Piero Ignazi was born in Faenza, Italy, on 15 February 1951. His academic career developed primarily within the Italian university system, with later periods of postgraduate study and research in Florence, Cambridge, and France. His work has combined comparative political science with sustained analysis of Italian parties, electoral politics, political legitimacy, and the transformation of the European right.
Ignazi graduated in Political Science from the University of Bologna in 1974 with a mark of 110/110 cum laude. He pursued postgraduate study in the Department of Political and Social Science at the European University Institute in Florence from 1976 to 1978 and was a graduate student in the Department of Political Science at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in Cambridge, Massachusetts, from 1978 to 1979. His postgraduate work was supported by fellowships from the Johns Hopkins University Bologna Center, the European University Institute, and the Fulbright-Hays Foundation; later research fellowships included awards from Italy's National Research Council, the Fondation Nationale des Sciences Politiques, and the Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique.
Ignazi began his academic career at the University of Bologna, where he was a confirmed researcher in comparative politics in the Department of Politics, Institutions and History from 1984 to 1998. During the 1990s he also taught comparative politics and political science as an adjunct lecturer at the Faculty of Political Science. From 1998 to 2000 he was associate professor of political science at the Faculty of Economics of the University of Calabria. In 2000 he became full professor of comparative politics at the University of Bologna, where he later served as professor emeritus or Alma Mater professor in the Department of Political and Social Sciences. From 2000 to 2003 he chaired Bologna's three-year degree course in International Relations and directed the Master's programme in International Relations jointly organized by the university and the Diplomatic Institute of the Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Alongside his academic work, he has written regularly for Il Sole 24 Ore, L'Espresso, la Repubblica and other publications, and has directed the Observatory on Italian Foreign Policy. His scholarship has examined the Italian party system, the historical and organizational development of political parties, the post-fascist right, populism, party legitimacy, electoral behavior, and Italian military operations abroad.
Developed a sustained comparative research programme on political parties, party organization, party legitimacy, populism, electoral behavior, and the European radical right.
Established an influential body of research on the transformation of the Italian Social Movement into post-fascist and subsequently national-conservative political formations.
Combined academic political science with public scholarship through long-term work for il Mulino, Il Sole 24 Ore, L'Espresso, la Repubblica, and other Italian publications.
Teodori, M., Ignazi, P., Panebianco, A. I nuovi radicali
(Book on the Italian Radical movement, co-authored with Ma...)
1977La Vie Politique. Mélanges à l'honneur de Pascal Perrineau
(Edited with Dominique Reynié in honor of Pascal Perrineau.)
2020Political Parties and Political Systems
(Edited with Amie Roemmele and David Farrell.)
2005(English-language study of the historical and contemporary...)
2017(Third augmented edition of Ignazi's long-term study of th...)
2023Italian Military Operations Abroad. Just Don't Call It War
(Co-authored with Giovanni Giacomello and Federico Coticch...)
2012Extreme Right Parties in Western Europe
(English-language comparative study of extreme-right parti...)
2003(Co-authored with Enzo Risso and Spencer Wellhofer; examin...)
2022Il parlamento europeo
(Book co-authored with Luciano Bardi on the European Parli...)
1999I muscoli del partito. Il ruolo dei quadri intermedi nella politica atrofizzata
(Co-authored with Paola Bordandini; examines the role of i...)
2018Dal Pci al Pds
(Analysis of the transformation of the Italian Communist P...)
1992Il triangolo rotto. Partiti, società, stato
(Co-authored with Fabrizio Barca; examines the relationshi...)
2013(Comprehensive history and analysis of Italian political p...)
2018L'estrema destra in Europa
(Comparative study of the European extreme right; expanded...)
1994Postfascisti? La trasformazione del Movimento sociale in Alleanza nazionale
(Study of the transformation of the Italian Social Movemen...)
1994Il potere dei partiti. La politica in Italia dagli anni Sessanta ad oggi
(Analysis of the role and power of political parties in It...)
2002Il polo escluso. Profilo del Movimento Sociale Italiano
(Study of the Italian Social Movement; later expanded in s...)
1989(Italian edition of the study of party legitimation and de...)
2019Contagio e Libertà
(Co-authored with Nadia Urbinati; examines political conta...)
2020Vent'anni dopo. La parabola del berlusconismo
(Analysis of the trajectory and political legacy of Berlus...)
2014Forza senza legittimità. Il vicolo cieco dei partiti
(Study of the crisis of legitimacy affecting political par...)
2012Partiti politici in Italia
(Analysis of Italian political parties and their development.)
2008(Study of Silvio Berlusconi, populism, and Italian politics.)
2024I partiti italiani
(Study of Italian political parties.)
1997Ignazi has been associated with the American Political Science Association and the Italian Political Science Society. He served on the editorial board of the International Political Science Review from 2004 and on the scientific committee of the Rivista Italiana di Scienza Politica from 2000. He was a member of the governing or editorial direction of il Mulino from 2004 to 2008 and directed the journal from 2009 to 2011. He is also a member of the association il Mulino.
Professional membership.
American Political Science Association
Professional membership in the Italian Political Science Society.
Società Italiana di Scienza Politica , Italy
Member of the association il Mulino; he served in the journal's editorial direction and directed the journal from 2009 to 2011.
Associazione il Mulino , Italy
Ignazi's documented family connections include his mother, Pasqua, and his father, Eleuterio. Professionally, he has worked with scholars including Luciano Bardi, Fabio Barca, Giovanni Giacomello, Flavia Coticchia, Enzo Risso, and Spencer Wellhofer on books and research concerning Italian political parties, foreign policy, electoral behavior, and democratic legitimacy.
