Posted on 20 June 2019
Professor Stefano Bartolini, Peter Mair Chair in Comparative Politics, will retire this summer after decades of service to the EUI.
Professor Bartolini first arrived at the Institute as a Ph.D. researcher in 1976. Over the course of his ensuing career, which has included posts at the universities of Bologna, Florence, Trieste and Geneva, he spent many years in the EUI's Department of Political and Social Sciences, and directed the Robert Schuman Centre from 2006 to 2013.
He sits on the editorial board of the Rivista Italiana di Scienza Politica, and is a member of the scientific board of West European Politics, Swiss Review of Political Science, Acta Politica, Electoral Studies, Journal of Theoretical Politics, and Comparative Political Studies.
Prof. Bartolini has received numerous awards during his storied career, including the best book prize of the European Politics section of the APSA (2002), the Gregory Luebbert APSA Prize in Comparative Politics (2001), and the UNESCO Stein Rokkan Prize for the Social Sciences (1990).
He is the author of such works as Party Politics in Contemporary Europe, co-edited with Peter Mair, (London: Frank Cass, 1984); The Electoral Mobilisation of the European Left 1880-1980, (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2000); and Restructuring Europe: Centre Formation, System Building and Political Structuring Between the Nation State and the EU (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2005).
Daniele Caramani, Professor of Comparative Politics at the University of Zurich, said: ‘Stefano Bartolini's work makes him the latest of a distinguished lineage of true masters of comparative politics. He addresses the most fundamental political questions with an analytically and methodologically razor-sharp approach, capable of tremendous empirical and historical efforts. Prof. Bartolini is a source of inspiration, and has been a dedicated teacher for many generations of scholars.’
Dr. Marco Valbruzzi, one of Prof. Bartolini’s former graduate students and winner of the 2019 Linz-Rokkan prize, adds ‘I was extremely lucky to cross paths with Stefano in my academic trajectory. Entering his office was like entering a Renaissance bottega where the maestro teaches the young pupil his art/science and, more importantly, his craftsmanship with all the secrets of the profession. His proverbial attitude in thinking constantly outside the box was, and still is, a great source of inspiration for me. If I had to choose an adjective for describing Stefano, I’d say ‘thought-provoking’. Always original, never predictable and perennially challenging, he was the best supervisor I could hope for.’
After his retirement, Professor Bartolini will take up the position of emeritus professor in the SPS department.