Doctoral Training Programs

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The Doctoral Programmes

The PhD in Political Studies offers a variety of Doctoral Programmes. The doctoral Programmes are strongly connected with the Department’s research activity and focus on a specific research area.
As illustrated in the Link identifier #identifier__56470-2How to apply section, candidates are asked to specify the PhD Programme in which they want to develop their research project.
Each Programme will include the following activities:

  • required readings together with oral and written reports that will be discussed with the supervisor;
  • bibliographical and research training;
  • specialized research seminars
  • participation in seminars, conferences and workshops.

The Curriculum of “European and International Studies” offers sixteen different Ph.D. Programs, each of which is divided into four Research areas. As illustrated in the Application and admission process section, candidates are asked to specify the Ph.D. Program in which they want to develop their research project and the Research Area they identify as apt for it, choosing among the following list.

Doctoral Educational Programmes in the “Government and Institutions” Curriculum

Italian Constitution and EU (IUS/08 and IUS/09)

Programme Coordinator: Massimo Siclari
The aim of the Programme is advanced research training on public powers considering the legal consequences of the European integration from a “multilevel governance” point of view.
Research Areas:

  1. Changes in the regulatory function
  2. Type of Italian Government with particular attention to the role of the representative Assemblies
  3. Constitutional and Supra-national Courts
  4. Fundamental rights at the national and European level

Digitisation, globalisation and intervention policies (SECS-P 02)

Programme Coordinator: Edoardo Marcucci
The program analyses and explores the issue of digitisation, its relationship with globalisation processes and the impact they have on cities as the driving force for economic, social and political development. Digital and technological development will change the way the world and cities work. How? Trends such as e-commerce, connectivity, automation and the circular economy will change the habits and behaviours of individuals. On the one hand, there are great opportunities to increase efficiency. Still, at the same time, it is necessary to carefully evaluate the possible undesirable effects that adopting new technologies (e.g. IoT, blockchain, self-driving vehicles, physical internet, artificial intelligence) could induce. It is expected that the rapid spread of new technologies will shortly have a substantial impact by redesigning current business models and, probably, making others possible. At the same time, it will modify their environmental and economic effects and, more generally, social and political interaction. The research program aims to grasp, analyse and critically reflect on digital intervention policies’ implications on economic development, environmental protection, global security and social equity. This objective is pursued by investigating the issues strictly connected to the geopolitical impact on different territorial scales. In addition, it is followed by exploring the economic-environmental implications, manifesting themselves within a complex and articulated network of networks, infrastructures and services it is not easy to predict or determine. To study the effects of this phenomenon, it will be necessary to analyse the causal relationships in the different systems. Research questions for a detailed and structured answer include: How will the new technology affect business models globally? What will be the repercussions on the cities? What are the systemic effects on a social level? How should intervention policies and strategies be designed to foster sustainable development?
Research Areas:

  1. Intervention and support policies for digital technological innovation
  2. Trends and impacts of digital innovation on globalisation processes
  3. Data, information and business models
  4. Participatory planning, stakeholder analysis and promotion of innovation

Law, science, technology (IUS/09)

Programme Coordinator: Antonio Iannuzzi
The engagement between law, science and technology is one of the main objectives of the Programme, which intends to analyze the impact of the technological revolution on jurisdictional matters so that regulation in the technical and scientific fields will have an increasingly important role in modern legal systems.
Research Areas:

  1. Types of legal sources with technical-scientific contents
  2. Technical regulation and transnational effectiveness of technology regulation
  3. Rights and Technology
  4. Powers of enquiry and role of experts in the constitutional process

European economic policy in the global market: micro and macro aspects (SECS-P/02)

Programme Coordinator: Gian Cesare Romagnoli
The research programme will consider the monetary and economic integration processes through the removal of trade barriers, the institution of regional currency areas and the action of the international financial Institutions within the international monetary system. It will also study the new rules on economic policy among E.U. States members and the rest of the world, focusing on the coordination of monetary and fiscal policies in monetary unions aimed at monetary and financial stability.
Research Areas:

  1. The evolution of the new economic European governance
  2. Geopolitics and European financial markets
  3. The economic consequences of the extension of E.U. borders toward East
  4. Monetary Union economy

Financial markets and economic cycle (SECS-P/01)

Programme Coordinator: Stefano D’Addona
The research programme aims to study the connections between monetary and financial market trends and the business cycle. Mainly, the study will focus on evaluating financial activities in an overall balance and the consequences of financial shocks on the real economy. Moreover, the role of monetary policy in containing financial shocks and the role of the financial market in the evolution of international relations will be further investigated.
Research Areas:

  1. Financial shocks and the real economy
  2. Monetary policy and financial globalization
  3. Consequences of fiscal policies on the economic cycle and sovereign risk
  4. The international economic relations and their role in financial and monetary markets

Environmental policies, sustainability, and circular economy (SECS-P/02)

Programme Coordinator: Cosimo Magazzino
The research program examines the relationships between environmental and energy policies in the light of energy transition processes and the context of environmental sustainability. In addition, the relevant elements of the circular economy are analysed. Relevant topics are the Environmental Kuznets Curve (EKC), the cycle and management of waste, the dynamics of raw material prices, and climate change. The doctoral program envisages participation in international research groups to create databases and carry out joint research.
Research Areas:

  1. Environmental Kuznets Curve (EKC)
  2. Waste management
  3. Dynamics of commodity prices
  4. Climate change and circular economy

Public Policy (SPS/04)

Programme Coordinator: Luca Germano
The program aims to develop analytical concepts, theories and tools for public policy analysis. The objective is to provide the instruments and resources for a thorough analysis of public policies, not only under a merely processual perspective but also through an exhaustive comprehension of their causes, actors, causal and contextual factors, and to identify their connections with political structures and dynamics. Furthermore, we will adopt an approach to stimulate interest in the empirical understanding of complex problems, starting from stable theoretical bases and through sound methodological designs. To this end, the development of rigorous research designs based on proper problem identification and on ensuing reasonable research hypotheses to be empirically tested utilising qualitative or quantitative data will be promoted and supported.
Research areas

  1. Politics, policy and institutions
  2. Policy-making process
  3. Policy change and levels of government
  4. Public policy actors

Sustainable transport policies (SECS-P/06)

Programme Coordinator: Valerio Gatta
The Programme focuses on transport policies for sustainable development. The climatic changes, the environmental quality and the economic trends have highlighted the role of sustainable development. The Programme investigates transport policies’ impact on the economy, environment and society. The issues covered are linked to the European Framework on Research and Innovation measures Horizon Europe 2021-2027: “Climate, Energy and Mobility”, “Global Challenges and Industrial Competitiveness”. In addition, the Doctoral Programme includes effective participation in international research groups for the competitive submission of financing projects.
Research Areas:

  1. Innovative solutions and intervention policies
  2. Multilevel governance and decision-making processes
  3. City logistics
  4. Behavioural Sciences and levers of change

Administrative power, rights and procedural guarantees (IUS-10)

Programme Coordinator: Francesca Di Lascio
The increasing spread of administrative law principles within public institutions reveals, in several fields, how administrative regulation is inadequate for achieving the objectives related to preventing risks and protecting interests.
The Doctorate programme intends to investigate the opposition between the growth of administrative regulation and its lack of efficacy, particularly the evolution of relations among public institutions, economic operators and citizens. The increase in conflicts and the use of legal protection proves a difficulty of administrative proceedings and a strengthening of unilateral authoritative decisions. In this context, examining the protection of rights and interests and the efficacy of administrative power is extremely useful.
Research Areas:

  1. Digitization of administrative activity, artificial intelligence and rights guarantees
  2. Participation in the adoption of administrative rules and decisions
  3. Conflicts over the use of natural and energy resources and the role of administrative law
  4. Administrative reforms and efficacy of administrative regulations and decisions

Regionalism and federalisation (IUS/08 and IUS/09)

Programme Coordinator: Antonio Iannuzzi
The aim of the Programme is advanced research training on State regulations with particular regard to Italian experience and the European integration process.
Research Areas:

  1. Sources of regional law
  2. Type of government and regional organization
  3. The steering and coordination function
  4. Regions and European Union

Doctoral Educational Programmes in the “Gender Studies” Curriculum

Female role models, relationships and gender identity between the 19th and 20th Century (M-STO/04)

Programme Coordinator: Stefania Bartoloni
The relevant political, social and cultural changes in the 19th and 20th Centuries greatly impacted the role models and gender identity. The Programme aims to study the changes caused in these specific areas by events such as global conflicts and totalitarianism and the effects on the relationship among genders and on mass consumption. In addition, the changes in male and female representations and gender stereotyping due to student protest and feminism will be highlighted.
Research Areas:

  1. Cultures, political practices and types of aggregation of women’s movements in the long term
  2. Press as a means of reflection on subjectivity and identity changes (male and female)
  3. Mobilizations and gender relations in totalitarian regimes and wars
  4. Women and work: trade union policy, the new definition of traditional occupations, access to new professions

Gender identity, equality and equal opportunities in international and European policies (IUS/13)

Programme Coordinator: Cristiana Carletti
The gender component in international and European governance became discussed in the middle of the 20th Century, particularly in the 80s: the jurisdictional, economic, social and cultural principle on gender identity is developed to achieve equal opportunities in every sector of today’s society
Research Areas:

  1. Female jurisdictional position as holder of rights, freedom and duties
  2. The establishment of supranational governance arrangements for equality and equal opportunities
  3. Determining the main sectoral challenges (education, social, labour – public and private – economic development)
  4. European and international gender strategies from the 20th Century to 2030 and beyond

Feminist and queer political philosophy (SPS/01)

Programme Coordinator: Brunella Casalini
The Programme will focus on the significant impact that feminist politics had on fundamental political principles such as citizenship, social justice, social contract, agency, and representation and a new interpretation of political philosophy studies from a gender perspective. The contribution of feminist politics and queer to contemporary political philosophy will be highlighted.
Research Areas:

  1. Critics of feminist theories to liberal conceptions of distributive justice
  2. The ethics of care
  3. Feminist interpretation and queer of Michel Foucault’s political philosophy
  4. The role of the body in the contemporary philosophical-political reflection

Gender’s ethnography and anthropology (M-DEA/01)

Programme Coordinator: Michela Fusaschi
Cultural anthropology has strongly criticized the biopower system towards bodies having been victimized, from which the promotion of human rights policies and their regulation at the local level arises. Therefore, the Programme intends to focus on gender’s definition and interpretation in the field of anthropology.
Research Areas:

  1. Humanitarian reason and moral economies
  2. Anthropology of women’s human rights
  3. Biopolitical dimension of relationships between genders (LGBT, Queer)
  4. Feminist and gender anthropology in migratory processes

Political theories and gender (SPS/02)

Programme Coordinator: Roberta Modugno
The Programme aims to study the relationship between policy theories and gender by analyzing texts since the 17th Century, highlighting the failures in political and private life due to cultural stereotypes between genders. Regarding contemporaneity, the Programme will investigate studies in which gender is the fundamental aspect of social life and politics.
Research Areas:

  1. Popular sovereignty and representation: the study of the relationship between democracy and female issue from the 17.th Century to the concept of “gender”
  2. Authority, power and hierarchies in the dichotomy, public and private aspects
  3. The analysis of the main political theories on gender: from the classical period to contemporaneity
  4. Utopias and female dystopias

Female deviance and legal feminism (SPS/07)

Programme Coordinator: Anna Simone
The first theme (Rights/Justice) concerns the analysis of legal regulations aiming at female inclusion (“female rights” and empowerment) and the critical approach of “legal feminism”. The second theme is focused on the sociological processes which created sexism and a “differential inclusion”, such as prostitution, crime, and madness.
Research Areas:

  1. The patriarchal structure of law
  2. The sexism of legal language
  3. Theories of justice and feminist thought
  4. Female deviance

Doctoral Programmes in the “European and International Studies” Curriculum

Africa (SPS/13)

Programme Coordinator: Alessandro Volterra
The Programme aims to provide advanced training on contemporary African history and Institutions. Topics will relate to African history in the 20th century.
Research Areas:

  1. Traditional Religions, Christianity, Islam
  2. Decolonization process and colonial identity
  3. Colonial impact in Africa under the Italian Administration
  4. The Building of Independent States and the establishment of the of the Organization of African Unity

Contemporary Latin America (SPS/05)

Programme Coordinator: Maria Rosaria Stabili
The Programme aims to provide advanced training on state and society transformation processes in Latin America, focusing on Transatlantic History and World History. The programme covers such topics as history of state models, elites and social movements, women’s movements and gender relations, military dictatorships, political transitions, human rights, and inter-American relations.
Research Areas:

  1. History of State models
  2. Social movements
  3. Political transitions and human rights
  4. Gender relations

Eastern Asia (China, Japan, Korean Peninsula) (SPS/14)

Programme Coordinator: Oliviero Frattolillo
The Programme aims to provide advanced training on East Asian history and policies in the early modern and contemporary era.
Research Areas:

  1. The transition from Feudal to Modern Japan
  2. Maoist and Post- Maoist Chine
  3. Relations between domestic politics and foreign politics during the Cold War
  4. Geopolitics and Geo-Economics of the Confucian Pole

European Union Law and Policies (IUS/14)

Programme Coordinator: Raffaele Torino
The Programme aims to provide advanced training on the process of European integration and its politics through a multidisciplinary analysis (legal, political, economic).
Research Areas:

  1. Evolution and Modes of Action of the European Institutions
  2. European Financing Policies
  3. Domestic Market
  4. European Private Law

Internationa Law (IUS/13)

Programme Coordinator: Carlo Focarelli
The Programme aims to provide advanced training on studying methodologies used in International Law concerning the most recent international legal practices.
Research Areas:

  1. Epistemology of International Law
  2. International Law: Objectiveness and Justice
  3. New trends in International Law
  4. Links among various areas of International Law

Eastern and Central Europe: History and Policy (M-STO/03)

Programme Coordinator: Francesco Guida
The Programme aims to provide advanced training on the history of Eastern and Central European countries in the 19th, 20th and 21st century.
Research Areas:

  1. Nations and National States in Balkan Europe (19th and 20th Century)
  2. The transitions of the Russian State in the 20th and 21st Century: Czarism, Soviet Experience, Post-Soviet Evolution
  3. Authoritarian Regimes, Intellectuals and modernization in the Inter-war period in eastern and central Europe
  4. European Communist Regimes, the Soviet model, the Post-Communist heritage

International Development Policies (SPS/07 and SECS-P/06)

Programme Coordinator: Marco Zupi
The Programme intends to deepen the issues related to Development Cooperation policies based on current international policies. The Programme will focus on analyzing the effectiveness and impact of aid with reference to policies and projects. The Programme will be divided into studying international policies concerning cash flows, significant transitions, Italian and European policies, and evaluation methodologies on the policies’ impact. In addition, the Programme will include a laboratory activity with the use of dedicated databases. The Programme will be held in English.
Research Areas:

  1. Historical Evolution of the International Development Policies
  2. Comparison between bilateral and multilateral strategies (United Nations system, particularly the Rome-based one)
  3. New guidelines on E.U. and Italian policies
  4. Policies and project assessment

Political Thought (SPS/02)

Programme Coordinator: Roberta Adelaide Modugno
The Programme aims to provide advanced training on political thought, political ideas and political order.
Research Areas:

  1. The foundations of political obligation
  2. Forms of Utopia and Dystopia
  3. History of the State as a tool of modernity
  4. Liberalism and Libertarianism in the 20th Century

 

Comparative Policy and International Relations (SPS/04)

Programme Coordinator: Barbara Pisciotta
The Programme focuses on the methodology of international and domestic political science, particularly on the crucial steps of a scientific analysis of political phenomena: identifying an issue, drawing up a research hypothesis and its subsequent verification. Studying the main problems of comparative politics and international relations requires a qualitative and quantitative approach which considers the empirical dimension of research and selects the most relevant case.
Research Areas:

  1. The domestic and international dimensions of political phenomena
  2. International system
  3. Democratization processes
  4. Parties, electoral systems and decision-making processes

Population and demographic dynamics (SECS-S/04)

Programme Coordinator: Cecilia Reynaud
The increasing interactions between demographic, economic, and social behaviour make it imperative to study the population and its underlying dynamics from an international perspective. In particular, the ageing population, which is causing a silent and continuous upheaval of our societies over time, is accompanied by constant immigration from countries characterised, on the other hand, by a surplus of young people. This programme aims to understand the main demographic trends – such as mortality, fertility, and migration – in the different areas of the world. Through the analysis of the leading demographic indicators, the programme aims to provide doctoral students with a solid knowledge of populations’ quantitative and qualitative transformations, delving into the factors that determine their evolution.
Research areas:

  1. Population sizes and structures;
  2. Analysis of the main demographic drivers;
  3. Demographic trends in developed countries, particularly Italy
  4. Demographic trends in the rest of the world

United States of America (SPS/05)

Programme Coordinator: Daniele Fiorentino
The Programme aims to provide advanced training on the history and politics of the United States of America in the contemporary age. It focuses mainly on the history of American exceptionalism and the imperial influences on the United States in the 20th and 21st Centuries. In addition, students will examine the evolution of American society and the evolution of the foreign policy of the United States.
Research Areas:

  1. History of the United States in the 19th and 20th Century
  2. U.S.A. politics and society in the 20th and 21st Century
  3. Global view of the United States transnational relations
  4. Cultural and social history of North America

History of energy, environment and natural resources (SPS/06)

Programme Coordinator: Giuliano Garavini
The program will focus on the emergence of fossil fuels, coal, oil and natural gas, after the industrial revolution. The aim is to critically investigate the “energy transitions” issue and the challenge of diversifying energy sources and promoting low carbon and renewable energy.
Attention will be devoted not simply to technological issues but also to the political and cultural debates on the use of energy sources and raw materials, the international conflicts among and within nation-states on the management of natural resources, to the role of multinational companies and markets, as well as on efforts at international cooperation.
Areas of research:

  1. History of energy;
  2. Conflicts over the management of natural resources;
  3. History of business and international markets;
  4. History of international organisations, NGOs, energy and natural resources governance.

History of International Relations (SPS/06)

Programme Coordinator: Leopoldo Nuti
The Programme aims to offer advanced training in the international and transnational history of the 20th and 21st Centuries.
Research Areas:

  1. Cold War History
  2. History of Nuclear Proliferation and Arms Control
  3. The evolution of the international system since the end of the Cold War
  4. Italian Foreign policy from World War 1 to the present

International Economic History (SECS-P/12)

Programme Coordinator: Gaetano Sabatini
The Programme aims to provide advanced education on international economic history in modern and contemporary times.
Research Areas:

  1. Commercial and financial networks in pre-industrial times
  2. Colonial economic systems in the age of Imperialism and in the first half of the twentieth Century
  3. The commercial and financial circuits of the second half of the twentieth Century
  4. Economic globalization processes: development, cooperation and competitiveness for resources in the contemporary economy

Global History of Terrorism (M-STO/04)

Programme Coordinator: Giovanni Mario Ceci
The programme aims at developing advanced research in the field of history of global terrorism in the contemporary age through interpretative models and a solid critical analysis of primary sources
Research Areas:

  1. History of terrorist cycles and organisations
  2. Political systems, public opinion, society, culture, ideology, religion and terrorism
  3. History of anti-terrorism
  4. Representing and remembering terrorism

Early Modern History (M-STO/02)

Programme Coordinator: Giorgio Caravale
The Programme aims to provide advanced education on early modern history, with a particular focus on its religious and cultural dimension.
Research Areas:

  1. Circulation of Books and Knowledge in the Early Modern Period
  2. Intellectual History from Renaissance to Enlightenment
  3. Global Connections in the Early Modern World
  4. History of the Reformation and the Counterreformation

Political History in the 19th and 20th Century (M-STO/04)

Programme Coordinator: Renato Moro
The Programme aims to provide advanced education on the history of the 19th and 20th Century, with a particular emphasis on political history.
Research Areas:

  1. Transformation of politics and the State in the 19th and 20th Century
  2. Religion and Politics in the 19th and 20th Century
  3. History of Political Parties, Movements and Political Elites in the 19th and 20th Century
  4. The cultural history of politics in the 19th and 20th Century: political cultures, Styles, Symbols, Myths, Rituals

Cultural Studies (L-LIN/13)

Programme Coordinator: Francesco Spandri
The programme aims to develop advanced research training on the topics of literary history, cultural history and intellectual debate in 19th Century France.
Research Areas:

  1. Literary history from the Revolution to the Third Republic
  2. Economic imagery in the modern and contemporary novel
  3. Romantic movement and the birth of the cultural industry
  4. Literature and Politics

Peace Studies (M-STO/04 and SPS/07)

Programme Coordinator: Renato Moro
The Programme aims to provide advanced education in Peace Studies, peace history and peace sociology.
Research Areas:

  1. History of peace Ideas, Movements and Organisation
  2. Peace research (theories, concepts and themes)
  3. Strategies and instruments related to peace processes (Peacekeeping operations; Multi-track diplomacy; Confidence building; Peace business)
  4. History of non-violent conflict resolution and peace processes
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MONIA CZECH 18 July 2022