Topic of Thesis "Has Italy Become A Tocquevillian Democracy? A Longitudinal Analysis Of The Determinants of Political Participation". The aim of this thesis is to investigate whether in Italy processes of conventional participation arise from bottom-up movements or top-down mobilization. In the first part I analyze the evolution across time of the socio-political context of Italy, focusing particularly on several types of political participation, participation in civil society associations and political disaffection. Since the historical macro level evolution of these indicators in Italy is not going in the direction forecasted by bottom-up neo-Tocquevillian social capital and political socialization theories, I research more in depth what might be the mechanism at work. First I investigate whether the theories of cognitive mobilization have been working after the mass scholarization and modernization of Italian society. I research the relationship between education and participation in several types of social and political associations across time. Then I test several causal models (political socialization, self-selection and reciprocal causation) at the analytical level relating participation in social associations, political efficacy and political party membership or voting".

Full thesis is available to download on AIR (Archivio Pubblico della Ricerca dell'Università degli Studi di Milano) at the following tp://air.unimi.it/handle/2434/172624

Research interests: political participation and democracy, participation in civil society associations, electoral processes, (new) media and political communication.

Graduated from: University of Amsterdam (MA); University of Milan (BA)

Degree: Two Years Research Master in Political Communication and Methodologies of Social Research; Bachelor in Communication Science.

Enrolment AY: 2008 (XXIV cycle)

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