There have been almost fifty years since Harry Eckstein' s classic monograph, A Theory of Stable Democracy (Princeton, 1961), where he sketched out the basic tenets of the “congruence theory”, which was to become one of the most important and innovative contributions to understanding democratic rule. His next work, Division and Cohesion in Democracy, (Princeton University Press: 1966) is designed to serve as a plausibility probe for this 'theory' (ftn.) and is a case study of a Northern democratic system, Norway. What is more, this line of his work best exemplifies the contribution Eckstein brought to the methodology of comparative politics through his seminal article, “ “Case Study and Theory in Political Science” ” (in Greenstein and Polsby, eds., Handbook of Political Science, 1975), on the importance of the case study as an approach to empirical theory. This article demonstrates the special utility of “crucial case studies” in testing theory, thereby undermining the accepted wisdom in comparative research that the larger the number of cases the better. Although not along the same lines, but shifting the case study unit of research, I intend to take up here the challenge and build upon an equally unique political system, the Swedish one. Bearing in mind the peculiarities of the Swedish political system, my unit of analysis is going to be further restricted to the Swedish Social Democratic Party, the Svenska Arbetare Partiet. However, my research stays within the methodological framework of the case study theory inasmuch as it focuses on a single political system and party. The Swedish SAP endurance in government office and its electoral success throughout half a century (ftn. As of the 1991 election, there were about 56 years - more than half century - of interrupted social democratic "reign" in Sweden.) are undeniably a performance no other Social Democrat party has yet achieved in democratic conditions. Therefore, it is legitimate to inquire about the exceptionality of this unique political power combination. Which were the different components of this dominance power position, which made possible for SAP's governmental office stamina? I will argue here that it was the end-product of a combination of multifarious factors such as a key position in the party system, strong party leadership and organization, a carefully designed strategy regarding class politics and welfare policy. My research is divided into three main parts, the historical incursion, the 'welfare' part and the 'environment' part. The first part is a historical account of the main political events and issues, which are relevant for my case study. Chapter 2 is devoted to the historical events unfolding in the 1920-1960 period: the Saltsjoebaden Agreement, the series of workers' strikes in the 1920s and SAP's inception. It exposes SAP's ascent to power in the mid 1930s and the party's ensuing strategies for winning and keeping political office, that is its economic program and key economic goals. The following chapter - chapter 3 - explores the next period, i.e. the period from 1960s to 1990s and covers the party's troubled political times, its peak and the beginnings of the decline. The 1960s are relevant for SAP's planning of a long term economic strategy - the Rehn Meidner model, a new way of macroeconomic steering, based on the Keynesian model, but adapted to the new economic realities of welfare capitalist societies. The second and third parts of this study develop several hypotheses related to SAP's 'dominant position' (endurance in politics and in office) and test them afterwards. Mainly, the twin issues of economics and environment are raised and their political relevance for the party analyzed. On one hand, globalization and its spillover effects over the Swedish welfare system are important causal factors in explaining the transformative social-economic challenges the party had to put up with. On the other hand, Europeanization and environmental change influenced to a great deal SAP's foreign policy choices and its domestic electoral strategies. The implications of globalization on the Swedish welfare system will make the subject of two chapters - chapters four and five, respectively, whereupon the Europeanization consequences will be treated at length in the third part of this work - chapters six and seven, respectively. Apparently, at first sight, the link between foreign policy and electoral strategy is difficult to prove and uncanny, in the least. However, in the SAP's case there is a bulk of literature and public opinion statistical data able to show that governmental domestic policy and party politics are in a tight dependence to foreign policy decisions and sovereignty issues. Again, these country characteristics and peculiar causal relationships are outlined in the first chapters and explained in the second and third parts. The sixth chapter explores the presupposed relationship between Europeanization and environmental policy, on one hand, and SAP's environmental policy formulation and simultaneous agenda-setting at the international level, on the other hand. This chapter describes Swedish leadership in environmental policy formulation on two simultaneous fronts and across two different time spans. The last chapter, chapter eight - while trying to develop a conclusion, explores the alternative theories plausible in explaining the outlined hypotheses and points out the reasons why these theories do not fit as valid alternative explanation to my systemic corporatism thesis as the main causal factor determining SAP's 'dominant position'. Among the alternative theories, I would consider Traedgaardh L. and Bo Rothstein's historical exceptionalism thesis and the public opinion thesis, which alone are not able to explain the half century social democratic endurance in government in the Swedish case.

Our thesis entitled The Invention of Orthodoxy. Religion and Modernity in Romanian nationalist discourse from the XIXth to the XXth century is intended to be a history of the idea of “Romanianess” which brings together, in a structural as well as in a conceptual dimension, three major themes: Romanian Orthodoxy, Modernity and the Political. Having as premise for the study of the Romanian case the simultaneous genesis of the religious and political communities, from the Middle Ages to Modernity, the purpose of our inquiry is to formulate a theologico-political definition of ‘’Romanian Orthodoxy’’. Thus, within a main theoretical framework that values the contributions of Carl Schmitt, Michel Foucault and Reinhart Koselleck, our analysis of selected texts that go from the 1860’s to the 1940’s tries to answer the question regarding the relationship between Romanian Orthodoxy and Modernity, as well as its reflection upon the political identity and organisation of the Romanian society. Considering the political context of the events that underline our conceptual focus, we consider that the proper answer to our investigation lies within the logic of multiplicity; namely, we refer to a plural Romania which is divided, at the beginning of the XXth century, between Traditionalism and Modernity, between a massive rural, agrarian society and an urban minority elite, striving to single out, in an phenomenological approach, the “Romanian way”. Secondly, we refer to a plural Modernity, which is at the same time social, cultural, religious and political. Thirdly, the logic of multiplicity applies as well in the interpretation of the fractures present within the religious nationalist discourse; namely, the rejection of Orthodoxy during the XIXth century, as it was considered an impediment in Romania’s path to adopting western modernity and later on, starting with the 1930, the restoration of the “Orthodox ethos” as a source of cultural and political values of the Romanian nation.

This dissertation aims to analyse the development of the deliberative model of democracy in the U.S., both in an empirical and theoretical levels, from its origins in the eighties of the last century until now. In the first part we study the political and historical elements that build the crisis of the Liberal political system in the seventies in the U.S. and its effects on the political behaviour of citizens. In the second part we discuss the origins and development of the deliberative theory of democracy, its main authors, approaches and elements. The key aspect of this model of democracy is to reverse the apathy and strength the political participation of citizens through public deliberation. In the last part we expose the practical level of the deliberative democracy: how this theory of has been put into practice in the American political domain. We describe the main projects of deliberative democracy rose from civil society from the eighties until today. Finally, we expose the James Fishkin’s proposal of deliberative poll. This is the link between the empirical and theoretical levels of the deliberative model of democracy.

Aunque esta tesis puede leerse desde diferentes perspectivas, tiene una voluntad fundamental: explicar, desde la metodología propia de la historia conceptual, la racionalidad específica del llamado fascismo español. Centra su interés en la figura de Ramiro Ledesma Ramos (1905-1936), fundador del primer movimiento fascista español. Ledesma ideó un proyecto de modernización de España que sólo podía pasar por la organización de un Estado total. Trató de crear un movimiento de masas de corte fascista con capacidad para fundar un Estado total capaz de ser una alternativa viable al liberalismo republicano y al socialismo. El fascismo español emergerá como una experiencia temporal propia de la modernidad. Buscará revitalizar y acelerar un proceso, el moderno, que a la luz de los jóvenes exaltados de principios de siglo se percibía como agotado y decadente. El planteamiento de Ledesma brotaba de la necesidad de combatir aquellas presuntas fuerzas degenerativas (liberalismo, comunismo, conservadurismo, etc.) de la historia contemporánea española para erigir una nueva modernidad basada en el renacimiento de la nación. Al mismo tiempo, se pretende poner en relieve la eficacia de la acción histórica planteada por el pensamiento reaccionario español. Bajo sus coordenadas, la nación jamás desarrollaría los rasgos sublimados de la política moderna europea. Jamás abandonó los pretendidos órdenes del derecho natural del clasicismo católico que, en última instancia, limitaban la potencia absoluta de cualquier soberano político. Esta particularidad histórica, arrastrada desde la primera modernidad, impedirá con obstinación cualquier oleada revolucionaria que supusiera la autonomización de la esfera política y por tanto, la instauración de un poder totalitario. De hecho, cuando se instauré la dictadura del Franco, a lo más que se llegaría, sería a un Estado mínimo, que bajo los presupuestos del tradicionalismo, dejaba a su suerte las dinámicas económicas. / Although the different perspectives this thesis could be read, it has a fundamental willing: explains, from the conceptual history owns methodology, the specific rationality of Spanish fascism. Focusing its interest in Ramiro Ledesma Ramos (1905-1936), he was the founder of the first Spanish fascist movement. Ledesma devised a modernization project of Spain that could only go through the organization of a total state. He tries to create a fascist mass movement with the capacity of founding a total state able to be an alternative to the republican liberalism and socialism. Spanish fascism emerges as a temporal experience typical of modernity. It would search to revitalize and accelerate a process, the modern one. This process was seen in the light of the angry Young of the beginnings of century which seen that as decadent and exhausted. Ledesma's approach arose from the need to combat those alleged degenerative forces (liberalism, communism, conservatism, etc.). Of contemporary Spanish history to erect a new modernity based on the rebirth of the nation. At the same time, it is intended to highlight the effectiveness of historical action raised by the Spanish reactionary thought. Under its coordinates, the nation never develops the sublimated features of European modern politics. He never abandoned the alleged orders of Catholic natural law of classicism that ultimately limited the absolute power of any political sovereign. This historical particularity, dragged from the first modernity, obstinately prevent any revolutionary wave that would cause the autonomy of the political sphere and thus the establishment of a totalitarian power. In fact, when it will be establish the dictatorship of Franco, the result would be a minimal state under the assumptions of traditionalism which left their own economic dynamics.

La ricerca indaga tensioni e trasformazioni che investono le principali correnti di pensiero politico in Francia nei primi anni della monarchia di Luglio, e vi osserva l’emergere del concetto di classe. Assumendo la dimensione dell’avvenimento come punto di intersezione fra storia e teoria, l’elaborato si concentra sul periodo novembre 1831-giugno 1832 per analizzare il modo in cui, nell’ordine del discorso politico repubblicano, liberale e socialista, le vicende di questi mesi vengono interpretate cercando di dar nome alle figure sociali che esse fanno irrompere nel dibattito pubblico. Il titolo Fra il nome e la storia fa dunque riferimento allo sforzo di indagare il campo di tensione che si apre fra concreto divenire storico e grandi operazioni di nominazione che segnano l’affiorare di strutture concettuali della lunga durata. L’emergere della nozione di classe operaia e delle categorie che intorno a essa si organizzano viene interpretata come una «formazione discorsiva» che pone in questione significato e confini del politico. La frattura del 1848 è assunta come orizzonte e margine esterno della ricerca nella misura in cui si ipotizza che essa segni una prima affermazione del regime di verità di tale formazione discorsiva: lo statuto politico del lavoro. L’elaborato consta di quattro capitoli. I primi tre indagano la riflessione sul politico e la funzione che in essa svolge il concetto di classe a partire dall’interpretazione di alcuni avvenimenti del tornante 1831-32 proposta nel discorso repubblicano del quotidiano «Le National» e della Société des Amis du Peuple, in quello del liberalismo dottrinario di François Guizot e in quello socialista nascente, prima del movimento sansimoniano, e poi muovendo fino al 1848 francese con l’analisi propostane da Karl Marx. Il quarto capitolo indaga infine la dimensione del «sociale», la sua elaborazione e articolazione attraverso il lavoro di studio e oggettivazione delle figure del mondo del lavoro. / The research investigates the tensions and transformations of the main streams of political thought in France, considering the emergence of the notion of class. Starting from a conception of event as a point of intersection between history and theory, the dissertation focuses on the period November 1831-June 1832 in order to analyze how republican, liberal and socialist discourses interpreted the events unfolding during those months in the attempt of naming the social figures that swarmed in the public debate. The title Between the Name and the History hence refers to the analysis of the field of tension that emerges between the concrete historical becoming and the naming operations that signal the rise of long-lasting conceptual structures. The dissertation understands the appearance of the notion of working class as a «discursive formation» that questions the boundaries of the political. The 1848 break is taken as the horizon and external limit of the dissertation, since the research hypothesizes this rift as a first utterance of the regime of truth belonging to this discursive formation: the political statute of labor. The dissertation consists of four chapters. The first three chapters investigate the reflections on the political and the function of the concept of class in these reflections, triggered by some events occurring in 1831-1832. The first chapter analyzes the rhetoric emerging in the republican discourse, particularly in the newspaper National and in the Société des Amis du Peuple. The second chapter examines the reflections that sprung from the doctrinaire liberalism discourse of Guizot. The third chapter investigates the considerations of the rising socialist discourse: from the saint-simonian movement to Marx’s analysis of 1848 in France. The fourth chapter is centered upon the «social» dimension: namely, its elaboration and articulation through the study and the objectification of different figures in the realm of labor.

L'elaborato affronta il pensiero di John Courtney Murray dal punto di vista teologico e politico, sottolineandone le influenze esterne ai circoli intellettuali cattolici e la particolare rilevanza per l'integrazione della comunità cattolica nella società statunitense. / This work analyses the thought of John Courtney Murray from the political and theological perspective. It focuses on the influences received by the jesuit from non-Catholic intellectual circles and the relevance for the integration of the Catholic community in the American society.

La tesi si propone di individuare un nesso significativo fra regolazione globale e ordine internazionale, così da raccordare il dominio tendenzialmente tecnocratico delle attività di standardizzazione, ottimizzazione e controllo delle pratiche alle questioni politicamente determinate della giustizia internazionale. A tal fine, prendiamo in esame le logiche liberali che sottendono l'azione di tre soggetti che partecipano al regime regolativo del mercato finanziario globale (OECD, IASB, Credit Rating Agencies). La tesi conclude che tale nesso non può essere fornito né dalle soluzioni normative del liberalismo progressista né da quelle del neoliberalismo, bensì dalla tensione concettuale fra le due tradizioni, che genera a sua volta uno spazio internazionale di autentica “pratica politica”. / The thesis sets out to identify a connection between global regulation and international order, so as to relate the quasi-technocratic realm of standardization, optimization and audit to to the politically determined issues of international justice. For this purpose, we consider the rationales underlying the activity of three subjects participating to the regulatory regime of the global financial market .(OECD, IASB, Credit Rating Agencies). The thesis infers that such nexus cannot be provided either by progressive liberalism's normative solutions, nor by neoliberalim's, but rather by the conceptual and practical tension between the two traditions of thought, which in turn generates a international locus of authentic "political practice"

L'indagine ha per oggetto il periodo americano di Luigi Sturzo (1940-1946), finora proco esplorato, soprattutto dal punto di vista delle fonti americane. E' stata messa in luce una serie di attività politiche e culturali, inquadrabili in precise strategie, volte alla diffusione dei valori della democrazia cristiana, a livello internazionale; alla formazione della classe politica; al più ampio sostegno alla patria lontana. / The essay focuses the American period of Luigi Sturzo (1940-1946), which has not been sufficiently explored until now, expecially from the point of view of the American archives data. It has been highlighted a series of political and cultural activitie set up by Sturzo, and which can be contestualized in the sense of precise strategies, directed to the diffusion of the values Christian Democracy, in the international background; to the formation of the ruling classes; to the wide support to the constitution of the democratic system in Italy.

La tesi affronta il tema del rapporto tra Carl Schmitt e gli Stati Uniti. Il primo capitolo, dedicato all'America vista da Schmitt, ripercorre i riferimenti presenti nell'opera dell'autore – dall'interpretazione della tradizione politico-giuridica americana in opposizione a quella continentale, al ruolo determinante che ha il Nuovo Mondo nello sviluppo e nella decadenza dell'ordinamento internazionale moderno, fino alle suggestioni teologico-politiche legate alla figura del katéchon – giungendo alla conclusione che non si possa liquidare l'atteggiamento di Schmitt come una pura e semplice ostilità assoluta nei confronti dell'America e di ciò che rappresenta. Per rendere conto di questo rapporto in tutta la sua complessità, occorre tenere presente la costitutiva ambivalenza dell'ultimo concetto schmittiano di inimicizia, e il suo implicare la dimensione del riconoscimento. Il secondo capitolo tratta del rapporto fra Schmitt e il nutrito gruppo dei suoi ex-allievi ed ex-amici che lasciarono la Germania per gli Stati Uniti a partire dagli anni Trenta. Al di là delle curiosità storico-biografiche, la ricostruzione di queste relazioni scientifiche e professionali e del loro retaggio è determinante per comprendere la (mancata) ricezione dell'opera di Schmitt nel secondo dopoguerra, e permette di fare un bilancio critico dell'ipotesi che egli abbia esercitato un'influenza “sotterranea” sul conservatorismo americano (ipotesi che nella tesi viene decisamente respinta per carenza di basi filologiche). Il terzo capitolo indaga la ricezione del pensiero schmittiano da parte di Hannah Arendt, prendendo spunto dalle moltissime annotazioni manoscritte lasciate da quest'ultima in margine alla sua copia del Nomos della terra. Insieme ai diari degli anni Cinquanta, questi appunti sono la traccia di un confronto molto significativo, che coincide (cronologicamente e concettualmente) con l'elaborazione della teoria dell'agire politico che troverà espressione nelle opere successive (Vita activa, Sulla rivoluzione, e l'incompiuta Introduzione alla politica): sebbene in questi scritti non sia mai citato il nome di Schmitt, la sua presenza come interlocutore implicito è pressoché costante, e testimoniata da un gran numero di indizi testuali. Nel quarto capitolo, infine, con una rassegna della bibliografia in lingua inglese degli ultimi trent'anni, si ricostruisce il crescente interesse per l'opera di Schmitt con particolare attenzione per due casi: quello della rivista «Telos», che ne ha rielaborato il pensiero integrandolo (non senza forzature) in una prospettiva di radicalismo democratico, e quello della leggenda storiografica che ha fatto di Schmitt una sorta di ispiratore occulto del neoconservatorismo americano e dell'amministrazione Bush junior.

La tesi si propone di portare alla luce la figura di Edoardo Martino. Parlamentare dalla I alla IV legislatura, più volte sottosegretario alla Presidenza del Consiglio al fianco di De Gasperi (V-VII gabinetto) e sottosegretario alla Difesa e agli Affari esteri in successivi Governi (Pella, Fanfani, Segni, Leone). Designato come mero della delegazione italiana all'Assemblea parlamentare europea e al Parlamento Europeo, fu presidente della Commissione politica di quest'ultimo dal 1964 al 1967, quando venne designato come Commissario per le relazioni esterne delle Comunità nella commissione guidata da Jean Rey. / This work enlightens the political experience of Edoardo Martino, Italian and European political man from 1947 to 1970. He was deputy in the national parliament from 1947 to 1967, under-secretary in many Italian governments (De Gasperi, Pella, Fanfani, Segni, Leone) and one of the members of Italian delegation in the European Parliament until 1967, when he became member of the first unified Commission of the European communities leaded by the President Jean Rey.