclusive as well as those that are rigorous and parsimonious; we also invite contributions from researchers who are willing to start a conversation that is open to the wider public in addition to making an important contribution to scholarship. We strongly encourage proposals relying on different methodological and theoretical frameworks even going beyond the disciplinary boundaries. Of course, Italy is hardly alone in facing this confluence of powerful forces. Therefore, CONGRIPS welcomes contributions that help to situate the Italian experience in a wider comparative or international perspective.  The aim is to take advantage of the richness and complexity of Italian politics and society both to learn more about Italy and to draw insights from Italian experience for the rest of the world.

Applications should be submitted via the APSA process.  Informal inquiries can be made to the CONGRIPS program chairs, Erik Jones (erik.jones@jhu.edu) and Antonella Seddone (antonella.seddone@unito.it).
Deadline: 31 December 2020