Research lines

The PhD course leverages the diverse scientific and disciplinary skills of the Department of Political Science, which is characterized by its distinctive feature of interdisciplinarity and collaboration among scholars on the topics examined and the research methodologies employed. In particular, the Department has solid research experience in the field of the history of modern and contemporary political thought, the evolution of political-institutional systems, and representative democracy from its advent to its crisis. In-depth studies include welfare systems, migration processes, transformations and conflicts of urban civilization, sustainable development, cognitive and participatory processes, the political dynamics of the knowledge and communication society and those introduced by new media, the transformations of citizenship and international relations, in the framework of the challenges that contemporary societies are facing. Finally, relevant research is conducted in the field of geopolitics, with particular attention to the connections between the national dimension and the broader regional, interregional, international, and transnational dynamics.

The PhD program, therefore, guarantees an interdisciplinary approach through its training program, which is focused on a first phase of common methodological training and a second phase dedicated to specialized research.

Research topics

Thanks to the expertise of the professors involved, an interdisciplinary PhD program has been established that combines the social, political, historical, geopolitical, and international sciences. Its scope is divided into two research themes:

Sociology, History, and Political Culture

Main topics of study:

In the sociological research area, the focus includes the knowledge society, prison dynamics, climate change, ecological policies and sustainability, migration processes, socialization processes, and gender identity formation, as well as innovative methodological approaches, such as the analysis of social networks and the evaluation of social policies.
In the field of historical research, the focus is on modern and contemporary theories, doctrines, and political cultures, as well as processes within economic and financial organizations, and transformations of citizenship and contemporary state institutions in their historical and philosophical contexts.
In the political research area: central themes include the crisis of representation, the transformation fo political parties and the emergence of populism, the role of civil society and social movements, and the impact of new media on political communication.

Geopolitics and History of International Relations

This area focuses on the analysis of international and supranational processes in the context of growing interdependencies driven by the current dynamics of globalization. Key topics of in-depth study include: actors and phenomena related to the European integration process; global geopolitics in Africa, the Middle East, Eastern Europe, and the post-Soviet space.

Research lines of the College

Below is the list of the research lines of the Academic Board divided by scientific sector disciplinary (SSD):

History of Thought, Political Institutions, and Citizenship (SPS/03, SPS/02)

AGLIETTI Marcella

History of political and representative institutions in the modern and contemporary age
History of citizenship
History of elites and consular institutions

BRECCIA Alessandro

History of political and representative institutions in the contemporary age
History of the state’s elites
History of the university institution in the contemporary age

CALABRÒ Carmelo

History and culture of liberal socialism
Social Citizenship in Europe

LENCI Mauro

History of Enlightenment thought
History of Public Opinion
History of democratic theories

PERSANO Paola

History of French political and social thought between the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries
History and theory of the generational bond and social solidarity
Feminist Critical Theory and Gender Studies in Contemporary Political Thought
Colonial and Postcolonial Political Thought

POLSI Alessandro

History of International Humanitarianism
History of international organizations
Western legal tradition and the Ottoman Empire in the nineteenth century

General Sociology; cultural and communicative processes; economic processes of work, of the environment and the territory; of political phenomena (SPS/07, SPS/08, SPS/09, SPS/10, SPS/11)

BORGHINI Andrea

Transformations and the symbolic dimension of state power in the global era
Historical sociology
Changes in social control

BRACCIALE Roberta

Relationship between social and digital inequalities
Transformations of participatory practices following the platformisation of society
Application of computational methods to the social sciences
Online communication strategies and algorithmic logics of the platforms.

CERVIA Silvia

Citizen participation in public decision-making
Sociology of gender differences
Constructionist perspective on social problems
Cultural sociology

MELE Vincenzo

Classical and contemporary sociological theory
Sociological aesthetics
Sociology of the imaginary

MUSTO Marcello

History of Political Thought
Political Theory
Theoretical Sociology
History of the Workers’ Movement

PAONE Sonia

Urban marginality in a comparative key
Migrations and urban space
City and social control

SALVINI Andrea

Methodology of Applied Social Research
Symbolic interactionism, qualitative methods, analysis of social networks
Volunteering, religious phenomena in the contemporary world

TOMEI Gabriele

Theory and Method of Social Policy and Development Evaluation
Migration processes and transnational communities
Skilled migration and scientific diasporas

VIVIANI Lorenzo

Sociology of parties
Sociology of Political Leadership
Populism and democracy
Political cultures and subcultures

Social Psychology (M-PSI/05)

AIELLO Antonio

Political Psychology
Psychology of inequalities and the social construction of social dominance
Elites and relations between social groups

MORSELLI Davide

Relationship between authority and individual
Conflicts between social groups
Processes of transformation of political opinions and attitudes

Political Science (SPS/04)

ANDRETTA Massimiliano

Social movements, conflicts, and participation
Ecological transition
Trade unions and labour mobilization
Political communication
Populism and anti-politics

PIZZIMENTI Eugenio

Theory of Organizations
Party politics
Public policy analysis

CALOSSI Enrico

Italian political parties: organization and functions
Analysis of the voting advice applications (VAAs)
Political system of the European Union: the role of political parties.
Italian and European Union’s foreign policy

Filosofia politica (SPS/01)

PIEVATOLO Maria Chiara

Filosofia politica
Storia della filosofia politica
Il pensiero politico di Kant
Diritto d’autore e scienza aperta

Contemporary History (M-STO/04)

AMORE BIANCO Fabrizio

History of Fascism
Political History of the 20th Century

Geopolitics and History of International Relations (SPS/06)

DUNDOVICH Elena

History of Eastern Europe
History of the Soviet Union and the Russian Federation
Geopolitical dynamics of the post-Soviet space

FASANARO Laura

History of European integration and German-Italian relations
History of Italian foreign policy
History of the Italian Left
Energy and environmental policy and sustainable development

PICCARDO Lara

History of European integration and federalism
History of Soviet foreign policy
History of sport
History of the Risorgimento

PAOLI Simone

History of European Cooperation and Integration
History of Transatlantic Relations
History of Euro-Mediterranean Relations
History and Politics of International Mobility and Migrations
History of International Education Policies

TAMBURINI Francesco

Bureaucratization of Islam as a Method of Power Preservation in the Maghreb
Use of History to Legitimize the Continuation of Power in Algeria

Spoiler title

CINI Marco

History of International Financial Institutions
Economic History of Contemporary Italy

MICHELINI Luca

History of economic ideas, from the ‘700 to the present day;
History of Italian Economic Thought;
History of the relationship between economic theories, political theories, and militant politics.