Storia

The aim of this area of activity is to investigate  the political logic of institutional and policy genesis, stability, transformation, stalemate.

Politics has to do with problem solving (finding solutions to collective challenges) and consensus building (drumming up social and electoral support for governmental institutions and policies). In liberal democracies there is always a tension between these two “missions” of the political sphere.

But why are some democracies more capable  than others to produce efficient, effective and equitable policy solutions? How do they succeed in balancing and reconciling institutional performance, social cohesion and political legitimacy?

These are the broad questions lying at the heart of research and debate in this area. The main contexts of reference are the Italian political system (at the national and sub-national level) and the EU system, in a wide comparative perspective. Most activities are carried out within the Laboratory of Comparative Politics and Public Philosophy (LPF).

Moving from a conscious reconceptualization of Law as a cultural form and dismantling the fictional boundaries, conventionally imposed to govern the concept of culture, the Centro supports projects connecting Law to all the other multifarious expressions of humanistic thought, such as philosophy, literature, aesthetics, politics, theology.

The aim of the Centro in this field is to renew the theory of complexity insofar as it appears as one of the most powerful tool for grasping globalization. In keeping with its purposes, the Centro promotes publications and documents dealing with interdisciplinary issues and concurs to stimulate the debate over the role of human sciences.

The understanding and the promotion of the liberal Weltanschauung has been the prime goal of the Centro ever since its establishment in 1963. Liberal values, principles and norms have been the steady anchor of all the Centro’s activities: research, policy advice and advocacy, outreach and dissemination initiatives.

Understanding and promoting Liberalism means keeping a constant link with the historical liberal tradition, with the teaching of its Great Masters  (including, of course, Luigi Einaudi). But it also means remaining “at the frontier” of liberal thinking, with a view to updating and expanding the liberal perspective vis-à-vis the rapid flow of policy and political challenges which characterize contemporary democratic societies.

The field of “Liberal Theory” is in many respects the core business of the Centro and at the same time its core engine: research and discussion in this area (such as the Public Philosophy working papers of LPF) supply the normative framework which shapes the whole range of activities of the Centro Einaudi.

The Centro Einaudi uses an interdisciplinary approach for the analysis of policy developments in the broad area of local economic and social development and urban regeneration. There is a research focus (albeit not axclusive) on Turin and Piedmont, i.e. the territory where the Centro Einaudi roots lie.

The general aim is to define and propose policy choices to local public and private decision makers. Attention is paid to the evolution and competitiveness of  the local productive and business system, to the financial support available to local PMI, as well as to technological adequacy and the role of R&D. In a “triple helix” approach, the relationships between industry, university and government (both national and local) are investigated, with a focus on the use of EU funds.

Particular attention will be given to the way in which regional policy is trying to adapt to changing socio-economic needs and harsher financial conditions, with a view to furthering both competitiveness and cohesion.

This research area is centred on the analysis of globalization and its impact on Europe and Italy.

We look not only at economic and financial developments, but also at social, political and strategic evolutions. Markets and countries are taken into account, as well as supranational and international organizations, such as the EU, the WTO, the IMF, etc. and their changing roles.

The impact of the global economic and financial crisis is assessed, and the lasting changes it will cause in the European and Italian economic and social setting. The necessity of new paradigms of explanation is emphasized, particularly concerning the relationship between the State and the markets, on the one hand, and, on the other hand, the State and the international organizations and actors.

A variety of analytical tools is used, based on cross-national and diachronic comparisons. Quantitative as well as qualitative analyses are conducted, trying to avoid the “trap” of sheer formal modelling, and bearing in mind the lessons of the great Italian school of political economists, such as Luigi Einaudi.