Symposium on IPSR/RISP – Italian Political Science Review: “The Legacy of Giovanni Sartori”

The Italian Review of Political Science, formerly Rivista Italiana di Scienza Politica, honors the 100° anniversary of its founder, Giovanni Sartori, with a special symposium devoted to his impact and legacy. Giovanni Sartori founded this journal in 1971 and published in its first issues two master essays devoted to the foundations of the discipline and the centrality of comparative politics: La politica comparata: premesse e problemi (1971) and Cosa è politica (1972). These two essays and the launch of this journal came in a seminal period marked by the publication of some of Sartori’s most influential contributions, shortly following Concept Misformation in Comparative Politics (1970) and then followed by Parties and Party Systems: A Framework for Analysis (1976); these works, in turn, came in the middle of his influential theoretical reflections on democracy, Democratic Theory (1962) and The Theory of Democracy Revisited (1987). In fact, Giovanni Sartori contributed to the discipline on a vast array of topics: from democratic theory - his first major endeavor - to concepts (mis)formation, from warnings to quantofrenia and parochialism to the merits of comparative politics, from party and party system analysis to democratic constitutional frameworks, from visual communication to opinion formation; and with constant attention to Italy as an important case study.

A symposium

IPSR/RISP thus proposes presenting a special symposium titled “The Legacy of Giovanni Sartori.” In particular, we invite scholars to discuss any aspects of the legacy and impact of his work, with a shared focus on examining his relevance for present and future research in political science and beyond. The areas covered by the work of Giovanni Sartori are so broad that we expect a vast array of scholars to possibly find aspects to deepen, discuss, or shed new light on. The call is thus open to any kind of contribution ranging from theory to methodology, from party systems to institutions, to mention only some of them.

The symposium will comprise a collection of standard, double-blind-peer-reviewed Research Notes (max 4,000 words), compliant with the current IPSR/RISP submission policy. As such, contributions will have to fall into one of seven specific categories of Research Notes (Dataset, Null Findings, Technique, Replication, Concepts, and Terms, Literature, Political Facts: see detailed descriptions on the IPSR/RISP website), and the peer-review process will follow the same standards adopted for all Research Notes.

We encourage Research Notes on broad perceptions of the general impact of Sartori’s work as well as on unexpected relevance and potential of his work for current or new research problems or perhaps with new methods advancing fresh investigation of classic Sartorian research questions. As always, we encourage all forms of cooperation that testify to the lively diversity of our reference community in terms of seniority, gender, methods, and sub-disciplines.

Operational aspects

• The deadline for submitting proposals is August 20, 2024.
• Proposals should be about 500 words long and sent by the deadline date to risp@sisp.it.
• Communication of selected proposals: September 1, 2024.
• Submission of the research notes for peer review by the end of October 2024.

Lorenzo De Sio (LUISS) and Sylvia Kritzinger (University of Vienna), 2023-2026 Editors of the Italian Political Science Review/Rivista Italiana di Scienza Politica

Piero Ignazi (University of Bologna) and Nadia Urbinati (Columbia University), Guest Editors of the Symposium