Italian Political Science today: Has the profession changed in the last ten years?

Abstract

This contribution analyzes the opportunities that the 2010 reform of higher education (Gelmini reform) created for Italian political scientists to form departments centered on the social sciences that would encourage greater experimentation with degree programs more attuned to the needs of a changing society and better able to chart the evolving nature of contemporary politics. It underscores the diffi-culty of making this transition, but also highlights the attempts formally made in this direction. It further analyzes the positive impact that the same reform has had on the internationalization and profession-alization of the younger generations of political scientists. It also warns, however, against the promo-tion of an understanding of academic career that may induce them to detach themselves from other aspects of the profession that have to do with the management of university structures and the broad promotion of political science, nationally and internationally.