Cetti Vacante is Assistant Professor of Political Science, University of Catania. Her international activities include Fulbright Research Scholar, University of Wisconsin; E.C.P.R. Women and Politics Standig Group; in the last year Research Permission (ACSP) Hans Seidel Foundation, Munich. She has published books, articles in Journal in several areas, including political system theory, political representation, feminist theory, public policy.
Her recent interest focus on women political representation; party system, political parties in Germany and the Cristian Social Union.
She teaches political science, italian political system, german parties system.

Books
con Lanza, Piazza, Politiche e partecipazione, Bonanno ed. Acireale e Roma 2004.
Per un’analisi della politica e dei sistemi, Catania, CULC 1984.
Per un’analisi del sistema politico, Catania, CULC,1986.

Book Chapters
con Piazza G., Le politiche di concertazione locale: il Patto Territoriale per l’Occupazione Catania sud, in Lanza, O.,Piazza ,G. Vacante, C., Politiche e partecipazione, Bonanno ed. Acireale e Roma, 2004.
Una testimonianza, in Inventari della memoria, Baeri E., Fichera S. (a cura di), F. Angeli, Milano, 2001.

Journal Articles
Gli anni del mio femminismo, in Mediterraneo: una storia di donne e di uomini, Donne dell’isola, ed. Misterbianco (Catania),1999.

Cristian Vaccari is research fellow at the Department of Political Science of the University of Bologna. His research and teaching focus mostly on political communication in comparative perspective, particularly with respect to the new media.
In 2006, he completed her Ph.D. in “Communication and New Technologies” at the IULM University (Milan) with a dissertation on the transformation of political communication in the United States, with particular reference to the 2004 Presidential elections. In 2007, the Italian Society for Electoral Studies (SISE) awarded his dissertation the “Premio Celso Ghini” for the best graduate dissertation on electoral studies in the 2005-2006 biennium. He has presented his work at various international conferences, including the annual meetings of APSA, ECPR, and ICA.
He has been a visiting scholar at the Department of Political Science at Massachusetts Institute of Technology (Cambridge, MA) and at the School of Public Affairs at American University (Washington, DC).
His current research focuses on the role of the internet in election campaigns in comparative perspective.

Books
La comunicazione politica negli USA. Roma: Carocci, 2007.
with Roberto Grandi, Elementi di comunicazione politica: Marketing elettorale e strumenti per la cittadinanza. Roma: Carocci, 2007.

Book Chapters
Cani da guardia o da salotto? I media statunitensi e la guerra al terrore. In C. Demaria, R. Grandi (Eds.), Marketing e rappresentazione dei conflitti: Media, opinione pubblica e costruzione del consenso. Bologna: Bononia University Press, 2008, 113-130.
Meet ‘Silvio’ and ‘Romano’: Political Communication as Personal Storytellin”. In J. O. Frosini, G. Pasquino (Eds.), For a Fistful of Votes: The 2006 Italian Elections. Bologna: CLUEB, 2006, 75-101.

Journal Articles
Surfing to the Élysée: The Internet in the 2007 French Elections. French Politics, 6, 1, 2008, 1-22.
Research Note: Italian Parties’ Web Sites in the 2006 Elections. European Journal of Communication, 23, 1, 2008, 69-77.

Salvatore Vassallo (1965), Phd in Political Science at the University of Florence, is Professor of Political Science at the University of Bologna. He has been Vice-Director of the Research Foundation “Istituto Carlo Cattaneo”, editor in chief of “Rivista Italiana di Politiche Pubbliche”, member of the editoral board of “Polis: Studi su società e politica in Italia”, referee and advisor for the academic publisher “Il Mulino”. He is a member of the editorial board of the bilingual yearbook “Politica in Italia – Italian Politics”, co-editor of the books series “Elezioni, Governo, Democrazia” (Il Mulino), and an op-editorialist for “Il Corriere della Sera”.
He has been visiting scholar in several foreign universities, like the Oxford University, the University of California, Berkeley, the London School of Economics and Political Science, the University of California, Los Angeles.
His interests include Electoral systems and behavior, Government formation and law making in parliamentary democracies, Regional governments in Italy, Parties and party systems in Europe. He is currently on leave as a member of the Italian Chamber of Deputies.

Books
con Stefano Ceccanti (a cura di), Come chiudere la transizione. Il sistema politico italiano tra cambiamento, apprendimento e adattamento, Bologna, il Mulino, 2004.
a cura di, Sistemi politici comparati, Bologna, Il Mulino, 2005.
con Giliberto Capano (a cura di), Customer satisfaction: a che punto siamo. Indagine sullo stato di attuazione della direttiva del Ministero per la Funzione pubblica del 24 marzo 2004 sulle rilevazioni della qualità dei servizi percepita dagli utenti, Soveria Mannelli, Rubbettino, 2007.

Book Chapters
con Maurizio Cerruto, Come (non) cambia la classe politica regionale, in A. Chiaramonte e G. Tarli Barbieri (a cura di), Riforme istituzionali e rappresentanza politica nelle regioni italiane, Bologna, Il Mulino, 2007, 201-220 .
con Ilvo Diamanti, The General Election of 9-10 April: A Country Divided in Half, or Rather in Many Pieces, in J. L. Briquet e A. Mastropaolo (a cura di), The End of the Transition?, Oxford e New York, Berghahn Books, 2008.
Teoria e pratica del processo di bilancio. Da Wildavsky alla “political economy” del deficit (e ritorno), in G. Capano (a cura di), Non solo potere: le altre facce della politica, Bologna, Il Mulino, 2008, 113-141.

Journal Articles
La forma organizzativa del Partito Democratico, in Italian Politics & Society, The Review of the Conference Group on Italian Politics and Society, n. 64, pring/summer 2007, 32-41
Government under Berlusconi: The Functioning of the Core Institutions in Italy, in West European Politics, 2007, Vol. 30, n. 4, 692-710.

ALESSIA VATTA is researcher in Political Science at the University of Trieste, where she teaches Comparative Politics and European Public Policy. She is member of the International Political Science Association, of the European Consortium for Political Research and of the European Sociological Association (in the Research Network on Industrial Relations, Labour Market Institutions and Employment, of which she was vice-coordinator between 1999 and 2002).
She has been research fellow at the European Centre for Social Welfare Policy and Research (Vienna) and at the University of Vienna (Institut für Staatswissenschaft und vergleichende Gesellschaftswissenschaft, Abteilung für Wirtschaftssoziologie).
Her publications include journal articles and book chapters on concertation, employers’ organizations, and interest representation. Her recent research interests also focus on the political role of trade unions.

Books
Gli imprenditori e la concertazione in Europa. Un’analisi comparata, Roma, Edizioni Lavoro, 2001.

Book Chapters
Italy, in F. Traxler, G. Huemer (eds), Handbook of Business Interest Associations, Firm Size and Governance. A comparative analytical approach, Abingdon and New York, Routledge, 2007.
Lo sviluppo della società civile, in L. Mattina (a cura di), La sfida dell’allargamento. L’Unione Europea e la democratizzazione dell’Europa centro-orientale, Bologna, Il Mulino, 2004.

Journal Articles
Concertation and Employers’Organizations in Italy: The case of Confindustria, in South European Society and Politics, 6, 3, 2001, 103-122.
L’allargamento dell’Unione Europea e lo sviluppo delle organizzazioni imprenditoriali nei paesi dell’Europa centro-orientale, in Rivista Italiana di Politiche Pubbliche, 2-3, 2003, 175-200.

Sofia Ventura ha conseguito il dottorato in Scienza Politica presso la Facoltà di Scienze Politiche “Cesare Alfieri”, Università di Firenze. E’ Professore associato presso l’Università di Bologna, dove insegna Scienza Politica e Sistemi federali comparati. I suoi principali interessi di ricerca sono: il federalismo, le istituzioni federali nei sistemi politici multinazionali, il sistema di governo francese. Ha svolto soggiorni di studio all’estero presso l’IEP di Parigi. E’ membro della redazione della Rivista Italiana di Scienza Politica.

Books
a cura di, Da Stato unitario a Stato federale, Territorializzazione della politica, processi devolutivi e adattamento istituzionale in Europa, Bologna, Il Mulino, 2007.
Il federalismo, Bologna, Il Mulino, 2002.

Book Chapters
a cura di Sofia Ventura, Introduzione, in Carl J. Friedrich, L’uomo, la comunità, l’ordine politico, Bologna, Il Mulino, 2002, VII-CIII.

Journal Articles
Le premesse del processo di federalizzazione in Belgio: le leggi linguistiche degli anni Trenta e Sessanta, in Quaderni di scienza politica, a. V, n. 1, 2006.
con Brunetta Baldi, Transizione dal centralismo alle autonomie e poteri in campo fiscale: i casi della Spagna e del Belgio, in Confronti. Autonomia lombarda, n.1., 2006, 89-106.
Il processo di nation-building fiammingo e la trasformazione del Belgio da stato unitario a stato federale, in Confronti. Autonomia Lombarda, n. 3, 2005, 125-141.
Federalismo e nazionalismo: il federalismo asimmetrico, in Rivista Italiana di Scienza Politica, v. XXXIV, n.3, 2004, 405-432.
Federalismo, in Enciclopedia del Novecento. Supplemento III, Roma, Istituto della Enciclopedia italiana, 2004, 469-476.
Bicameralismo, camere alte federali e dominio dell’esecutivo, in Quaderni di Scienza Politica, v. IX, n. 2, 2002, 307-332.
Le Istituzioni del federalismo: le diverse interpretazioni della teoria della scelta razionale, in Quaderni di Scienza Politica, v. VIII, n. 2, 2001, 325-358.
Cultura politica e istituzioni. Il caso delle istituzioni federali, in Scienza & Politica, v. XXV, 2001, 53-67.

Fulvio Venturino is Associate Professor of Political Science, University of Cagliari. He received a Ph.D. in Political Science from the University of Florence and spent some terms in Usa and Uk.
Although not omniscient, he teaches Political Science, Comparative Political Systems, Italian Politics, and Public Administration.
He is member of the Società Italiana di Scienza Politica, and participates two standing groups on “Public Opinion and Political Behavior” and “Regionalism and Federalism”. He is associate of the Società Italiana di Studi Elettorali, and also a member of the Scientific Board for the period 2005-2010. He has published books, journal articles and newspaper columns concerning elections and party politics.
His recent interests focus on personal parties and primary elections in Italy. On this topic, he coordinates PrimES (PRIMary Electoral Studies), an informal group of committed researchers.
He is currently editing with Gianfranco Pasquino a book on Italian primary elections at municipal level.

Books
Riforma elettorale e cambiamento partitico, Milano, Angeli, 2004.

Book Chapters
Atteggiamenti e comportamenti politici nelle elezioni politiche del 2006 in Italia: le differenze di genere, in C. Novelli (ed.), Nel segno dell’empowerment femminile, Cagliari, Aipsa, 2007.
Le elezioni primarie comunali in Italia, 2004-2007, in G. Pasquino e F. Venturino (eds.), Le elezioni primarie comunali in Italia, Bologna, il Mulino, forthcoming.

Journal Articles
with M. Morini e L. Orzati, Elettori e partecipazione nelle elezioni primarie del 16 ottobre 2005. Un’analisi descrittiva basata su dati di survey, Quaderni dell’Osservatorio Elettorale, 2006, LV, 195-217.
Le primarie nazionali dell’Unione: un’analisi della partecipazione con dati aggregati, Rivista Italiana di Scienza Politica, 2007, XXXVII, 3, 435-457.

Matteo Verda (1982) is a Ph.D. in Political Science at the University of Pavia.
He completed his undergraduate studies in Multimedia Publishing and Communication at the University of Pavia in 2006, with a thesis in International Relations on Security and Defense of European Union. He is teaching assistant for the courses of Political Science and International Relations at University of Pavia.
His fields of research focus on International Relations and energy policies.

Luca verzichelli is Professor of Political Science, University of Siena. BA in social sciences (Siena 1988), PhD in Political Science (Florence, 1995), he has studied also at the University of Heidelberg and at the Columbia University of New York. He has taught at the University of Bologna (1999-2001) and, as visiting professor, at the universities of Jena, Granada, Oxford and at the Max-Plank Institut für Gesellschaftsforschung of Cologne.
He has served as secretary of the Centre for Political Change at the University of Siena and of the Italian Political Science Association. He is currently the Director of the Master programme Politics in Europe, at the University of Siena, member of the editorial board of the Rivista Italiana di Scienza Politica and of the yearbook Politica in Italia/Italian Politics.
He has published in different areas: budgetary politics, comparative legislatures, political institutions in Italy and political elites. He is currently running a research on changing modes of political careers in Europe.

Books
with Alfio Mastropaolo, Il Parlamento. I legislativi nelle democrazie contemporanee, Roma-Bari, Laterza, 2006
co-editor with Grant Amyot, Italian Politics ‘05. The end of the Berlusconi era?, New York, Berghahn, 2006.
with Maurizio Cotta, Political institutions in Italy, Oxford, Oxford University Press, 2007.
with Maurizio Cotta, Il sistema politico italiano. Bologna, Il Mulino, 2008.

Book Chapters
Christian Democratic Parliamentarians: From a Century of Multifaceted Recruitment to the Convergence within a ‘Larger Family’? in M. Cotta e H. Best (eds.), Democratic Representation in Europe. Diversity, Change and Convergence, Oxford, Oxford University Press, 2007.
Portfolio allocation, in K. Strøm, W. Müller e T. Bergman (eds.), Cabinets and Coalition Bargaining: The Democratic Life Cycle in Western Europe, Oxford, Oxford University Press, 2008.

Journal Articles
with Guido Legnante, Collegio, parlamento e comunicazione. I luoghi della rappresentanza negli orientamenti dell’élite parlamentare italiana all’epoca del (quasi-) maggioritario, in Rivista Italiana di Politiche pubbliche, n. 3/2005.
La classe politica italiana dalla crisi all’adattamento: accesso, circolazione e carriera dal 1994 al 2006, in Rivista Italia di Scienza Politica, XXXVI, n. 3, 2006.
with Elisabetta De Giorgi, Still a difficult budgetary process? The government, the legislature and the financial bill, in South European Society and Politic”, Vol. 13, No. 1, March 2008.

PATRIK VESAN is Assistant Professor of Political Science at the University of Valle d’Aosta. He took a PhD in Political Science at the University of Pavia (Dissertation topic: “Learning to change. Industrial restructuring and the politics of local development policies: the experiences of Sesto San Giovanni and Arese”. Supervisor: Prof. Maurizio Ferrera) and a Master in European Studies (Cycle supérieur d’études éuropéennes), Intitut d’Etudes Politiques, Paris (Master Academic Coordinator: Prof. Renaud Dehousse).
He is also Associate Research fellow at the Research Unit on European Governance, URGE – Collegio Carlo Alberto, Moncalieri (director: prof. Maurizio Ferrera, http://www.urge.it), and at the Centre for Regulatory Governance , University of Exeter (director : prof. Claudio Radaelli; http://www.huss.ex.ac.uk/politics/research/crg/index.htm).
His recent interests focus on the governance of Italian and European employment policy and on territorial politics and policy in multi-level governance contexts. He is currently writing a book on the institutionalisation of local development partnership (FrancoAngeli, forthcoming) and he is contributing chapters to a book on flexicurity and atypical workers in Italy (Mulino, forthcoming).

Books
Imparare a rinnovarsi. L’apprendimento nei percorsi di ristrutturazione industriale, Milano: Cuesp, 2006.

Book Chapters
Conoscenza e apprendimento nel sistema di governance europeo, in M. Ferrera, M. Giuliani (eds.), Le politiche pubbliche nel sistema di governance dell’Unione Europea, Bologna: Il Mulino, 2008.
Le politiche del lavoro in Italia, in M. Ferrera, Le politiche sociali. L’Italia in prospettiva comparata, Bologna: Il Mulino, 2006.

Journal Articles
with Pacelli et al., Working conditions, employment security and employability, report for the European Foundation of Living and Working Conditions, 2007 .
con Graziano at al., Local partnership consolidation in Italy, report for the European project “NewGov-new modes of governance”, August 2007.
L’istituzionalizzazione dei partenariati per lo sviluppo locale, working paper URGE 3/2007.
Active labour policies and precariousness, in the research report: New forms of labour in Italy and Piedmont: new opportunities or discrimination? Labour market aspects and implications for social protection, governance and social relations, commissioned by the Cassa di Risparmio di Torino Foundation, August 2007.

TOMMASO VITALE, M.A. in Political Sciences (1999) and Ph.D. in Sociology at the Università degli Studi di Milano (2002), Certificate of Achievement awarded in the Program for Advanced Study in Comparative Institutional Analysis and Design at the Indiana University, Bloomington, USA (2004). He is Assistant Professor of Sociology in the Department of Sociology and Social Research of the Università degli Studi di Milano – Bicocca. He has been Visiting Professor at the Ecole des Hautes Etudes en Sciences Sociales (Paris, 2006), at the Institut National de la Recherche Pédagogique (Lyon, 2007), and at Sciences-Po (Paris, 2008).
He is a member of the Editorial Board of Partecipazione e conflitto. Rivista itlaliana di studi politici e sociali and of the Scientific Committee of the Book Series Globalizzazione, partecipazione, movimenti (FrancoAngeli); he is in the Comité Científico of the of the Colombian Review Universitas Humanística, and the Italian correspondent of the Journal Mouvements.
He has published in several areas including Political Sociology (States, Parties and Social Movements; Political and Associative Participation; Urban Movements and Local Conflicts; Peace and Anti Racist Mobilizations) and Public Policy (Learning and Innovation in Social Policy; Social Planning; Local Development). He is currently working on a book with a historical and comparative approach on Local Policies for Roma and Sinti in Europe.

Books
Alla prova della violenza. Introduzione alla sociologia pragmatica dello stato, Roma, Editori Riuniti, 2008.
I rom e l’azione pubblica, Milano, Teti, 2008.
In nome di chi? Partecipazione e rappresentanza nelle mobilitazioni locali, Milano, FrancoAngeli, 2007.

Book Chapters
Conflictus interruptus ou de la difficulté à innover dans l’univers institutionnel italien, in Carrel, Neveu, Ion, Les intermittences de la démocratie. Formes d’action et visibilités citoyennes dans la ville, Paris, 2008.
with S. Tosi, Responsabilité directe. Hybridations croisées entre catholiques et laïcs dans les mouvements pour la paix en Italie, in Sommier, Fillieule, Agrikolianky, La généalogie des mouvements antiglobalisation en Europe, Paris, 2008.
Conflitti urbani e spazi pubblici: tensioni fra partecipazione e rappresentanza, in Segatori, Mutamenti della politica nell’Italia contemporanea. Governance, democrazia deliberativa e partecipazione politica, Soveria Mannelli, 2007.

Journal Articles
Etnografia degli sgomberi di un insediamento rom a Milano. L’ipotesi di una politica locale eugenetica, Mondi migranti. Rivista di studi e ricerche sulle migrazioni internazionali, 1/2008.
with B. Cousin, La gauche italienne face au mouvement pour les libertés civiles des sans-papiers, Critique internationale, 37/2007.
with L. Bifulco, Contracting for Welfare Services in Italy, Journal of Social Policy, 3/2006.