The presence of political science in the Italian university curricula
Introduction: political science and the new university system in Italy1
As it is well known, Italy was the first country to begin implementation of the “Bologna process”. The new system of university curricula was established by government in 1999, and is currently being re-styled, although the cornerstones of the new system have been preserved. As we have already mentioned, the traditional university degree (laurea) was replaced by a two-level curriculum: a first-level diploma is awarded after the third year of study (diploma di laurea), while the advanced-level diploma (the laurea specialistica, and since 2008 the laurea magistrale) requires a further two years of study. Another important change to be recalled is the decision to grant each university substantial freedom to choose the names and curricula of degree-courses. Prior to 2001, the names of university courses and degrees were decided by the Ministry, and were the same for all the universities, while each university was only granted a limited degree of freedom when it came to defining course curricula. Since 2001, however, each university has been free to choose the names of its courses and degrees from a wide framework of 42 types of bachelor’s degree groupings and of 104 types of master’s degree groupings2. Although certain standard minimal requirements have to be met in terms of subject distribution within each grouping, universities are now allowed to shape their curricula, thus varying the content also within the same category of degree. For example: while a standard degree grouping has been established (e.g. the national bachelor’s degree programme in Political Sciences and International Relations), unlike in the past, when all universities had to use the same name for this kind of degree (and basically adopt the same list of courses), universities may now choose from a variety of titles (Political Sciences and International Affairs, Politics and International Affairs, International Affairs and Diplomacy, and so on), and curricular content offered may now vary considerably from one programme to another.
The 1999 reform provided a real policy window for the discipline, since political science courses were now required as basic or supplementary subjects in 16 of the 42 national bachelor’s degree groupings, and in 32 of the master’s degree groupings. This is an impressive result if we consider that prior to 2001, only the degrees in Political Sciences, International Relations and Public Administration required subjects in the discipline of political science.
The question now is: what impact has this radical reform of the university teaching system had? Or, to put it another way: how has this ‘policy window’ been transformed into reality? Have political scientists been able to extend their presence beyond the traditional confines of political science faculties? In attempting to answer to these questions, we will analyse some data about the presence of the discipline in the context of the Italian university system today. More precisely, we will look at the concentration of political science courses at the two level above mentioned – the diploma di laurea and the laurea magistrale.
Political science within the Italian university today
First of all, we need to point out that up until 2000, political science and its various sub-branches was taught on 57 different degree courses in Italy. Table 1, which refers to the academic year 2007-2008, shows that political science is now taught on more than 150 first-level degree courses and on more than 130 second-level courses. At a first glance, this would seem an impressive increase: however, we have to consider another effect of the curricular reform, namely the proliferation of degrees, which was particularly evident in the faculties of humanities and social sciences. Before the reform, political science degrees were generally subdivided into two two-year periods. The subjects studied during the first two-year period were compulsory for all students, and designed to provide a basic knowledge of the main areas of study (contemporary history, law, political science, sociology, economics, statistics, the history of political thought). The second two-year period, on the other hand, covered the study of a maximum of five specialist areas (historical, administrative, economic, international and socio-political), to be chosen by each student. After the reform, the temptation was to simply transform each section into a first-level degree. Thus, whereas political sciences faculties previously had only one degree programme as a rule, there are now an average of 3.5 bachelor’s degrees in each faculty. Table 1 reveals the effects of what is, in reality, a kind of optical illusion: the multiplication of degrees containing political science courses is much more the result of the questionable implementation of the reform, than an indicator of any real strengthening of the subject’s status. We ought to point out that one of the aims of the corrective reform (approved in 2004) is in fact the reduction of the total number of different degrees offered by Italian universities.
However, it also has to be said that, compared to the past, political science as an academic subject is not only taught in political science faculties, but is also present in a further ten diverse faculties. This is a clear sign of the subject’s penetration, albeit slow and rather limited in terms of the actual presence of political science scholars.
Table 1. Faculties with degree programs offering at least one course in Political Science in the academic year 2007-2008
| Faculties | Bachelors | Masters | Total |
|---|---|---|---|
| Political Sciences | 119 | 100 | 219 |
| Sociology | 9 | 8 | 17 |
| Law | 5 | 4 | 9 |
| Humanities | 4 | 4 | 8 |
| Communication studies | 2 | 0 | 2 |
| Economics | 8 | 13 | 21 |
| Italian Language and Culture | 1 | 1 | 2 |
| Architecture | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| Education and Teaching | 2 | 0 | 2 |
| Territorial Planning | 1 | 1 | 2 |
| Foreign Languages and literature | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| (programmes offered jointly by more than one faculty) | 4 | 2 | 6 |
| Total | 156 | 134 | 290 |
Sources: Italian Ministry of University and Research (www.miur.it)
On the other hand, it should be said that political science has actually been taught in fewer national groupings than those provided for by national regulations. In fact, we discovered that political science courses have been taught up to now in bachelor’s degrees belonging to 12 of the 16 groupings provided for by national regulations, and in master’s degrees belonging to only 22 of the 32 envisaged.
In order to assess the real presence of political science within current university curricula, we need to examine all of them more closely. Thus, we have collected data on the ‘compulsory’ political science credits required for each degree programme3. We consider political science to play a ‘peripheral’ role if 6 or fewer compulsory credits are required in the subject; on the other hand, it is deemed to play a ‘semi-peripheral role’ if the compulsory credits range between 7 and 12, and a ‘central’ role if 13 or more such credits are required.
Political science and the bachelor’s degree
Tables 2 presents the distribution of political science courses among the 156 degrees programmes in which it is a required presence. Most of these bachelor’s programmes belong to the groupings ‘Political Sciences and International Relations’ and ‘Public Administration’. However, political science seems to be significantly present in other curricula as follows: Communications Studies, Social Services, Social Sciences, Cooperation and Development. On the other hand, despite the widespread distribution of the discipline, the data on its ‘relevance’ are much less encouraging. In fact, political science is only central to one-third of those bachelor’s degree programmes it is featured in. Overall, political science is substantially semi-peripheral or peripheral to all the curricula except for the more traditional programmes (political sciences, international relations and public administration). Furthermore, what is extremely surprising is that even the role of the subject in its ‘traditional surrounds’ is much less important than one would expect: as the figures show, political science is central to around 60% of bachelor’s degrees in Public Administration, and to only about 40% of degrees in Political Sciences and International Relations.
Table 2. Relevance of political science courses in bachelors degree programmes
| National groupings | Number of degree programmes | Central role | _ .Semi-peripheral role | Peripheral Role |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Foreign Languages | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| Social Services | 14 | 0 | 7 | 7 |
| Urban and Territorial Planning | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| Communications studies | 12 | 1 | 3 | 8 |
| Political Sciences and International Relations | 52 | 21 | 21 | 10 |
| Business and administration | 3 | 0 | 0 | 3 |
| Public administration | 38 | 22 | 14 | 2 |
| Economics | 6 | 1 | 1 | 4 |
| Sport and Education | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| Cooperation adn Development | 10 | 2 | 7 | 1 |
| Social Sciences | 17 | 3 | 6 | 8 |
| History | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| Total | 156 | 50 | 60 | 46 |
Sources: Italian Ministry of University and Research (www.miur.it)
Political science and the master’s degrees
The situation concerning the master’s programmes, presented in table 3, appears more difficult. In fact, political science emerges as being central to only 15 out of the 134 programmes considered. What is surprising here is the marginality of our discipline in master’s programmes such as International Relations, Political Sciences and Public Administration.
Obviously such a depressing picture is partly the result of the way we have chosen to measure the importance of the subject, that is, by taking only compulsory credits into account. In some universities, students have a certain degree of freedom to choose a number of optional courses; as a result, those with a particular interest in political science can double or treble such credits, taking other courses among those offered by their faculty. However, the structural dilemma faced by political science as an academic subject is that the offer of additional “free” credits in political science is only available in those universities where there is a ‘critical mass’ of political scientists. Indeed, the preconditions for such an option only exist in ten of Italy’s 77 universities, namely: Bologna, Catania, Florence, Milan, Padua, Pavia, Siena, Turin, Trento, Trieste and Urbino. All things considered, this means that the number of students with sufficient exposure to an in-depth knowledge of the subject remains relatively low. This also means that in Italy many students are enrolled in master’s programmes in International Relations without any chance to get a solid preparation in political science. Similarly, there are numerous students involved in university programmes in Public administration (either first- or second-level) with very limited knowledge of political science applied to the study of public organizations and bureaucracies.
Table 3. Relevance of political science courses in the Masters degree programmes
| National groupings | Number of degree programmes | Central role | Semi-peripheral role | Peripheral Role |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Cultural Antropology | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| Journalism | 3 | 0 | 0 | 3 |
| Finance and Accounting | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| Law | 2 | 0 | 0 | 2 |
| Foreign Languages | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| Methodology of Social Research | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| Urban and territorial Planning | 2 | 0 | 0 | 2 |
| Planning and Management of Social Services | 11 | 0 | 2 | 9 |
| Communication and Advertisement | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| International Relations | 28 | 6 | 11 | 11 |
| Economics | 5 | 0 | 0 | 5 |
| Social and institutional communication | 2 | 0 | 0 | 2 |
| Political Sciences* | 23 | 4 | 6 | 12 |
| Science of public administrations | 20 | 1 | 8 | 11 |
| Business and Administration | 8 | 0 | 0 | 8 |
| Pedagogy | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| Cooperation and Development | 4 | 1 | 0 | 3 |
| Sociology | 11 | 0 | 2 | 9 |
| Contemporary History | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| European Studies | 8 | 3 | 3 | 2 |
| Total | 134* | 15 | 32 | 86 |
Sources: Italian Ministry of University and Research (www.miur.it) – * The total number of programmes in these grouping is 134. For one case, belonging to the grouping of Political Sciences, it has been impossible to collect the list of courses
Another point worth mentioning is the fact that many courses, especially in certain sub-branches of political science, are taught by people without specific training in Political Science. If we examine the figures from the last report on this issue (Capano 2005, Capano and Troconi 2005), we see that about 20% of those courses classified as being in the political science field (more than 400 courses in all) are taught by ‘non political scientists’. Particularly striking figures are those concerning the percentage of courses in International Relations (60%) and Public Administration (40%) which are not taught by people the field of true political science. This is a rather perverse consequence of the interaction between the content of the curricular reform and the irresponsible autonomy granted to Italian universities. Indeed, the new curricula have provided a larger number of compulsory courses in political science than those existing in the past. However, in many universities the number of political scientists was, and still is, very low, and in some cases there are no political scientists on the teaching staff at all. In order to deal with this problem, there have been two alternatives: either the course is taught by a member of the faculty from another subject area, or temporary teachers are brought in (selected by the faculty council and not necessarily with a background in political science).
Hence the question remains: why are political scientists not employed to fill these vacancies? The answer is very simple: resources are scarce, and investing them in political science would mean reducing the prestige of the ‘main’ subjects within the same faculty. So, in faculties where many lecturers and professors (historians of political ideas, political historians, professors of public law, political philosophers, sociologists) believe themselves to be masters in the study of the essential features of politics, it is not difficult to find someone who will teach certain political scientific subjects. Obviously such a consolidated practice produces distortions, especially from the students’ point of view.
A first discussion
Notwithstanding these latter disappointing figures, if one compares the current situation with the early seventies, when only 12 courses in political science were taught in just 5 Italian universities, the state of the discipline can be considered rather promising. Indeed, political science has finally arrived in a number of Italy’s universities, although it is clear that it is mainly grounded in a limited number of universities. In fact, from the didactic and curricular points of view, the situation remains rather critical and the overall weight of political science in the Italian university is not growing anymore (Capano and Tronconi 2005). As a result of traditional cultural pluralism in the study of politics, political science is forced to keep playing a minor role in Italy’s university curricula. Because of traditional historical legacies (Morlino 1989, 1991, Sartori 1986) it has been virtually impossible so far to establish any curriculum in pure political science in Italy. Due to national regulations, such a curriculum is totally absent at the bachelor’s degree level. At the level of the laurea magistrale, that means master’s degree, there are a handful of universities (Bologna, Florence, Milan, Turin and Padua) where more highly-specialist programmes have been created. However, considering the number of students enrolled in the faculties of political sciences (about 5.5% of all students, that is, about 98,000 in the academic year 2006-2007), it is clear that a small percentage of them are effectively exposed to the discipline of political science.
Thus, political science seems to be still condemned to an ancillary role in the majority of Italian universities (Sartori 1986, Graziano 1991, Freddi and Giannetti 2006). This situation means that empirical study of politics boasts limited acknowledgement and visibility within the university world, not only among academics but also among students. Of course, this is just one of the aspects to be analyzed in the attempt to evaluate the state of the art in the discipline, but a very crucial one. Indeed, the persisting lack of “specialist courses” in the laurea magistrale degrees can determine a stalemate in the overall diffusion of the discipline and block the promising pluralistic evolution within the same discipline (Ferrera 1992).
All in all, although we can be happy for what we have done so far, there is no reason to be so optimistic. The situation of political science in the Italian university could prove detrimental in the future and we will have to work a lot in order to defend its presence in the future programmes: let’s keep in mind that university curricula are among the best instruments with which to divulge and consolidate any given branch of study.
Giliberto Capano (University of Bologna) and Luca Verzichelli (University of Siena)
Footnotes
1 This article reproduces, in a very abridged form, the central section of a paper presented to the conference International political science: new theoretical and regional perspectives. Concordia University, Montreal, April 30 – May 2, 2008. We thank Marcello Carammia for the assistance in data gathering and elaboration.
2 It should be pointed out that, as of academic year 2008-2009, as a result of a new law approved in 2004, there will be a re-styling of national degree groupings. There will be 43 bachelor’s degree groups, and 94 master’s degree groupings.
3 We should recall here that 180 credits are required in order to obtain a bachelor’s degree, and 120 credits are required for a master’s degree
References
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