VIGONI LAB

The Vigoni Lab – Perspectives on Politics and Society is an academic network that intends to promote comparative studies in the field of political science and history of international relations between Italy and Germany in the context of European integration. In particular, the working group stems from the need to thoroughly investigate the state of democracy in Europe, which has been undergoing changes for several decades. After the fall of the Berlin Wall and the dissolution of the Soviet Union, democracy in Europe has in fact experienced a phase of expansion culminating in the accession to the EU of the countries of Central and Eastern Europe, formerly members of the Warsaw Pact. The consolidation of democracy after 1989 represented the apex phase of the third wave of democratisation theorised by Samuel P. Huntington. As was the case with the first and second waves of democratisation, the third wave was also followed by a reverse process that could be made to coincide with a series of political events that took place in the EU Member States but also had clear effects on a supranational level. One might consider, for instance, Brexit, the question of the rule of law within the Union, the emergence of new nationalisms or, more generally, the transformation of the nation-state in Europe as it has been shaped tine the 20th Century.