Osservatorio su Politica e Istituzioni (OPI)

The Centre has developed over the years a strong tradition of studies of parliamentary and governmental institutions both with a national and a comparative focus. 
In this area the Centre hosts an Observatory on Institutional Change with the purpose of coordinating research on elites and institutions, both in Italy and from a comparative perspective. The main focus of the research of the Observatory concerns political and institutional change in Italy, but the data and the skills which are available at the Centre cover also a wide range of comparative areas. The CIRCaP researchers are involved in a variety of international projects as country experts for Italy and, in some cases, they are also the coordinators of comparative studies.

Below are some of the projects currently under way at the CIRCaP Observatory on Institutional Change:

• Archive on the Parliamentary Elite in Europe
• Archive on the Italian Political Class
• The legislative activity of the Italian Government
• Research on the Popularity of the Italian Government
• Political Elites and Territory in Italy
• Regulatory reform in the EU and independent regulators in Italy
• Electoral Manifestoes

The Centre also participates in a project on Decision-making processes coordinated by the University of Milan and funded by the Italian Ministry of Education and Research where it investigates the changing nature of the relationship between government and parliament in Italy.

The Observatory on Institutional Change is coordinated by Luca Verzichelli.

Since 2003 CIRCaP has been producing a report on the activities and the performance of the Italian government

In 2010, the Observatory presented a brief annual report focusing on the profiles and the activities on the Italian representatives in Europe 
The project was developed by Stefano Braghiroli, Nicolò Conti and Luca Verzichelli.

Published books

  • S. Cavatorto (con A. La Spina) Le Autorità indipendenti, Bologna, Il Mulino, 2008
  • M. Cotta and L. Verzichelli, Political Institutions in Italy, Oxford University Press, 2007
  • M. Cotta, Democracia, Partidos e elites polìticas, Livros Horizonte, 2008