Adriano Cozzolino
Biographic Data
| ID | 4190640 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Adriano Cozzolino |
| GIVEN NAMES | Adriano |
| FAMILY NAME | Cozzolino |
| SIGNATURE | COZZOLINO A |
| AFFILIATIONS | University of Campania "Luigi Vanvitelli" |
| ORCID | 0000-0003-4767-5796 |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 13 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 33 |
| WORKS AS AUTHOR | 13 |
| WORKS AS EDITOR | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2018 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2026 |
| H-INDEX | 4 |
Experts and the people
Technocracy has become an increasingly salient feature of contemporary European democracies, yet its implications for political participation remain insufficiently explored. This article examines how the growing presence of technocratic ministers in government is associated with citizens’ political participation across Europe. Drawing on individual-level data from the European Values Study (2017–2018) and original measures of technocratic appoint…
Beyond dualism
This article investigates the structural hybridization of technocracy and democracy in European governance. Moving beyond normative and binary accounts that frame the two as mutually exclusive, we conceptualize their relationship as a systemic, relational, internal, and processual dynamic. Building on this framework, we develop a typology of four ideal-type governance configurations – techno-dominant, demo-dominant, high-intensity hybrid, and low…
Sterilizing democratic politics
Neo-authoritarianism as molecular transformation. The reordering of political space in Italy
This article analyses the neo-authoritarian trajectory of the Italian radical right under Giorgia Meloni, conceptualised as a molecular transformation within the broader authoritarian shift in liberal democracies. While existing scholarship has examined Fratelli d’Italia’s ideology, organisation, and electoral breakthrough, this study focuses on the interlinked domestic reforms that reveal the government’s deeper political project: the constituti…
It Takes Two to Tango
The nexus between technocracy and populism in Italy can be better understood from a long-term perspective. Adopting a critical-realist approach to the explanation of political change, it is possible to identify the main contextual factors that favoured, from the early 1990s, the rise of these two alternative yet compatible logics of politics, which can be conceived as both causes and symptoms of the fatigue of representative democracy. This also …
From care -taker to change -maker? A systematic analysis of the policies of Italian technocratic executives
The international political economy of Berlusconism
In the existing accounts about Silvio Berlusconi, analyses of his political–economic project integrating the overarching context in which it emerged are conspicuous by their absence. The paper addresses this main gap by investigating Berluscon ism as a phenomenon reaching beyond Berlusconi’s figure, capturing the twists and turns of Italy’s neoliberal reconfiguration. Grounded in an International Political Economy (IPE) perspective and starting f…
If you really love nothing. Evaluating second-order factors in the case of Italian constitutional referendum of 2020
Recasting technocracy theory and analysis
Technocracy strongly marks contemporary transformations of political and institutional regimes. Such increasing relevance triggered an exponential growth of dedicated research. Yet, this research often features a quantitative approach based on a reified conception of technocracy, resulting in a rationalist and functionalist perspective neglecting the political dimension. Technocracy is thus implicitly conceived as a depoliticised phenomenon deter…
Politics by other means
Technocracy is becoming increasingly relevant in Western democracies and particularly in Italy, a country characterised by four technocratic governments in three decades. Despite the growing number of dedicated studies, there is a persistent gap in the existing literature concerning the discursive dimension of technocracy – namely, how technocrats frame the historical context, legitimise their policy agendas and, more broadly, the establishment o…
The Discursive Construction of Europe in Italy in the Age of Permanent Austerity
Combining a Critical International Political Economy theoretical perspective with Critical Discourse Analysis, the article explores, from the late 1980s to present and across the party‐system, the characteristics of the discursive construction of Europe in Italy as a source of legitimation and naturalization of the country's permanent fiscal adjustment and economic restructuring. Through an original analysis of the official policy documents enact…
State Transformations and Neoliberalization in Italy
The transformation of the state in the neoliberal era has characterized the debate in international/comparative political economy and political science scholarship. Many of such accounts, however, often assume a static and reified vision of the state. In contrast, this study, by focusing on the dimension of political agency in the state, provides for a qualitative analysis of the transformations of the Italian state during the consolidation of ne…
Reconfiguring the state
The article examines the evolution of legal and institutional mechanisms over four decades in Italy (1976–2015). Through an original data analysis of legislation on macroeconomic and financial measures, the paper investigates the reconfiguration of state institutions during the rise, consolidation and crisis of neoliberalism. I argue that the strengthening of the policy-making role of the executive, in particular through emergency legislation, pr…
Reconfiguring the state
The article examines the evolution of legal and institutional mechanisms over four decades in Italy (1976–2015). Through an original data analysis of legislation on macroeconomic and financial measures, the paper investigates the reconfiguration of state institutions during the rise, consolidation and crisis of neoliberalism. I argue that the strengthening of the policy-making role of the executive, in particular through emergency legislation, pr…
Politics by other means
Technocracy is becoming increasingly relevant in Western democracies and particularly in Italy, a country characterised by four technocratic governments in three decades. Despite the growing number of dedicated studies, there is a persistent gap in the existing literature concerning the discursive dimension of technocracy – namely, how technocrats frame the historical context, legitimise their policy agendas and, more broadly, the establishment o…
State Transformations and Neoliberalization in Italy
The transformation of the state in the neoliberal era has characterized the debate in international/comparative political economy and political science scholarship. Many of such accounts, however, often assume a static and reified vision of the state. In contrast, this study, by focusing on the dimension of political agency in the state, provides for a qualitative analysis of the transformations of the Italian state during the consolidation of ne…
Recasting technocracy theory and analysis
Technocracy strongly marks contemporary transformations of political and institutional regimes. Such increasing relevance triggered an exponential growth of dedicated research. Yet, this research often features a quantitative approach based on a reified conception of technocracy, resulting in a rationalist and functionalist perspective neglecting the political dimension. Technocracy is thus implicitly conceived as a depoliticised phenomenon deter…
The Discursive Construction of Europe in Italy in the Age of Permanent Austerity
Combining a Critical International Political Economy theoretical perspective with Critical Discourse Analysis, the article explores, from the late 1980s to present and across the party‐system, the characteristics of the discursive construction of Europe in Italy as a source of legitimation and naturalization of the country's permanent fiscal adjustment and economic restructuring. Through an original analysis of the official policy documents enact…
The international political economy of Berlusconism
In the existing accounts about Silvio Berlusconi, analyses of his political–economic project integrating the overarching context in which it emerged are conspicuous by their absence. The paper addresses this main gap by investigating Berluscon ism as a phenomenon reaching beyond Berlusconi’s figure, capturing the twists and turns of Italy’s neoliberal reconfiguration. Grounded in an International Political Economy (IPE) perspective and starting f…
Reconfiguring the state
The article examines the evolution of legal and institutional mechanisms over four decades in Italy (1976–2015). Through an original data analysis of legislation on macroeconomic and financial measures, the paper investigates the reconfiguration of state institutions during the rise, consolidation and crisis of neoliberalism. I argue that the strengthening of the policy-making role of the executive, in particular through emergency legislation, pr…
State Transformations and Neoliberalization in Italy
The transformation of the state in the neoliberal era has characterized the debate in international/comparative political economy and political science scholarship. Many of such accounts, however, often assume a static and reified vision of the state. In contrast, this study, by focusing on the dimension of political agency in the state, provides for a qualitative analysis of the transformations of the Italian state during the consolidation of ne…
The Discursive Construction of Europe in Italy in the Age of Permanent Austerity
Combining a Critical International Political Economy theoretical perspective with Critical Discourse Analysis, the article explores, from the late 1980s to present and across the party‐system, the characteristics of the discursive construction of Europe in Italy as a source of legitimation and naturalization of the country's permanent fiscal adjustment and economic restructuring. Through an original analysis of the official policy documents enact…
If you really love nothing. Evaluating second-order factors in the case of Italian constitutional referendum of 2020
Recasting technocracy theory and analysis
Technocracy strongly marks contemporary transformations of political and institutional regimes. Such increasing relevance triggered an exponential growth of dedicated research. Yet, this research often features a quantitative approach based on a reified conception of technocracy, resulting in a rationalist and functionalist perspective neglecting the political dimension. Technocracy is thus implicitly conceived as a depoliticised phenomenon deter…
Politics by other means
Technocracy is becoming increasingly relevant in Western democracies and particularly in Italy, a country characterised by four technocratic governments in three decades. Despite the growing number of dedicated studies, there is a persistent gap in the existing literature concerning the discursive dimension of technocracy – namely, how technocrats frame the historical context, legitimise their policy agendas and, more broadly, the establishment o…
It Takes Two to Tango
The nexus between technocracy and populism in Italy can be better understood from a long-term perspective. Adopting a critical-realist approach to the explanation of political change, it is possible to identify the main contextual factors that favoured, from the early 1990s, the rise of these two alternative yet compatible logics of politics, which can be conceived as both causes and symptoms of the fatigue of representative democracy. This also …
From care -taker to change -maker? A systematic analysis of the policies of Italian technocratic executives
The international political economy of Berlusconism
In the existing accounts about Silvio Berlusconi, analyses of his political–economic project integrating the overarching context in which it emerged are conspicuous by their absence. The paper addresses this main gap by investigating Berluscon ism as a phenomenon reaching beyond Berlusconi’s figure, capturing the twists and turns of Italy’s neoliberal reconfiguration. Grounded in an International Political Economy (IPE) perspective and starting f…
Experts and the people
Technocracy has become an increasingly salient feature of contemporary European democracies, yet its implications for political participation remain insufficiently explored. This article examines how the growing presence of technocratic ministers in government is associated with citizens’ political participation across Europe. Drawing on individual-level data from the European Values Study (2017–2018) and original measures of technocratic appoint…
Beyond dualism
This article investigates the structural hybridization of technocracy and democracy in European governance. Moving beyond normative and binary accounts that frame the two as mutually exclusive, we conceptualize their relationship as a systemic, relational, internal, and processual dynamic. Building on this framework, we develop a typology of four ideal-type governance configurations – techno-dominant, demo-dominant, high-intensity hybrid, and low…
Sterilizing democratic politics
Neo-authoritarianism as molecular transformation. The reordering of political space in Italy
This article analyses the neo-authoritarian trajectory of the Italian radical right under Giorgia Meloni, conceptualised as a molecular transformation within the broader authoritarian shift in liberal democracies. While existing scholarship has examined Fratelli d’Italia’s ideology, organisation, and electoral breakthrough, this study focuses on the interlinked domestic reforms that reveal the government’s deeper political project: the constituti…
Politics (13 works) · Technocracy (8 works) · Political science (7 works) · Populism, Right-Wing Movements (7 works) · Economics (6 works) · Law (6 works) · Political economy (5 works) · Social Policy and Reform Studies (5 works) · Sociology (5 works) · European Union Policy and Governance (4 works)