Themes
Using the characteristics and the various models of contemporary federalism and federalist theories as a starting point, CSF intends to contribute to an interdisciplinary analysis at all levels of government and in various cultural and territorial environments. At the same time, it aims to establish a dialogue with scholars and researchers in the academic world and in research institutions and with organised civil society as a whole. The Centre’s main topics of interest have therefore been schematically divided into the following fields of research:
Supranational federalism and the process of European integration:
- History of the process of European integration and the role of the movements promoting European unity;
- Analyses of the interpretative theories of European integration;
- Relationship between federalist thought and other schools of political thought (historical materialism, political ecology, etc.);
- Contribution of civil society to building Europe;
- The debate on the istitutional reform of the EU;
- Principle of subsidiarity within the framework of the EU;
- The European budget and fiscal federalism;
- The EU’s international role and its foreign and security policy;
- The EU’s environmental policies;
- The EU’s industrial policies (support to Research&Development);
Globalisation and the prospects for the democratisation of the international system:
- Origins, implications and developments of the process of globalisation;
- Crisis of the nation state;
- The transformation of international systems;
- The processes of regional integration throughout the world;
- Reform of the United Nations and world federalism;
- The contribution of civil society to the evolution of the international system;
- Juridical, historical and political aspects of the International Criminal Court;
- The process of democratisation in international organisations and their reforms;
- The evolution of security in global governance: theories, paradigms and tools.
Sub-national and comparative federalism:
- A comparison of federalist models;
- The principle of subsidiarity;
- Fiscal federalism;
- "Differentiated" regionalism in Italy;
- The reform of "Title V" of the Italian Constitution;
- The Spanish model of autonomy;
- Role of the Regions and of the local power centres within the EU.


