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Research
My current research activities focus on three main areas:
(1) Social Policy in Central and Eastern Europe;
(2) The New Social Politics of the European Union; and
(3) Migration and Social Protection in the Enlarged European Union.
Social Policy in Central and Eastern Europe is the first
and oldest strand of my research. It started with my PhD in 2001
and continued, after completion of my thesis in 2005, with a post-doctoral
scholarship granted by the Centre d’études européennes
of Sciences Po, Paris. At present date, I am continuing to do research
on this region focusing, this time, on social change and emergence
of new social risks. In addition, I am co-editing a book on
“Welfare State Transformations and Adaptations in Central and
Eastern Europe”. This book puts together 17 leading European
and American experts (junior and senior) in the field. Here, we
try to develop a novel theoretical approach to study the systemic
transformation of Central and Eastern European welfare states. While
acknowledging the merits of path-dependency and new-institutionalist
explanations, we attempt to go beyond simple historical or institutions-centered
descriptions so far based on lock-in processes. We aspire, by contrast,
at elucidating both path-dependent, path-departing as well as path-creating
mechanisms. A particular focus is, in this context, given to mechanisms
of institutional change, to the specific social security culture
of a nation, to new and competing social security ideas and discourses
as well as to endogenous and exogenous factors able to influence
the contemporary Central and Eastern European social policy reform
process.
The New Social Politics of the European Union is the second
strand of research, even though it should be seen as the continuation
of numerous years of academic education and training in several
European universities (notably, the Universita’ “La Sapienza”
of Rome, the University of Bath in the UK, the Humboldt University
of Berlin and Sciences Po, Paris). This is also the title of my
habilitation research proposal, which will be conducted at the University
of Erfurt in Germany in cooperation with the Centre
d’études européennes of Sciences
Po. The main objective of this research strand is to explore
the prospects for a new social politics of the European Union capable
of improving social solidarity among European citizens. By “social
politics” here I mean not only the set of welfare policies
that can be introduced or promoted by EU institutions, the traditional
“social policy” of the European Union, but rather the
complex set of economic, political, legal and social principles,
policies and procedures that crystallize at different levels of
the European decision-making process. These can take the form of
dominant ideas and discourses on specific political and policy priorities,
of public policy instruments aimed at achieving a particular, previously
agreed goal, but also of policy-making procedures that once in place
may hinder or foster the achievement of determined political and
policy outcomes.
The third strand of research focuses on Migration and Social
Protection in the Enlarged European Union. A particular focus
here is given to the issue of mobility after enlargement and the
strains it puts (or not) on the welfare states of members states,
to the transferability of social rights within the EU, to the financial
sustainability of national welfare systems, to the constraints (or
advantages!) that migration has on national labour markets, to the
social inclusion of migrants, as well as to the differences in the
main migration-related social policy ideas and discourses promoted
by the most influential international organizations (notably, the
European Union, the World Bank, the ILO and the OECD). To this aim,
I will chair a stream on migration and social protection in the
EU at the next ESPAnet
(European Network for Social Policy Analysis) conference to
be held in Helsinki from the 18th to the 20th September 2008 (Conference
web-site).
As “associate researcher” at the Centre
d’études européennes of Sciences
Po, I am also developing other research areas and, in particular,
those concerned with:
• Enlargement;
• EU Integration Theories;
• Absorption Capacity of EU Institutional and Social Structures.
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Past and Present
Research Projects
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WWW Virtual Library: Evaluation
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The WWW
Virtual Library: Evaluation is an online database of high
quality Internet resources related to social policy evaluation.
It is part of the
Virtual Library project At present, the database points
to hundreds of web-sites, and each one has been selected and
described. The catalogue is browsable or searchable by subject
area.
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The Politics of Social Security Reforms in Continental
Europe
Centre d'études européennes of Sciences Po (Paris)
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The principal aim of the project is to evaluate the impact
of the similar social protection institutions that characterize
Bismarckian welfare states - eligibility based on work, earnings-related
benefits, contribution financing and devolved parastate management
- on the politics, timing and content of social reforms over
the last 25 years (Downlaod: Background
Paper; Abstracts;
Web-site
of the project: access restricted).
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Promoting Human Security in Western Europe and Eastern
Europe
UNESCO/Sciences Po
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The research analyzes various challenges to the human security
of the most vulnerable groups in Western and Eastern Europe,
and the various policy and research initiatives launched in
the EU. The final publications include analysis, recommendations
and a bibliography (Download the Report
for Western Europe; Report
for East Central Europe).
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Welfare State Transformations and Adaptations in Central
and Eastern Europe (book project)
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The book "Welfare State Transformations and Adaptations
in Central and Eastern Europe" provides in-dept insights
on the on-going processes of institutional transformation
and adaptation taking place in Central and Eastern Europe
(CEE) since the dissolution of the Iron Curtain (Download
book
description and synopsis; Web-site
of the project: access restricted).
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