Blog Posts - Fabrizio Coticchia

Italian foreign policy and domestically-focused outsider. The case of Renzi.

10/17/2019

Glad to present my latest book (“Italian Foreign Policy during Matteo Renzi's Government: A Domestically-Focused Outsider and the World", with J.Davidson, Lexington 2019) at the University of Siena, on Tuesday 22 October 2019. I would like to thank CIRPAC and DISPOC for the kind invitation.

FBA and UNIGE Research Workshop: State of the Art? The Future of Peacekeeping Data

6/15/2019

I'm really pleased to host in Genova the 4th NASP Workshop on Conflicts and Institutions.
This year the Department of Political Science (DISPO) of the University of Genoa, in cooperation with the Folke Bernadotte Academy, is pleased to announce the "FBA and UNIGE Research Workshop: State of the Art? The Future of Peacekeeping Data" (17-19 June 2019, Camera di Commercio Via Garibaldi, 4 - Genova).
Here, here, and here additional info on the workshop, which collects among the best scholars (in Europe and beyond) on peacekeeping.
Here the detailed program of the event
See you soon in Genova

"A reality check for students? How participating to the Model United Nations influences skills, IR perceptions, and perspectives on future career"

5/24/2019

My latest publication on teaching, active learning, and simulations is online: "A reality check for students? “How participating to the Model United Nations influences skills, IR perceptions, and perspectives on future career”, with E.Calossi and L.Cicchi, Politics (forthcoming).
Here the paper (gated)
Here below the abstract:
Despite a growing number of studies on simulations and International Relations (IR), few analyses investigate how participating in a simulation affects students’ perceptions of relevant IR issues. In addition, almost none of the current analyses on role playing and IR investigate how the involvement in a simulation affects students’ views on university enrolment or future career. This article seeks to fill these gaps, addressing how students’ interpretations and expectations change after participating in the Model United Nations (MUN). This article studies how the MUN is perceived as an experience that helps improve personal skills such as language ability, negotiation skills, and knowledge related to IR issues. This article also analyses how perceptions about selected IR issues and views on future university enrolment or future career vary before and after the MUN. The article is based on an original data set from a survey submitted to high school and university students participating to two MUNs held in Spring 2018. This article also employs ordinary least squares (OLS) multivariate regression analysis to test alternative hypotheses.

The Parliamentary Deployment Votes Database

5/10/2019

I'm glad to be part of the The Parliamentary Deployment Votes Database (PDVD). The PDVD collects and shares data on parliamentary votes on the deployment of armed forces.
Since the end of the Cold War, democracies have been participating in military missions of various kinds, ranging from peacekeeping to war. These deployments have raised questions about their democratic legitimacy and parliamentary control in particular. In many democracies, deployments decisions are the exclusive competence of the government, and parliament is only informed. In a growing number of cases, however, such decisions have been put to a vote in parliament. PDVD documents and analyzes these votes.
PDVD serves a dual purpose: As scholars of political science, we are interested in an analysis of deployment votes. By sharing the data we collected, we hope to stimulate further analyses. As citizens of countries that have participated in military missions, we consider the publication of deployment votes to be a contribution to the democratic control of security and defense policy.
At the moment, in version 2 of the dataset, PDVP documents 514 votes in plenaries for the period between August 1990 and December 2017 in Belgium, the Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Italy, Slovakia, Spain, the United Kingdom and the United States of America. You can check out our data here.

My latest book: "Italian Foreign Policy during Matteo Renzi's Government. A Domestically Focused Outsider and the World" (with J.W. Davidson, Lexington, 2019)

3/15/2019

I am delighted to announce the publication of my latest book: "Italian Foreign Policy during Matteo Renzi's Government. A Domestically Focused Outsider and the World", with J.W. Davidson (Lexington, 2019). Here you'll find the info on the book and the first reviews.
Here below a short abstract:
This book sets out to explain the foreign policy of Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi (February 2014 to December 2016). It offers a unique analytical framework to make sense of Renzi’s foreign policy: the domestically-focused outsider. It argues that to untangle Renzi’s foreign policy one must first understand that his clear priority was enacting domestic economic and political reforms. Domestic focus means that Renzi made foreign policy decisions with a sensitivity to public opinion and party unity. The book also argues that Renzi’s status as an outsider in Italian politics—having previously served only as the mayor of Florence—provides critical insight into his foreign policy. Renzi was prone to skepticism of the establishment and dramatic, symbolic gestures rather than patient coalition building. The book applies this framework to the five most important foreign policy issues Renzi’s government faced: migration, finance and the EU, Russia, ISIL, and Libya. The book’s analysis of the cases benefits from over twenty elite interviews, including those with senior members of Renzi’s government