This course (PPPA Master, 2nd year) provides students with a conceptual and methodological toolbox to understand today’s socio-political challenges, and applies it to a specific academic debate—i.e. European solidarity. The course is composed of three modules.
The first module (Prof. Baccarini) elaborates the topic of the role of scientific knowledge in democratic decision-making. The basic problem is represented by the uneasy possibility to obtain harmony between the principle of political equality that demands an equal voice for all citizens in public decision-making and the necessity to justify some public decisions through sophisticated knowledge that requires high expertise. The questions that are discussed regard legitimacy of public decisions in such situations; arguments in favour and against pure egalitarian democratic legitimacy; arguments in favour and against the legitimacy of attributing decision-making to experts; the possibility to reconcile the egalitarian and the expertistic demands; the accessibility of scientific reasons to the general population; actual cases.
The second module (Prof. Ronchi) consists of an introduction to the methodological approaches used in empirical research in social and political science. It shows how to draw consistent research designs and walks the students through the basics of the most widely used quantitative and qualitative methods.
The third module (Prof. Floris) aims at exploring the fundamental concepts of reasoning, decision theory, and their applications in navigating complex social dilemmas. It delves into the principles of rational decision-making, examines the dynamics of social dilemmas, and gains insight into the role of experts in shaping critical decisions.
Instructors:
Stefano Ronchi (stefano.ronchi[at]unimi.it)
Mara Floris (floris.mara[at]unisr.it)
Elvio Baccarini (elvio.baccarini[at]ffri.uniri.hr)
Master degree in in Politics, Philosophy and Public Affairs (PPPA), a.y. 2024/25
- Docente titolare: Stefano Ronchi