CIRCaP
Center for the Study of Political Change
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Welcome to the CIRCAP
The Centre for the Study of Political Change (CIRCaP) was established in June 1997, with the aim of doing research, analysis, collecting data and promoting advanced education on the problems and processes relating to political change at the sub-national, national and international levels. The academics and founders of the Centre are political scientists, but the Centre involves also the participation of scholars from the main social sciences disciplines.
The Centre mainly promotes research activities in the following areas:
a) Comparative analysis of the European political elites and of the relative recruitment processes;
b) Analysis of public opinion, with a particular focus on the themes of national and European identity and the public’s beliefs on foreign and defence policy issues;
c) Study of political behavior and elections
d) Comparative analysis of parliamentary and governmental institutions;
e) Analysis of the relationship between domestic politics and the European integration;
f) Analysis of political language;
g) Theories of political class.
The Centre also operates as a reference point for international research networks (i.e. the scientific network EurElite, supported by the European Science Foundation and the IntUne project, which is part of the VI Framework Programme of the European Union). The Centre hosts also the Standing Group of the Italian Political Science Association (SISP) on Public Opinion and Political Behaviour.
Connected to these activities, the Centre creates and updates some important databases (on the parliamentary and governmental elites; on the programmes of government and political parties; on public opinion and foreign policy), and it also publishes Occasional Papers.
Concerning the teaching activities, in recent years the Centre has established a Graduate School with a strong international orientation, which manages the Master Politics in Europe, and the PhD School in Political Science: Comparative and European Politics. Both programmes are taught in English and attended by students coming from European and non-European Countries. Within these programmes, the Centre regularly accepts Visiting Scholars from Italian and foreign Universities that take part in the teaching activities. Short specialized courses, which are particularly focused on research methodologies, complete the advanced education offered at the Centre.
The Centre operates with the collaboration and the administrative support of the Department of Historical, Legal, Political and Social Studies at the University of Siena.