Lorenzo Cini
Lorenzo Cini is a Research Fellow at the Department of Political and Social Sciences of the Scuola Normale Superiore (SNS) of Pisa, where he is also a member of COSMOS (Center on Social Movement Studies). He published articles and chapter contributions on student mobilizations in the neoliberal university in several books (for Brill and Routledge) and journals (Social Movement Studies, Italian Review of Political Science, Anthropological Theory, and PACO).
Biography
Lorenzo Cini is a Research Fellow at the Department of Political and Social Sciences of the Scuola Normale Superiore (SNS) of Pisa, where he is also a member of COSMOS (Center on Social Movement Studies). He held a PhD degree in Social and Political Sciences at the European University Institute (EUI) of Florence, carrying out his dissertation thesis on the recent student protests in England and Italy. On this topic, Lorenzo Cini also published several chapters in edited volumes (for Brill and Routledge) and articles in peer review journals (Current Sociology, Social Movement Studies, Italian Review of Political Science, Anthropological Theory, and PACO). A new book, titled Contesting Higher Education Student Movements against Neoliberal Universities (Cambridge University Press), co-authored with Donatella della Porta and Cesar Guzman Concha, is also forthcoming.Education
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PhD in Social and Political Sciences (EUI)
Areas of Research / Professional Expertise
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Social movement studies, political sociology, political economy, labour relations, and critical theories of capitalism
Personal Interests
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I love reading, walking, and boxing!
Websites
Books
Articles
Student movements in the age of austerity. The cases of Chile and England
Published: Dec 13, 2018 by 2017
Authors: Lorenzo Cini and Cesar Guzman Concha
Several recent episodes of massive student protests in countries in Europe, Latin America, and Africa, raise the question of whether we are witnessing to a new surge of student protests. This profile offers an interpretation of the socio-economic and political processes that have caused contentious reactions among students, paying special attention to changes in the major characteristics of the higher education sector.
Italian students as a political actor: The policy impact of the recent student mobilizations in the field of higher education
Published: Dec 13, 2018 by 2017
Authors: Lorenzo Cini
Organizationally and politically fragmented protests are not able to influence policy issues that have a low public relevance, especially in periods of economic crisis and political austerity. I contend that this was precisely the case of the Italian student protests of 2008 and 2010
Successful student activism in contemporary Italian universities
Published: Dec 13, 2018 by 2017
Authors: Lorenzo Cini
This article assesses the strategies that the Italian student activists adopted in order to influence the revision process of the governance structure of their universities in 2011. Which kind of strategy has enabled these activists to influence more successfully this process?
Towards a Critical Theory of Social Movements: An Introduction
Published: Dec 13, 2018 by 2017
Authors: Lorenzo Cini, Daniela Chironi, Eliska Drapalova, and Federico Tomasello
Why have social movement studies mostly ignored the concept of capitalism as an important factor explaining the rise, the decline, and even the absence of social mobilizations? Our thesis is that the silence of social movement research on capitalism is anything but strange. We contend that social movement studies have arisen and come out from the rejection of Marxist and capitalist explanations of societal transformations, which were relatively popular and relevant in the 1960s and 1970s.
Participatory deliberative democracy: toward a new standard for assessing democracy? Some insights into the Italian case
Published: Dec 13, 2018 by 2018
Authors: Lorenzo Cini and Andrea Felicetti
On the basis of a common framework of participatory and deliberative norms, this paper envisages an alternative idea of democracy to offer normative guidance in democratising contemporary societies. We tie our discussion to an analysis of how Italian democracy could be improve
Videos
Published: Nov 15, 2017
COSMOS CONFERENCE Conveners Donatella della Porta (SNS) Lorenzo Cini (SNS) Cesar Guzman-Concha (SNS) Keynote Speakers Donatella della Porta (SNS) Thierry M. Luescher (Human Sciences Research Council, South Africa) Manja Klemenčič (Harvard University, United States) Discussants Lorenzo Cini (SNS) Cesar Guzman-Concha (SNS) Thierry Luescher (Human Sciences Research Council, South Africa) Gianni Piazza (Università di Catania) Lorenzo Zamponi (SNS)