Research Program:

Geopolitics; Political/economic geography

firms as political actors

Italian State support to firms' internationalization

Broadly speaking, my research is in the areas of geopolitics - especially the geopolitical role of internationalizing firms to reshape state structures. Second, I look at the geography of ideology as a belief system.

My work on the geography of ideology compares the development of conservative ideologies in the early to mid-20th Century US, Europe, Middle East, and East Asia to better understand the interactions between the diffusion of modernity and pre-existing institutions and beliefs. I argue that the analysis of intellectuals who opposed modernization sheds further light on the place-specific geographies of modernity.

My work on geopolitics focuses on a group of public and private actors that act as intermediaries between state institutions, who are under pressure to adapt to globalization, and firms, whose activities are increasingly international. I argue that firms and entrepreneurs are under-explored political actors that participate in the struggles and relations that constantly reshape state structures - especially state bureaucracies. On the one hand, firms' internationalization drives the reach of bureaucracies beyond their established territorial jurisdictions. On the other hand, the task to provide services at an expanded, transnational scale with scarcer resources pushes for further collaboration between public and private entities, thus challenging the established, Weberian notion of bureaucracy as functionally distinct from the private sector.

My empirical research started with Italian textile and clothing manufacturers in Central and Eastern Europe (especially Romania, Slovakia, and Bulgaria), and has evolved y looking at the work of consultants and consulate personnel to support them in CEE and China. I recently moved my research back to Italy to study the long term evolution of State support to export and firms internationalization.

My RESEARCH STATEMENT provides more details on how each publication contributes to the larger research program.