Centre for Comparative Public Policy
The Centre for Comparative Public Policy (CCPP) pursues the mission of the Centre for the Analysis of Public Policies (CAPP), founded in 1990, to gather and give visibility to research and study activities of permanent members and external collaborators sharing a common affiliation with approaches to policy studies. In May 1993, CAPP became the Centro Interuniversitario Internazionale per l'Analisi Comparata delle Politiche Pubbliche (International Inter-university Centre for Comparative Analysis of Public Policies) following an agreement between the University of Bologna and Bocconi University. The new CCPP favours an analytical approach to policy studies; its analyses, surveys and scientific publications focus on public policy issues and policy processes, privileging the comparative method.
The permanent collaborators to the centre’s research activities are members of the Department of Political and Social Science; other colleagues from Italian and foreign universities are often involved in various research projects on Italian public policies, the comparative analysis of some sectoral policies, policymaking and the legislative process, and on issues relating to policy change.
The professors and researchers at the DSPS involved in the activities of the centre, who are also founders and members of the Scientific Board, are the following:
Professors and researchers who are external collaborators and supporters, in accordance with the centre’s international dimension:
Jeremy Rayner, Professor and Centennial Research Chair, Johnson-Shoyama Graduate School of Public Policy, University of Saskatchewan.
Jenny M. Lewis, Professor of Public Administration and Public Policy, University of Melbourne.
Michael Ramesh, Professor of Governance and Social Policy in Asia, National University of Singapore.
Michael Howlett, Professor at the Simon Fraser University, Vancouver, Canada
Anthony Zito, Professor of European Public Policy, University of Newcastle
Eva Heidbreder, Professor of EU Integration, Heinrich Heine University Düsseldorf
Activities
The studies and research activities of the various members of the centre focus on the following themes: European and Italian agri-food and environmental policies; comparative analysis of university policies; national and comparative administrative reform policies; comparative analysis of health policies; decentralization and local development policies; comparative justice policies and judicial systems; policymaking, the legislative process, policy change; interest groups in European political systems and their role in public policies.
The research activity of the centre’s members translates into scientific production: in particular with the journal Rivista Italiana di Politiche Pubbliche (RIPP), but also various edited volumes in English, published in the series Politica in Italia, and numerous essays in foreign scientific journals (see the personal pages of the various DSPS members for detailed lists). Almost all members of the centre are collaborating editors at RIPP. Some have been or are currently members of the editorial staff of other well-known journals such as RISP, Stato e Mercato, and Policy & Society.
Rivista Italiana di Politiche Pubbliche (RIPP)
The Rivista Italiana di Politiche Pubbliche was founded in 2002 and is now the Italian journal of reference for those interested in analysing and understanding the processes through which solutions to complex social problems in contemporary political systems are found. It provides a multidisciplinary platform in which social scientists and professionals working on public policies at various levels may cooperate, compare theoretical approaches and interpretations, exchange information and research experiences.
The journal, published every four months, gives special emphasis to articles of a theoretical-interpretative nature and empirical research investigating the constituent elements of public policies (their actors, institutions, ideas, relational networks); the interaction between the political system and society in policymaking; the impact of party competition and political-institutional arrangements on public policy programmes; the relationships between the organizational properties of political-administrative structures and public policies; the analysis of sectoral policies, especially with a comparative perspective; the study of European policies and their interaction with national frameworks; regulatory instruments and strategies; theoretical and operational issues in policy change; and methodologies for the study of public policies. Four or five essays are published in each issue; mini-symposia or monographic issues on specific topics of particular relevance are periodically published in the journal.
The scientific committee is made up of some of the most important international figures in the field, from prestigious European and non-European universities.
Alessandro Natalini (Parthenope University of Naples) and Federico Toth (University of Bologna) are the current directors of the journal.
For several years, RIPP has been among the journals listed in the Scopus Bibliographic Database, in Worldwide Political Science Abstracts, International Political Science Abstracts, International Bibliography of the Social Sciences (IBSS), the Italian Catalogue of Periodicals (ACNP), JournalSeek, Essper and Google Scholar. It should also be noted that ANVUR - Agenzia Nazionale di Valutazione del sistema Universitario e della Ricerca (National Agency for the Evaluation of Universities and Research Institutes) has given important scientific recognition to the journal, placing RIPP in band A of the classification of political science journals published in Italian.
Visit the journal’s website on the publishing company Il Mulino’s website (https://www.mulino.it/riviste/issn/1722-1137). It provides useful information (including editorial criteria and manuscript layout requirements), in Italian and English, for both potential authors and readers. The journal also annually promotes an award for the best policy article written by a young researcher under 35 and, again annually, it participates in the international selection of articles promoted by the World Political Science Review (WPSR), choosing the best paper of the year to be published in English in the WPSR.