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Gianfranco Pasquino’s Acceptance Speech, American Political Science Association Convention, Philadelphia, September 2, 2016
Pubblichiamo il testo del breve discorso con il quale Gianfranco Pasquino ha ringraziato per il Life Achievement Award (Premio alla carriera) conferitogli dal Conference Group on Italian Politics and Society.
The CONGRIPS*Life Achievement award came to me, at the time Fulbright Visiting Professor at Chicago, as a totally unexpected, therefore, even more pleasant and exciting, surprise.
Thank you, dear Colleagues and Friends. I am very grateful. I do not have to convince you that the study of Italian politics and society can be intellectually stimulating and highly rewarding, though , as citizen of a country that some of you wrongly believe is “normal”, I often feel irritated and annoyed. But I fight back, as you all know, challenging some interpretations, speaking the truth to the powerful as well as to the powerless, attempting, not so naively, to empower the latter, and, of course, also criticizing what many of you have been writing! Hopefully, I have always done so in a scholarly way, engaging in productive conversations, but never ostentatiously showing any kind of detachment.
How can one be detached when analyzing inefficient and corrupted politicians, litigious governmental coalitions, declining political parties, a society still largely characterized by “amoral familism” and immoral nepotism, partisan electoral and institutional reforms, gigantic conflicts of interests, evanescent political cultures? On the one hand, I have never refrained from trying to show that political science can be relevant and has the methodological tools and the consolidated knowledge to suggest appropriate transformations and solutions. In my parliamentary experience, in my newspaper contributions, in endless public meetings, I am constantly and stubbornly preaching the “good politics”. On the other hand, I have always tried to learn about Italy when studying other political systems, especially, parliamentary and semi-presidential democracies. If I can claim some originality in my writings on Italy, I would point to the use of my knowledge of other political systems and to my comparative perspective. Often it was from the reading of some essays of yours, some books of yours, some crazy ideas of yours and from excessively positive an evaluation of political developments in Italy that some of you have been unabashedly putting forward , that I got important cues and ideas for my research. Thank you for that.
The long struggle, that fully deserves the label “transition”, to improve the functioning of the Italian political system is by no means over. It is undergoing yet another phase not devoid of risks, not marked by opportunities. It is too easy to conclude that there is still a lot of work to do, which is good for all of us, researchers and teachers. Less good for most Italian citizens, especially, those belonging to the young cohorts. The most important reason why I have not been able to come to Philadelphia is that I am putting my political science and my knowledge of Italian politics at work. In a long campaign meant to reject the very poorly drafted and confused revisions to the Italian Constitution, I am going all places in order to shatter Renzi’s and Boschi’s false narratives and confused revisions.
To all of you I send my best wishes. Roll on, roll on. Mille grazie.
Gianfranco Pasquino, Emeritus Professor of Political Science, University of Bologna
*Conference Group on Italian Politics and Society
A Gianfranco Pasquino il Life Achievement Award dal Conference Group of Italian Politics and Society
Gianfranco Pasquino ha ricevuto il Life Achievement Award (premio alla carriera) dal Conference Group of Italian Politics and Society, l’associazione di coloro che, in Italia e nel mondo, studiano la politica e la società italiana.
CONGRIPS is the Conference Group on Italian Politics and Society. CONGRIPS was formally initiated on September 2, 1975, at the American Political Science Association (APSA) convention in San Francisco, California. Norman Kogan of the University of Connecticut spearheaded the effort which, in the first year, garnered 117 members. The original purpose of the organization was to encourage and support academic research and writing on current and past Italian political issues and practices. That charter was expanded in 1986 to include Italian social issues, hence the name change that year to the Conference on Italian Politics & Society ( CONGRIPS ). During its first year, CONGRIP also adopted a Constitution and Bylaws .
Virtually from its inception, CONGRIPS has been involved in a variety of activities intended to further the study of Italian politics. The organization has annually sponsored Italian-focused panels at APSA conventions and at many meetings of several other groups including: the International Political Science Association (IPSA), the Midwest Political Science Association (MPSA), the U.K.’s Political Studies Association (PSA) and the Council for European Studies (Europeanists). It has organized workshops, some of which have attracted funding from the National Science Foundation and Italy’s Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche. CONGRIPS has also sponsored conferences and roundtable discussions in conjunction with other groups such as the Societa’ Italiana di Scienza Politica, Stato e Mercato and the Rockefeller Foundation.In 1987, CONGRIPS facilitated the publication of Italian Politics: A Review in collaboration with the Istituto Carlo Cattaneo. The first volume’s editors included Robert Leonardi, Raffaella Nanetti and Piergiorgio Corbetta. Since then, Italian Politics has been published yearly, both in English (by Berghahn Books) and in Italian (by Il Mulino). The organization’s other major publishing effort has, of course, been its bi-annual update: The Conference Group on Italian Politics & Society Newsletter. Numbering over seventy issues, the Newsletter provides announcements, articles, book reviews and reports of the program chair.One of the strengths of CONGRIPS has been its ability to attract a core academic circle dedicated to research and writing on Italian politics and society. Consistency and hard work have also characterized those responsible for putting together the Newsletter, whether they are part of our current or past executive .
In addition to the NSF funding mentioned above, CONGRIPS has also received grants and other forms of support from the Faculty of Arts of McGill University, Montreal, Quebec, Canada (1987-90); from Dickinson College, Carlisle, Pennsylvania, USA (1990-95); and from the Fondazione Agnelli, Italy (1990-92). Funds from the latter have, in part, been used for annual prizes to encourage exemplary writing in the field. Since 2006 CONGRIPS awards every other year a Lifetime Achievement Award and, on alternate years, a Best Dissertation Award in the field of Italian politics and society also in a comparative perspective. CONGRIPS enjoys the participation of members from numerous countries across Europe and North America. Future goals for the organization include
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