Event Details
Mon, October 16, 2017
18:00 – 19:00
VILLA SASSETTI
Via Bolognese, 120
60139 Firenze, Italy
A dialogue organized by Gianluca Sgueo, NYU Florence, with Antonella Napolitano, Italian Coalition for Civil Liberties and Rights and Nina Hall, Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies.
According to a report recently published by Oxfam International, the world’s 62 richest people possess the same amount of wealth as the poorest half of the world’s population. Women and minorities remain largely underrepresented or disadvantaged compared to men and racial/cultural elites. From politics to education, business, health and culture, gender or racial disparities persist almost everywhere in the world. Furthermore, organized interests monopolize lobbying.
On average, out of the 100 organizations that spend the most on lobbying in developed countries, 95 represent business. The situation is alarming . According to Martin Gilens of Princeton University, the opinions of the bottom 90% of income earners in America have a “statistically non-significant impact” on policy-making.
Yet, connections among civil society actors located all over the world are experiencing historically unprecedented quantities, scopes, frequencies, velocities, intensities and impacts. From the “virtual web” of citizens that rally together through online petitions to more formalized coalitions of non-state actors operating in remote locations of the planet, an associative spirit seems to pave the way for cooperation that may offset the much debated decline in representative democracy.
New York University Florence organizes a talk aimed at discussing the tactics and strategies used by civil society’s actors to shape policy-making; the influence of ‘social movements’ on global politics; the networking of NGOs and other civil society organizations at the global level
LPD – Dialogue on Advocacy, Activism and Reform
Featured Biographies
Gianluca Sgueo
NEW YORK UNIVERSITY
“Gianluca Sgueo is Lecturer in “Media, Activism and Democracy” at the New York University-Florence and Professor in “Global Advocacy” at the Vrije Universiteit Brussels. Post-doc scholar in Globalization and Democracy (Centre for Social Studies – University of Coimbra, Portugal), PhD in Administrative Law (University of Salento, Italy), Gianluca Sgueo graduated in Law (University of Rome, La Sapienza, 2004) and in Political Sciences cum laude (University of Viterbo, 2006). After graduating, he specialized in public, administrative and European law. He obtained a MA in Administrative & Public Law (Scuola Superiore della Pubblica Amministrazione e degli Enti Locali, Rome, 2005) and MA in European Law (European Public Law Academy, Athens, 2009). In 2008 he was appointed visiting research fellow at the Law School of the New York University. In 2009 (January-September) he was nominated enseignant-chercheur at Sciences Po, Paris. In 2014 (September-November) he joined the Amsterdam Centre of International Law at the University of Amsterdam as visiting scholar. He holds the position of Department Director at I-Com (Institute for competitiveness – a think tank devoted to economic and social analysis), Faculty Member in the Master Program on “Public Affairs and Communication” (Sole24Ore) and Scientific Director of the Master Degree in “Economics and Management of the Nonprofit Sector” (Sole24Ore). Since November 2014 Gianluca Sgueo is appointed policy analyst at the European Parliamentary Research Service of the European Parliament. For more information you may check his blog at: www.gianlucasgueo.com” .
Antonella Napolitano
COMMUNICATIONS MANAGER FOR THE ITALIAN COALITION FOR CIVIL LIBERTIES AND RIGHTS (CILD)
Antonella Napolitano is Communications Manager for the Italian Coalition for Civil Liberties and Rights (CILD), where she also coordinates the Civil Liberties in the Digital Age Program. Previously she worked as Europe Editor at Personal Democracy Media (PDM), a New York-based independent media company focused on the intersection of politics and technology, writing for TechPresident, the organization´s online magazine, and supporting the organization of events in Europe. She also served as editor and outreach coordinator for Diritto Di Sapere, an Italian NGO that advocates for a broader access to information in Italy and abroad. In the past twelve years, she served most notably as consultant and volunteer coordinator for an Italian political party; as community manager for Kublai, a project of the Italian Ministry of Economic Development, and worked at the Consulate of Italy in New York. She is the author of Linkedin per aziende e professionisti (2015), Facebook e la comunicazione politica (2013) and LinkedIn. La rete per trovare il lavoro dei sogni (2011). She writes about tecnology and politics for Italian and international outlets. Antonella holds a M.A. in Media Studies from University of Bologna, in Italy, and was Research Fellow at Vassar College. On twitter you can find her @svaroschi
Nina Hall
JOHNS HOPKINS SCHOOL OF ADVANCED INTERNATIONL STUDIES
Nina Hall is Assistant Professor in International Relations at Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies (Europe) and a Fellow at Hertie School of Governance in Berlin. She is currently researching how international advocacy is changing in the digital era. She has published work on global refugee and migration governance, international organizations, and climate change adaptation in the European Journal of International Relations, Global Environmental Politics, Global Governance, and a book Displacement, Development and Climate Change, International Organizations Moving Beyond their Mandates (Routledge, 2016). She holds a Ph.D. in International Relations from the University of Oxford, U.K. and a Master´s Degree from the University of Auckland, New Zealand. She has worked with the World Economic Forum and the New Zealand Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade, and currently collaborates with a global network of digital activists. Info here: https://www.hertie-school.org/en/who-we-are/profile/person/hall/