Starting from the consideration that gated estates and complexes are increasingly becoming part of the urban, peri-urban and rural landscape of many societies undergoing transformation, the aim of this dissertation is to explore what difference it makes to live in an enclosed space in order to understand not only the choice of living in such environments, but also their spatial, social and political implications and manifestations. This work does so by adopting a relational perspective and by comparing two different neighbourhoods of Johannesburg, South Africa: a newly built gated golf estate (Eagle Canyon) and an old open suburb (Northcliff). In order to develop insights into the ways in which life in a gated community is related to the life outside, an ethnographic study of three years has been carried on in the gated golf estate and in the open suburb. This work argues that gated enclaves, internally organized and managed by specific institutions, not only provide the space in which the "good life" is lead, but most importantly set the standard and the terms of this good life and provide a system of justification for it. Putting in dialogue the two suburbs, this dissertation points out that gated estates provide the sace in which an escalation of belonging takes place. The novelty of the study lies in the discovery that the relationship between Northcliff and Eagle Canyon and then between Eagle Canyon and other gated estates is not simply of one between different urban phenomena but, in addition, is one of political scale. Northcliff is to the City what Eagle Canyon is to the nation. In other words, these respective communities instantiate, symbolically, different scales of political community.

La criminalità organizzata ha aumentato la propria presenza nell’economia legale attraverso l’infiltrazione in aziende, generando così delle conseguenze negative per il sistema economico e alterando le relazioni tra attori economici. Molti paesi europei hanno adottato dei sistemi di recupero di capitali illeciti, ma l’Italia è la sola che prevede anche il recupero di aziende come misura di contrasto efficace. La politica di recupero dei capitali illeciti dovrebbe ridurre l’infiltrazione della criminalità organizzata nelle aziende, ma ad oggi è assente una valutazione la politica di recupero delle aziende infiltrate da gruppi criminali. Questa tesi intende valutare la politica di recupero delle aziende infiltrate dalla criminalità organizzata in Italia. L’analisi riguarda la valutazione dell’efficacia, efficienza e impatto di questa politica e, attraverso lo studio di nove casi, propone un nuovo quadro di analisi che combina diversi metodi (es. analisi degli indici di bilancio) e fonti (es. casi giudiziari e bilanci). Lo studio dei casi mostra che il recupero delle aziende è efficace se l’amministratore giudiziario ha esperienze manageriali; è efficiente se i procedimenti di recupero sono brevi e l’azienda viene destinata ad uso sociale; ed ha un impatto positivo se i media e le associazioni locali si interessano alle sorti dell’azienda. / By misusing legitimate businesses, organised crime is increasingly present in legal economies, generating serious consequences for legal systems and distorting relationships among legal actors. Several European countries have adopted asset-recovery regimes, but Italy is the only one that foresees the confiscation of companies as an effective countermeasure. Taking profits out of crime should curtail its infiltration into legitimate businesses, but there are no evaluations of the recovery of companies once infiltrated by organised crime. This study aims to evaluate the recovery of confiscated companies infiltrated by organised crime in Italy. It measures the effectiveness, efficiency and impact of this policy, and, analysing nine cases to assess the achievement of the policy objectives, proposes a new analytical framework that combines different methods (e.g. financial ratio analysis) and sources (e.g. judicial files and balance sheets) to evaluate asset-recovery policies. The results from case studies show that the recovery of companies is effective if the legal administrator has managerial skills; it is efficient if the proceedings are short and the company is disposed to social reuse; and it has a positive impact if media and local associations show an interest in the company.

La ricerca si pone l’obiettivo di analizzare i servizi consultoriali rivolti alle famiglie/donne migranti nell’ambito delle politiche sociali che rivolgono un’attenzione specifica ai soggetti e alle famiglie della migrazione, osservandoli dal punto di vista del modello relazionale di buone pratiche (Donati P., Prandini R., 2006; Rossi G., Boccacin L., 2007), nell’ambito del Comune di Milano. Sono stati selezionati cinque consultori familiari significativi per il tipo di lavoro realizzato le famiglie immigrate, all’interno dei quali sono stati realizzati gli studi di caso. Gli obiettivi della ricerca sono: • Tracciare un profilo del campione d’ utenza immigrata che accede ai consultori familiari studiati (attraverso la rilevazione quantitativa). • Analizzare le pratiche di lavoro con le donne/famiglie immigrate. In particolare, valutare quanto le pratiche realizzate rispondono ad un modello di progettazione e di attuazione di tipo relazionale, quale posto sia riservato alla famiglia, a quale modello di integrazione si ispira e quale effetto abbia in termini di capitale sociale prodotto (attraverso la rilevazione qualitativa). E’ stata formulata una ipotesi generale, che si declina in tre ipotesi specifiche. Il Consultorio Familiare si configura come un servizio alla persona: 1. quando raggiunge un obiettivo di integrazione delle differenze culturali rispondendo ai bisogni degli utenti immigrati attraverso servizi che riconoscono e promuovono le appartenenze etniche (ad es. i gruppi di accompagnamento alla nascita ai quali partecipano donne di diversa appartenenza etnico - culturale), 2. quando riconosce e si prende cura dei legami familiari dell’utente immigrato (ad esempio estendendo la consultazione a più membri della famiglia), 3. quando realizza un modello relazionale di buone pratiche in quanto genera capitale sociale attraverso l’intreccio di 4 componenti: Efficienza, Efficacia, Integrazione del servizio in una rete di attori, La qualità etica dei fini perseguiti: benessere, protagonismo, empowerment e integrazione della famiglia migrante. L’approccio è multimedodologico per la scelta di più campioni (26 operatori, 4 coordinatori, 120 utenti), per l’utilizzo congiunto di più strumenti, (questionario e intervista) e infine, per quanto concerne l’uso di più metodi di analisi dei dati (quantitativo e qualitativo). In base alla prima ipotesi, il consultorio è un servizio alla persona nella misura in cui è capace di rispondere, con modelli di lavoro differenti, alla specificità della domanda dell’utenza, pur all’interno di un orientamento verso l’assimilazione dell’utenza che spinge verso il livellamento non solo della risposta del servizio, ma anche della domanda dell’utente. In base alla seconda ipotesi, il consultorio famigliare si configura come un servizio, che pur dichiarando un approccio alla famiglia nella mission perseguita, rivolge il proprio intervento al singolo utente o al massimo a diadi familiari. In base alla terza ipotesi, è stato possibile confermare la presenza di singole pratiche di lavoro attivate dagli operatori che rispondono ad un modello relazionale di buone pratiche, in quanto supportando la nascita di nuovi legami sociali e il confronto culturale, generano capitale sociale e promuovono l’integrazione. Dalla ricerca è emerso un quadro composito del complesso rapporto tra servizio consultoriale e utenza immigrata, che necessita di ulteriori approfondimenti di ricerca. / Research object is inquiring consultorio familiare within the frame of social policy. Consultorio familiare will be analysed to the point of good/best practices relational model (Donati P., Prandini R., 2006; Rossi G. , Boccacin L.,2007), in Milan, a city that has high level of immigrants clients. The research intends to define more precisely what kind of ‘good practices’ are realized, especially with regards to the immigrant families. The research aims : • To describe sample of immigrant clients who access to Consultorio familiare through quantitative research method • to shed light on family services related to immigrant families clients, in order to discover how the good practices and the social capital generate, level of family approach, model of integration realized with immigrant families. The observation of family services that are offered in Consultorio familiare, and the analysis of the social capital generation process, has been carried out through the realisation of 5 case studies identified among some experiences qualified as ‘good practices’. Specific hypothesis: Consultorio familiare is “servizio alla persona”: • When it reaches a goal of integration of cultural differences in response to immigrant clients' needs through services that recognize and promote the ethnic membership (eg. Birth groups for women of different ethnic-cultural membership), • when it recognizes and takes care of the immigrant's family ties (eg by extending the consultation to more family members) • When it achieves a relational model of good practice and generates social capital through the intertwining of 4 components: Efficiency, Effectiveness, Integration of service into a network of actors, the ethical quality of the purposes: wellbeing, protagonists, empowerment and integration of the family migrant. For the choice of different samples (providers and clients), as well as for the use of different, (questionnaire and interview) tools, and different (quantitative and qualitative) methods of data analysis, this research is based on a multi-methodological approach. Under the first hypothesis, Consultorio familiare is “servizio alla persona” to the extent is able to respond with different patterns of work to the specific nature of the requests, but in a shift towards user assimilation that leads to the same level of the provider response and the clients demand. Under the second hypothesis, Consultorio familiare is configured as a service, while stating that a family approach is pursued in the mission, it realizes a practice at an individualist or dyadic level, with one client or a maximum of family dyads. With the third hypothesis, it was possible to confirm the presence of specific working practices enabled by the providers responding to a relational model of good practice, supporting the emergence of new social ties and cultural confrontation, generate social capital and promote social integration. The research has shown a mixed picture of the complex relationship between immigrant clients and consultorio familiare, who needs further research investigations.

Questa tesi presenta un’indagine sugli attivisti del Partito Democratico, condotta tra il 2009 e il 2010 nei circoli di quattro città italiane (Milano, Perugia, Roma e Napoli) attraverso etnografie e interviste biografiche. L’identità degli attivisti è studiata attraverso il metodo dello storytelling, ampiamente utilizzato negli studi dei fenomeni politici. Partendo dal presupposto teorico che ogni attivista possiede tante identità quanti sono i suoi flussi stabili di relazioni verso altri attori (individuali o collettivi), ne vengono individuati essenzialmente due: il primo verso l’interno dell’organizzazione e il secondo verso l’esterno. Nel primo caso, l’identità degli attivisti viene studiata attraverso le relazioni che essi intrattengono all’interno del partito (con leader, dirigenti e altri attivisti). Nel secondo caso, vengono analizzate le relazioni che gli attivisti intrattengono con elettori e realtà associative dei territori. Infine, si presenteranno gli aspetti dinamici delle identità degli attivisti, le scintille del mutamento che attraversano le loro storie. Il quadro generale che emerge dalla ricerca è un attivismo che viene definito, con una metafora informatica, “1.5”: un attivismo contemporaneo che sta esperendo un mutamento dalla militanza tradizionale dei partiti elettorali di massa, in una direzione che però è ancora per molti aspetti nebulosa. Un mutamento incompiuto: una rivoluzione “1.5”. / This work presents field research on the activists of the Italian Democratic Party, developed between 2009 and 2010 in four Italian cities (Milan, Perugia, Rome and Naples) through ethnographies and in-depth interviews. The identity of the activists is studied through the method of storytelling, widely used within the field of political studies. Starting from the theoretical assumption that social identities are stable steams of relations between actors, this work identifies two relevant steams for party activists: the first is toward the organization itself, and the second is toward the territory. In the first case, the identity of the activists is examined through the relationships with party leaders, managers and other activists. In the second case, it is analyzed the relation that activists maintain with the territory: voters, associations, and other political organizations. Finally, it is presented the dynamic aspect of the activists’ identities, the spark of change that run through their stories. The overall picture that emerges from the research is a “1.5 activism”: a contemporary form of activism that is experiencing a shift from traditional electoral mass parties, yet still remaining unfinished. A “1.5” revolution.

I processi di globalizzazione e di individualizzazione che caratterizzano il mondo e le società contemporanee producono inevitabilmente delle ricadute all’interno dei rapporti tra cittadini ed istituzioni. I tradizionali soggetti della rappresentanza politica, i partiti, sembrano annaspare a vantaggio di nuove forme ed esperienze di partecipazione “dal basso”. Il Movimento 5 Stelle, una “giovane” formazione politica nata sulla Rete e capitanata da Beppe Grillo che, cavalcando il malessere e la disaffezione dei cittadini nei confronti della politica tradizionale si è imposta come la principale rivelazione delle elezioni politiche 2013 in Italia, costituisce lo specifico oggetto di studio della ricerca. In particolare, il lavoro di tesi si snoda attraverso due studi di caso: il primo fra gli eletti del Movimento in Parlamento, il secondo all’interno del gruppo di attivisti di base nella città di Firenze. In entrambi i casi, la rilevazione passa attraverso interviste di tipo semi-strutturato al fine di cogliere in profondità elementi di un movimento dalle caratteristiche del tutto peculiari. Nel caso degli attivisti, alle interviste si è aggiunto un periodo di osservazione partecipante all’interno del Meetup: l’obiettivo è quello di fornire una sintesi delle modalità di trasformazione della politica sul territorio, in una realtà mai così in movimento. / The processes of globalization and individualization that characterize our world and contemporary societies do inevitably produce consequences within the relationship between citizens and institutions. Parties, the traditional subjects of political representation, seem like fumbling for the benefit of new participation forms and experiences "from below." The Five Stars Movement, a "young" political formation born on the Net and led by Beppe Grillo, riding the malaise and indifference of the citizens towards traditional politics (and whose emergence has been the main surprise of the 2013 italian national elections) has the specific subject of the research. Particularly, the thesis does investigate two case studies: the first among the elected of the Five Stars Movement in the italian Parliament, the second within its local group in Florence. In both cases, the detection goes through semi-structured interviews in order to understand in depth elements of a movement with quite peculiar characteristics. In the local activists’ case, a period of participant observation within the Florence’s Meetup has been added to the interviews, with the aim of providing a summary of the transformation of politics in the territory, in such a moving world.

This thesis investigates how everyday patterns of interactions among civil society organizations are transformed in a relatively short period of time when major changes in the broader political context occur. More precisely, it focuses on civic organizations engaged in environmental activism and advocacy in the Basque Country, examining whether ETA’s decision to abandon the armed struggle on October 20th, 2011 has affected their dynamics of collaboration. Combining diverse theoretical elements from the literature on social movements, together with insights from studies of civil society and peacebuilding, and relying upon the conceptual and methodological toolbox of social network analysis (SNA), I analyze the evolution of interorganizational networks of collective action before and after the end of violence, specifically, between the years 2007 and 2017. The empirical core of the dissertation is comprised by chapters 5, 6 and 7. Chapter 5 examines the varying impact of two main external ideological cleavages (national identity and position towards ETA’s violence) on interorganizational collaboration. The findings confirm that allegiances and conflicts related to these two dimensions used to condition collaborative ties between organizations up to 2011, while during the more recent post-conflict period collaborative patterns seem to be less segmented along ideological lines. Chapter 6 complements the preceding one by adding into the analysis several other non-ideological predictors of interorganizational collaboration. Results show that, with the end of ETA’s armed struggle, pragmatic-instrumental factors and interpersonal bonds seem to play a larger role as drivers of public collaboration. Next, chapter 7 engages in a quite different and more exploratory kind of analysis. Applying Diani’s modes of coordination (MoC) analytical framework, I explore whether the underlying relational logics through which civic actors engage with one another have significantly changed before and after the end of violence. The structural network analyses conducted reveal that social movement patterns of relations have expanded after 2011, becoming dominant vis-à-vis other modes of coordination. At the same time, actors embedded in a social movement mode of coordination are slightly more heterogeneous after the definitive demise of the violent conflict in comparison with the previous phase. Taken as a whole, these findings can be interpreted as positive signs of post-conflict normalization of socio-political life in the Basque Country. The fact that environmental civic networks are now denser and more cross-cutting does not only mirror the lower saliency of the cleavages that used to severely condition Basque politics, but it can also serve as a powerful mechanism through which a more tolerant and vibrant democratic community can progressively be built. Overall, this dissertation provides a more nuanced and complex view of the role played by organized civil society and social movements in deeply divided communities, underlining the need to focus on their relational structure in order to correctly assess their potential impact on social integration and the functioning of democracy. Moreover, by analyzing networks among civic organizations in a longitudinal perspective, this dissertation makes several original contributions to social movement scholarship, especially to the stream of literature focusing on coalition making. Methodologically, the replication or adaptation of the empirical design employed in this research could be instrumental in fostering more longitudinal examinations of collective action fields, which until now remain scarce. From a theoretical standpoint, this investigation underlines the context-dependent nature of even well-established patterns of political interactions, underscoring the need to pay more attention to the complex interplay between historical conjunctures and underlying everyday patterns of sociopolitical behavior.

‘Revisiting lesbians' and gay men's lives’ is a study on same-sex desiring individuals' changing life course in Italy from the mid 1990s to the early 2010s. Focused on sexual developmental trajectories, same-sex cohabiting couples, and parental desires, its main argument is that, even in a relatively short time period, Italian lesbians' and gay men's lives changed in ways that further sexual and relational pluralism and provide empowering narratives and resources to communities of sexually diverse individuals. Throughout the thesis, I adopt the framework of generational sexualities to observe transformations at the intersection of theorisations in the sociology of personal relationships, feminist research, and interactionism. Declining homophobia and unchanging gender sexual inequality result in lesbians and gay men reinventing the gendered aspects of sexual development and contesting homonegativity in familial, religious, and public milieux. In couple formation, sexual agreements, and emotional styles, lesbian and gay relationships are gendered, but the advancement of the relevance of prosaic and mythic love in the institution of coupledom helps same-sex partners negotiate interdependent lives and relational ties that are similar to contemporary Italian heterosexuals'. Despite facing the limits posed by gendered bodies and procreative and parental norms, lesbians, gay men, and same-sex couples see bio-social ties to the child as dependent on care-taking ties, and visualize and negotiate their procreative potentials and relationships aiming at securing familial happiness that is central in contemporary cultures of children's well-being. In the different aspects of lesbians' and gay men's life course, generational sexualities engage directly with contemporary Italian sexual citizenship, an exception in the Euro-American process of recognition of sexual diversity, and advance the pluralization of relational and gender norms. Chapter 1 discusses the theoretical underpinnings of the research. Chapter 2 presents the methodology and methods of the study, a qualitatively-driven mixed-methods research comprising gathering and analysis of biographical interviews with same-sex cohabiting partners in 2012-13, gathering and analysis of survey data on lesbian and gay lives in 2012-2013, and secondary analysis of survey data on lesbian and gay lives gathered in 1995-96. In Chapter 3, I analyse change in sexual developmental trajectories and strategies of resilience against homonegativity. Chapter 4 traces the emergence and institutionalisation of relational commitment in same-sex cohabiting couples. In Chapter 5, I look at lesbians' and gay men's parental desires as expressions of the changing social meaning of the child. Chapter 6 presents my concluding remarks, linking the generational agency and narratives emerging from new lesbians' and gay men's life courses to the prospects of Italian sexual citizenship and sexual minority communities.

Il Bilancio Partecipativo (BP) è probabilmente l’esempio più famoso ed interessante di governance locale per i suoi effetti democratici e redistributivi. Per via del coinvolgimento diretto dei cittadini nel processo decisionale, il BP è considerato una forma di democrazia diretta capace di ovviare agli attuali limiti della democrazia rappresentativa moderna. Tuttavia, ad un’attenta analisi, è possibile identificare nel suo funzionamento anche degli elementi rappresentativi che non sono mai stati presi molto in seria considerazione. Infatti, poiché la partecipazione avviene solitamente attraverso gruppi ed associazioni, nuove forme di rappresentanza e nuovi rappresentanti emergono in competizione con quelli tradizionali politici in termini di consenso, sostegno popolare e dunque legittimità. Il presente lavoro vuole andare oltre il pensiero corrente e proporre un’interpretazione originale del modello istituzionale del BP come una forma nuova ed alternativa di democrazia rappresentativa, in cui le organizzazioni della società civile assumono un ruolo centrale: dietro al BP vi sarebbe una sorta di democrazia ‘civile’. Questo punto di vista alternativo non solo può stimolare un ulteriore dibattito in letteratura, ma aprire anche degli scenari interessanti in relazione ai temi più generali della crisi delle istituzioni liberal-democratiche e del ruolo e dell’identità della società civile. / Participatory Budgeting (PB) is probably the most famous and interesting example of innovative local governance for its redistributive and democratic effects. Due to the direct involvement of citizens in the decision-making process, PB is celebrated as an example of direct democracy which can help to deal with the limits of representative democracy. However, on closer analysis, it is possible to identify elements of representation in its functioning, which are taken into little consideration and which could probably modify the prevalent theoretical belief. In fact, as citizens usually participate through their groups and associations, new representatives emerge challenging the traditional channels of political representation in terms of popular approval, consensus, hence legitimacy. This work aims to go beyond the prevailing narrative and propose an original interpretation of the PB’s institutional model as a new and alternative representative democracy, where the main political actors become organizations from the civil society: behind PB there seems to lie a sort of ‘civil’ democracy. Hence, introducing this alternative viewpoint can, not only further questions which are never fully considered in the literature, but also open interesting scenarios in the debate over the crisis of liberal-democratic institutions and the role and the identity of civil society.

Questa tesi è costruita sulle seguenti domande: una società che ha vissuto gravi e sistematiche violazioni dei diritti umani come può 'chiudere i conti' con il passato e perseguire giustizia e riconciliazione? Come rigenerare i legami sociali infranti? Quale ruolo giocano vittime e perpetratori? Questi problemi sono studiati, in concreto, nell’esperienza di El Salvador. Tra i profili sociologici possibili, la tesi si concentra sulla 'domanda di giustizia' delle vittime. Il primo capitolo fornisce un inquadramento storico-sociale. Il secondo ha per oggetto la giustizia di transizione; l’analisi teorica generale considera i seguenti modelli: giudiziario, amnistiale, delle commissioni verità e la "Truth and Reconciliation Commission" (TRC) sudafricana. La TRC è presentata come un’esperienza che attinge e supera le opzioni precedenti, mostrando le potenzialità della "restorative justice". Il terzo e il quarto capitolo tornano sul caso salvadoregno e considerano gli attori (nazionali e internazionali) e i problemi sociali della transizione del Paese centroamericano. La ricerca svolta sul campo ha permesso di mettere in luce il valore generativo degli sforzi con cui parte della società civile salvadoregna ha cercato di fronteggiare la latitanza dello Stato rispetto al diritto alla verità e alla giustizia. Il quinto capitolo, avvalendosi della voce delle vittime intervistate con il metodo delle 'storie di vita', riflette sul rapporto fra trauma e legame sociale. L’ultimo capitolo presenta gli strumenti metodologici utilizzati per la ricerca empirica. / This thesis is based on the following questions: can a society that has experienced severe and systematic human rights violations be reconciled with the past and pursue justice and reconciliation? How can broken social connections be repaired? What are the roles of victims and oppressors? These problems have been studied analyzing the experience of El Salvador. Among the possible sociological profiles, the thesis focuses on the Salvadorian victims' "demand for justice". The first chapter gives an historical-social overview. The second chapter analyzes the transitional justice. The general theoretical analysis takes into account the following models: judiciary, that related to amnesty, the model of the "truth commissions", and finally the South African "Truth and Reconciliation Commission" (TRC). The TRC is presented as an experience that draws on and surpasses the previous alternatives, showing the potential of restorative justice. The third and fourth chapters return to the Salvadorean case and take into account the agents (national and international) and the social problems connected to the transition El Salvador has undergone. Research in this field sheds light on the relevance of the efforts made by some parts of the Salvadorean civil society to deal with the absence of the government with respect to promoting the right of truth and justice. The fifth chapter, corroborated by interviews with victims analysed using the method of the "history of life", reflects on the connection between trauma and social bonds. The last chapter presents the methodological tools used during the empirical research.