Call for papers

Migrations, populism and the crisis of globalization

Over the last few years, migrations have become a central theme in the political and economic debate. The most critical aspects, also because of the many border deaths that they implied, refer to migrations from African and Asian countries towards Europe and from Latin and Central American countries towards the United States, but also to intra-European migrations, from Eastern to Western Europe.

Some countries have been successful so far in preventing them through the application of restrictive and selective policies that, however (as in the case of Japan or Australia, for example) have been effective mainly because of the natural barriers provided by their geographic location.

In the current debate, the negative effects attributed to migrations are often included among the main causes of Brexit, Trumpism, populism, nationalism and of the more general crisis of globalization. As a matter of fact, they are a multi-faceted phenomenon, involving many different issues.

First of all, legal and ethical issues, that can be synthesized in the paradox that while capital is allowed to flow freely across the world, labor – the other most relevant factor of production – is not. Such questions emerge also in the distinction often made between economic migrants and refugees, as if people who live in a situation of absolute poverty and deprivation should not be given the possibility to look for a decent existence for their families and for themselves. Those aspects are accompanied by harsh dilemmas relative to the ‘right’ immigration policies to be adopted by destination countries, to the sacredness of life to be defended at all costs in the case of an emergency, but also to the – even involuntary - possible wrong signals and incentives imputed to humanitarian intervention.

Second, social issues, including those relative to the effects that immigration and the resulting ethnic diversity (together with the cultural and religious one) may have on the social capital of destination countries; on the maintenance of their traditions and specific identity, in their multiple meanings; on the feeling of uneasiness, insecurity and fear that is often resented by the resident population with the arrival of new immigrants.

Third, cultural and religious issues, due to the fact that different habits, traditions and religions have to live side by side. As a matter of fact, new labor forces entering a country imply the entrance of new people. This can be summarized by the well-known phrase of the Swiss-German playwriter Max Frisch, originally referred to the Turkish immigration in Germany in the years following World War II: “We asked for workers, but human beings came”.

Fourth, political issues, resulting once more from the consequences of immigration on the perceptions and feelings of the people living in destination countries, and represented by the spreading of new forms of populism and nationalism. Such phenomena may well have to do with the fear that immigration may increase crime (and in some cases even terrorism), although the positive empirical correlation between immigration and crime is highly controversial. In any case, they should be addressed in an informed, scientific and non-emotional way, an approach which is not always followed in these days.

Finally, economic issues, because of the positive and negative effects that migrations may have. As a matter of fact, potentially negative effects may result on the countries of origin (arm brain and brain drain could undermine their future development opportunities) but also on destination countries (competition with local unskilled workers and threat to the economic and social standards resulting from decades of negotiations between unions and employers, conflict in the access to shrinking social rights).

At the same time, however, there are undeniable positive aspects for both of them: origin countries receive from migrants significant amounts of remittances, that can be fruitfully channeled to support economic activities, development and growth, while destination countries are allowed to satisfy the manpower needs of many agricultural and manufacturing sectors together with the many other needs resulting from their falling demographic trends. Considering the points made above, the CISP (Centro Interdisciplinare "Scienze per la Pace") at the University of Pisa, the academic journal Scienza e Pace/Science and Peace, the AISSEC (Associazione Italiana per lo Studio dei Sistemi Economici Comparati) and the GLO (Global Labor Organization) invite scholars and experts (economists, historians lawyers, philosophers, political scientists, sociologists and social science scholars in general) to present their works and findings in the workshop “Migrations, populism and the crisis of globalization”.

Instructions for authors

The workshop (that will be held in English, unless all presenters will be Italian) will take place on 30 and 31 March 2020 in the Department of Economics of the University of Pisa. Please send an abstract of approx. 300 words to the editorial board of the academic journal Scienza e Pace/Science and Peace (This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.) and to the AISSEC secretariat (This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.) by 31 January 2020. Acceptance will be notified around mid-February. A first draft of the paper would be expected by mid-March.

An issue of Scienza e Pace/Science and Peace will be devoted to the themes addressed in the workshop and will include the articles that will be submitted by April 30, 2020. Conference participants are particularly encouraged to submit their papers. The articles submitted for publication should follow the Editorial guidelines of the journal and will be subject to peer review refereeing.

When, after the death of Pius XII, on October 28, 1958, Pope Angelo Giuseppe Roncalli was elected, who assumed the name of John XXIII, a short term was expected for him and indeed his pontificate would have ended only five years later. Faced with the economic and social transformations that characterized Italy in the Fifties, Roncalli considered it necessary for the Church to update and confront the new demands placed on the consciences of Christians; this intuition was translated into the convocation of the Second Vatican Council (1962-1965), which immediately revealed a clash within the meetings between a majority faithful to the traditional Catholic doctrine and a minority available to openness; a clash that will be echoed in the magazines and which will result in different interpretations of the conciliar documents. A different political reception of the basic transformation Council which involved the mass organizations of Catholics, Catholic Action, Acli, Christian Democracy and which, thanks to the meeting with youth movements, has become an open dispute within the Church , and whose goal was not that of a destruction of the institution, but a faithful and rigorous recovery of the Church of Christ, increasingly hidden and replaced by an organization of power that plotted economic and political relations and that made itself an accomplice of capitalism in perpetrating injustices in near and far lands. An other Church that did not want to become another Church. The first two chapters will be devoted to the development of Vatican II and to the work of peace promoted by Pope Roncalli, especially to the encyclical Pacem in Terris, promulgated in April 1963.

In this paper, I discuss critically the concept of populism trying to operationalise it for empirical analysis. I will present a case study, which is an analysis of the political rhetoric of Matteo Renzi based on the content analysis. Through two main categories and four subcategories, I will show that populism can be found also in leader which are not expression of the far-right movements or parties and that for the Italian case we can see a specific form of populism, institutionalized and “from above” using the definition of the Italian political scientists, Marco Revelli. The case study aims to provide some additional empirical finding for the study of populism in Italy.

The recent election of Jair Bolsonaro in Brazil creates a set of doubts about the future of the constitutional state in the country. These concerns stem from their statements in the past or during the election campaign. On several issues, he expressed positions that are incompatible with the foundations of the constitutional state, especially with fundamental rights. The text gives special emphasis to themes that are likely to be most affected, such as the environment, public security, foreign policy and social rights. This paper aims to discuss the risks that the Brazilian constitutional state currently lives. As such, it seeks to draw attention to the challenges that the lawyers face in this new era. The paper takes as reference the normative framework of the 1988 Constitution. It is based on information available in the media about his ideas and those of his followers, on his government program and on the first act he edited as president.

This essay aims to develop a reflection on the education to interculturality in our country, to be understood as a matured awareness, and strategies implemented by institutions on the theme of cultural diversity, in a "positive" perspective of recognition and appreciation of differences, supportive and pacifist. The proposed overview focuses on three strategic sectors to understand the role and the evolution of intercultural communication in the public sphere: the university, which has the mandate to train the professional figures of the future; the organizations, public, private and non-profit, obliged, in order to survive, to intercept and deal promptly with the evolution of the company; the media, protagonists of cultural and political life and producers of the narratives that nourish the popular imagination. Specifically, the reflection is based on the results of three research actions carried out by the authors in the context of the activities of a European project (Codes - Communication, Diversité, Solidarité) and this paper is the first public presentation of the same at national level.

The White Slave Traffic arose as a new international crime, which developed at the end of the 19th century. This paper explains the configuration of this phenomenon and how it was described by newspapers and public opinion. The aim of this article is to analyze the international struggle against the White Slave Traffic, a battle that began in the late nineteenth century and developed over the next twenty years at an intra-state level and, finally, inherited from the League of Nations. We investigate the developments of this fight against trafficking to the present day, in order to show the elements of continuity with the current international system.

The article – which takes its cue from a recent book by G. Zanetti – aims at analysing the debate on the recognition of sexual orientation equality in Constitutional cases. In particular, it analyses the transition of constitutional courts from the recognition of the right of privacy of gays and lesbians to the affirmation of the valuability of same-sex couples and their equality and dignity in relation to marriage. The article also emphasises how constitutional courts contribute to the solution of social and political conflicts on LGBT rights.

The paper points out the heuristic extent of Imperfect Peace [IP], a theory which comes from the historical studies, with the aim of demonstrating that every approach which deals with peace and conflict has to be compared with the ‘laws’ of dynamics of society and an idea of the human condition. As for the method, the paper develops a comparison between the basic concepts of IP (primal peace, interdependence, holism, relativism, dialectics, pacifist empowerment) and some influential standings of philosophy and sociology. As a first result, the paper sees in the IP an overcoming of an ethical class by looking for the 'best possible' rather than the 'absolute good'. Afterwards, it highlights some similarities and important differences between IP and the network theory of conflict. Finally, developing a Peace Theory independently and conceptualizing a close peace-society relationship, the paper emphasizes the shadows of the IP's project and presents, as a final contribution, some ideas for a critical refocusing of the IP as a whole.