Research

LUMEN will demonstrate that the ecosystem approach, originally introduced for the protection of biodiversity, can be used as the backbone of a comprehensive transcultural and transnational eco-legal system, due to the existence of a common cultural background beyond the appearing “fracture” between man and nature that characterizes the Anthropocene’s crisis. This assumption will be demonstrated through the analysis of the innovations coming from Latin America and Africa, based on integral and unitary visions on “man and nature”, and the traces of the ecosystem approach in environmental laws of European States. Even though current environmental law system is falling short to offer adequate solutions to such crisis, the law remains a strategic asset to foster social, economic, cultural transformation, and shall contribute to build a comprehensive and holistic response to safeguard the “higher interest” of the interconnected globe and all its human and non-human components.

LUMEN aims at exploring and defining the existing common ground for the ecosystem approach through the comparative analysis of case studies from Europe, Latin America and Africa with the purpose of translating it into a viable and inclusive model for future normativity, in Europe and beyond. LUMEN aims to move beyond the state of the art, embedding its overall objective within the PNRR topic “sustainability and protection of natural resources” (PNRR -Cluster 6, objective 6). The research results will be “innovative governance models”, enabling sustainability through the application of “new knowledge”. In fact, traditional and local knowledge can be embedded in the current legal system, resulting in innovative legal frameworks and paradigms. The key for the achievement of such a goal is a transnational and transcultural approach, producing a tripartite dialogue between continents and different environmental cultures and normative frameworks.

The ecosystem approach is inherently multidimensional, therefore capturing the complexity of the approach and fruitfully developing it into viable legal models require a research methodology that combines various disciplines and methods. While robustly rooted in comparative law, LUMEN relies on a range of methods and tools to generate and analyze evidence, to ensure that our evidence has an impact upon society, and to establish a legacy of evidence-based legal modelling that can be utilized by policy and rules-makers well beyond the duration of the project.

 Duration: November 30, 2023 - November 30, 2025

Partners:

1. Università di Bologna

2. Università di Firenze

3. Università di Trieste

 

P.I.: Silvia Bagni

 

CAPACITY BUILDING IN THE FIELD OF HIGHER EDUCATION

DEMOS

 

Erasmus+ (ERASMUS+) Call: ERASMUS-EDU-2023-CBHE Project: 101128803 

2024-2027 "Ataques a la DEmocracia y populisMOS. Nuevo programa académico para el fortalecimiento de las instituciones en América Latina"

webpage: https://proyectodemosue.com

Abstract: “We are currently experiencing a pressing democratic regression worldwide - particularly worrying in Latin American countries such as Peru, Brazil, Colombia and Chile - which is resulting in a serious institutional crisis that threatens the rule of law. In order for the current regimes to resist the emerging populist attacks, often based on fake news, it is necessary to train in democratic and constitutional culture at all levels. Therefore, in accordance with the spirit of this Programme and with the priority "Governance, peace, security and human development" of Region 10, the general objective of DEMOS is to train experts involved in the strengthening of democratic institutions of the Rule of Law in Latin America; as well as to train "trainers" for the development of civic education and democratic culture, as a fundamental instrument for the defence of democracy against populist attacks. Specifically, following the various training courses planned, a common module will be designed that will allow for the updating and/or creation of elective subjects in various master's and postgraduate courses in the partner universities, as well as the creation of undergraduate degrees and short courses. Despite its location in the field of higher education, special attention will be paid to the training of journalists, political and social actors, and officials of the various branches of government (specifically the judiciary), since the separation of powers, and in particular judicial independence and the correct placement of constitutional justice, are essential pillars for the survival of the democratic state. DEMOS is endorsed – Associate partners- by all the Ministries of Justice of the partner Latin American universities (Brasil, Peru, Colombia and Chile) the Centro de Estudios del Tribunal Constitucional de Perú, various Associations of Constitutionalists, and so on”.

Partners:

 

Associated Partner:

 

REMOVE

 

2020-2024 “Repensando la migración desde la frontera de Venezuela: nuevo programa académico en movilidad humana y convivencia en la Comunidad Andina (REMOVE)” 

CBHE 618506-EPP-1-2020-1-IT-EPPKA2-CBHE-JP

(https://proyectoremove.com)

Abstract: The REMOVE project aims to the general objective of developing an intercultural and inclusive educational offer concerning human mobility, through a didactic methodology shared among the Universities of the member countries, encouraging the creation of a common legal framework within the CAN, for the promotion and protection of the rights of migrants. The project has the following specific objectives:• build a specific professional operator profile in the context of migration, endowed with comparative, multidisciplinary and intercultural skills;• Activate innovative academic programs in order to modernize and internationalize the postgraduate educational offer and respond to the migratory emergency of the Region;• create a common theoretical framework, in order to share responses on human mobility among CAN countries.The planned methodology consists in: realizing a preparatory study on the labor market situation and the existing educational offer; high training of Latin American lecturers and professors during training schools in Europe; common creation of the new educational curricula; conducting a pilot course; accreditation and activation of the corresponding courses.The main results of the project will be:- the awareness of students, academics and stakeholders about the importance of an intercultural, inclusive and common management of migration;- dissemination of best practices in the field of migration;- the organization of 3 schools in Europe and 22 trained lecturers and professors;- publication of didactic manuals;- 1 pilot course and minimum 30 students trained;- REMOVE programs included in the university educational curricula;- creation of research groups on the issues of migration and human mobility;- creation of a Network of interest in the REdMOVE project;- events organized in order to promote the project and launch the new programs.

European partners:

1. SciencePo (Paris)

2. Universidad Castilla La Mancha (Toledo)

3. Universidad de Cádiz

4. Università di Siena

5. Università di Bologna (Coordinator)

Socios latinoamericanos:

1. Universidad Andina Simón Bolívar (Quito)

2. Universidad Libre (Bogotá)

3. Universidad del Rosario (Bogotá)

4. Universidad de Trujillo (Perù)

5. Pontificia Universidad Católica del Perù (Lima)

6. Flacso (Quito)

 

2017-2020 Nuevo programa de posgrado para la formación de OPeradores Transnacionales e INterculturales para la defensa de la naturaleza y la construcción de la paz en la Comunidad Andina

OPT-IN

 

Duration: octubre 2017-octubre 2020
 
Partners: Universidad de Castilla La Mancha, Università di Siena, SciencesPo, Universidad Libre de Bogotá, Universidad del Rosario, UASB Quito, Flacso Ecuador, Escuela Judicial Lara Rodrigo Bonilla, Senescyt Ecuador, Tribunal andino
 
Abstract: "El objetivo general del proyecto OPT-IN es desarrollar una cultura transnacional e intercultural para apoyar el proceso de paz y fortalecer el cuidado de la Naturaleza en la CAN. Se contribuye así al fortalecimiento de las políticas de integración y de desarrollo entre los Países andinos y entre UE y CAN.
Este objetivo se llevará a cabo por medio de una propuesta innovadora de la oferta académica, relativa a los programas en ciencias sociales, políticas y jurídicas de las Univ. latinoamericanas partners.
Por eso, los objetivos específicos son:
- Construir un perfil profesional de operador transnacional e intercultural (OPT-IN) con habilidades comparativas, multidisciplinarias e interculturales, con énfasis en la paz y la Naturaleza, inexistente en la oferta de posgrado latinoamericana, para fortalecer la competitividad profesional internacional de los graduados de los países CAN, la cual es débil si comparada con otros países latinoamericanos.
- Activar un programa de Maestría innovador, por su metodología de enseñanza comparativa y multidisciplinaria, y por el estudio de asignaturas no incluidas de manera orgánica en las Maestrías actualmente instituidas por las Univ. latinoamericanas partners. Esta nueva propuesta formativa pretende modernizar y enriquecer la oferta académica de posgrado e impulsar la formación de jóvenes operadores que poseen los conocimientos, las competencias y habilidades necesarias para ser competitivos en el contexto nacional e internacional, contestando a las demandas de operadores especializados en justicia transicional y soluciones alternativas de controversias y en derechos de la Naturaleza, gestión de los bienes comunes, reforma agraria.
El proyecto OPT-IN responde de manera puntual a las necesidades subrayadas en la Parte E porque:
- llena el vacío evidenciado en la oferta formativa de las áreas sociales, políticas y jurídicas, introduciendo un perfil y un programa académico todavía no implementado en ninguna Univ. de los Países partners;
- el perfil profesional de salida de la Maestría OPT-IN posee las habilidades y competencias necesarias para operar con eficacia en el contexto laboral de Países multiculturales y en trasformación. La formación de un operador transnacional e intercultural, con enfoque en la paz y en la defensa de la Naturaleza, representa una novedad en el panorama de la educación de los países andinos, donde falta una figura profesional con competencias comparativas, en grado de solucionar los problemas integrando las distintas cosmovisiones que forman su sociedad.
- los operadores formados en la nueva Maestría OPT-IN poseen las habilidades y competencias requeridas para operar tanto en el sector privado como en el público en Países que comparten y apoyan una política interna de desmilitarización y construcción de una sociedad de paz donde las varias componentes sociales viven en armonía entre sí y con la Naturaleza.
Estos enfoques formativos corresponden a la misión y visión de las Univ. Partners. El proyecto, uniendo  formalmente las cuatros Universidades latinas hacia la realización común de un programa formativo que tiene un alma intercultural, fortalecerá las relaciones entre ellas y con los partners europeos, construyendo una relación destinada a durar por encima de la conclusión del proyecto e a volverse modelo para escenarios distintos pero comparables en el área Euro-Mediterranea, cumpliendo de esa manera  su objetivo general”.

 

OTHER INTERNATIONAL PROJECTS
 
2014 – Las transformaciones del Estado unitario en América Latina

Coordinated by Professor Giorgia Pavani from the Center for Latin American Studies at the Department of Political and Social Sciences of the University of Bologna and Professor Liliana Estupiñán Achury from the Universidad Libre de Bogotá, and affiliated with the National and Comparative Constitutional Law Group of the Faculty of Law, this project examines the adoption of the unitary state model in Latin America. It explores its constitutional continuity during the republican phase, the influence of French and Spanish models, and the unique blending with native or local institutions, culture, and entities, as well as its process of mutation or transformation in recent decades.

In particular, the project analyzes the cases of Colombia, Peru, Chile, Bolivia, Ecuador, and Uruguay, which, despite being labeled as unitary states, exhibit significant differences that allow for an attempt at classification or categorization. Moreover, several of these countries surpass the traditional features of the pure unitary model and move toward more decentralized forms of territorial organization and power distribution.

The project was launched in Bogotá at the Universidad Católica de Colombia during the “Meeting of the Network of Constitutionalists, Constitutional Justice, and Constitutional Review” on September 15, 2015. The methodological section was presented as a paper at the Ibero-American Congress of Constitutional Law, organized by the Universidad Externado de Colombia on September 17, 2015. A preliminary result was presented at the International Congress of Legal Sociology, held at the Universidad de Santiago del Estero (Argentina) on October 30, 2015.

The project is ongoing; however, its main findings have been published in the special issue 19/2016 of the Revista General de Derecho Público Comparado (www.iustel.com).

Referres:
Giorgia Pavani, University of Bologna, Center for Latin American Studies
Liliana Estupiñán Achury, Universidad Libre de Bogotá, Colombia

 
2016 – today Indigenous REDD+: Bridging International Environmental Governance and Traditional Knowledge for Equitable Climate Change Mitigation in Forests (I-REDD)
University of Bologna, IT in partnership with the University of Arizona, SA, University of East Anglia, UK, McGill University, CA and the Rainforest Foundation, PE
Referres: Nidia Catherine Gonzalez, Heike Schroeder
 
2016 - today: Gobernabilidad en América Latina: constituciones plurinacionales y “nacionalismo energético” en el siglo XXI
Proyecto financiado en cooperación interinstitucional entre el Departamento de Ciencias Políticas y Sociales de la Universidad de Bolonia, Italia y el Instituto de Estudios Socio-Históricos Fray Alonso de Zamora de la Universidad Santo Tomás, Colombia
Tutor dell’assegno di ricerca: Roberto Cartocci, Università di Bologna
Referentes: Nidia Catherine Gonzalez, Fabian Benavides
 
2016 - today: Construir la paz desde los territorios. Lineamientos transicionales para la planeación del territorio y su desarrollo
Universidad Javeriana de Bogotá, Colombia-Universidad di Bologna, Centro studi sull’America Latina
Referres: Nidia Catherine Gonzalez, Vanessa Suelt Cock
 
2016 - today: Las raices radicales del peronismo. Culturas políticas y trayectorias personales en los orígenes de la Unión Cívica Radical – Junta Renovadora (1930-1943)
Istituto Italiano di Scienze Umane – Sum.

The objective of this research is to describe the evolution that took place between 1930 and 1943 within the Unión Cívica Radical (UCR). Particular attention has been given to the trajectory of certain party leaders who, by the end of this period, became an integral part of the emerging Peronist movement, which was strongly influenced by corporatist critiques of political liberalism. These political figures were actually part of what came to be known as the Unión Cívica Radical Junta Renovadora, a political group that supported Juan Domingo Perón’s candidacy in the 1946 presidential elections. This refers to Hortensio J. Quijano, Juan I. Cooke, Diego L. Molinari, Armando G. Antillas, and Alejandro Leloir, as well as the nationalist group that emerged within the UCR, the Fuerza de Orientación Radical del Joven Argentina.

Referre: Francesco Davide Ragno
 
2016 - today: Cuál América? Ideales, culturas políticas y ritus en la costrucción de los Juegos Panamericanos
Olympic Studies Center - Lausanne
El 25 febrero del 1951 Júan Domingo Perón inauguró, a Buenos Aires, la primera edición de los Juegos Panamericanos. La manifestación deportiva, en las palabras de los organizadores peronistas, habrían tenido que enseñar a Américas, primera que al mundo entero, los éxitos de la dicha 'Nueva Argentina.' Este modelo se movió en ámbito internacional proponiendo una visión del mundo diferente con respecto de aquella expresada, en aquellos mismos años, de la Guerra Fría. Por la definición de aquél que fue llamada "Tercera Posición", se imaginó una comunidad internacional estructurada alrededor de la idea de "civilización": de un lado aquella latina, que gracias a un común humus habría reunido la parte centro-meridional del hemisferio americano y la Europa del Sur; del otro la civilización anglosajona y liberal y, por fin, aquella comunista. En política extranjera, se desafió a morro duro el panamericanismo, que justo en aquellos años se institucionalizó con la creación de la organización de los Estados americanos. Un panamericanismo que, tomando forma de la política de la 'buen cercanía' encaminada en los años Treinta, aspiró a reforzar la cooperación entre el EE.UU. y las repúblicas suramericanas. En las intenciones estadounidenses, la ideología panamericana tuvo que ser el instrumento con el cual satisfacer sus prioridades en América Latina: la consolidación del libre mercado antes y, más tarde, cuando la guerra mundial se volvió realidad, el salvaguardia de la seguridad hemisférica en llave antinazi. Esta dirección prevaleció durante las asambleas panamericanas organizadas durante los años Treinta y, en este contexto, tomó forma la idea de instituir los Juegos Panamericano. Sin embargo, éstos -entendidos como un instrumento de mejoría de las relaciones inter-americanas- revelaron pronto las dificultades innatas en la creación de una comunidad panamericana a guía estadounidense y se convirtieron en el tambor de un régimen, aquel peronista, de los rasgos análogos a los regímenes antiliberales que tuvieron mucha suerte durante los años entre las dos guerras. Tal discrepancia es el núcleo central sobre que se ha basado este trabajo analizando las culturas políticas que contribuyeron a la organización de los Juegos a Panamericano.

Referre: Francesco Davide Ragno (con Mariadele di Blasio)

 
2016 - today: Modernización, Desarrollismo y Dependencia. La recepción y fortuna del discurso de Kennedy en América del Sur en los primeros años Sesenta
Dipartimento di Studi Politici e Sociali – Università di Bologna

This project aims to analyze the ways and terms through which the influence of Kennedy-era ideas spread in South America. Several key historiographical issues are addressed in this study. The first concerns the definition of the concept of democracy. On one hand, modernization theory, and on the other, desarrollismo (developmentalism), were based on a strong connection between the political and economic systems. However, this relationship reveals the differences between the two worldviews that inspired these theories and modernization theory itself. It is precisely from these differences that distinct interpretations of democratic political forms emerge. A second key issue revolves around models of economic and political development. The central question is how South American intellectuals and politicians sought to define development models for their countries in light of the new political framework outlined by Kennedy and his "the best and brightest." Building on this, the third major historiographical issue this study addresses is the way Cold War dynamics shaped the internal political and economic trajectories of South American countries, influencing their development.

Referre: Francesco Davide Ragno

 

Prin 2010-2011 Corti, dottrina e società inclusiva: l’impatto dei formanti dottrinali sulle corti di vertice

National Director: prof.ssa Elisabetta Palici; jefe de la unidad local de Bolonia: prof. Lucio Pegoraro.

The research examined how legal doctrine promotes the circulation of ideas and the comparison of solutions proposed in different legal systems to achieve a higher level of rights protection. It focused on the influence that legal doctrine—an essential space for developing legal thought and responding to social needs—exerts on the jurisprudence of international, supranational, and national courts. This influence was measured by verifying whether, and to what extent, doctrine is cited or otherwise considered in judicial decision-making in European and non-European courts. Special attention was given to cases involving the fight against various forms of exclusion, discrimination, and inequality, such as gender inequality and digital or innovation gaps.

Specifically, the research investigated:

1. The extent to which doctrinal formulations permeate judicial rulings across different jurisdictions by analyzing citations of legal literature in decisions from constitutional, supreme, European, international, and national courts. It also examined cases where doctrinal references were absent or minimal, exploring possible reasons for this disconnection—whether due to explicit legal restrictions, linguistic or cultural barriers, limited bibliographic research tools, technological delays, etc.
2. In jurisdictions where doctrinal influence is observed, the role played by doctrinal citations in judicial reasoning.
3. In these same jurisdictions, whether and how legal doctrine has contributed to the dissemination of theories and approaches aimed at strengthening fundamental rights protection, including social rights and the promotion of social inclusion.
4. The key factors that determine the circulation of doctrinal influence in constitutional, legitimacy, and international/European jurisprudence—that is, what determines the "success" of a particular legal doctrine or theory at an international level.

The Bologna research unit analyzed the use of legal doctrine in constitutional and supreme court jurisprudence across nine Latin American jurisdictions, as well as Spain and Portugal. This involved organizing national working groups and analyzing hundreds of thousands of rulings. The findings were published in:

L. Pegoraro, G. Figueroa Mejía (coords.), Profesores y jueces. Influjos de la doctrina en la jurisprudencia de los tribunales constitucionales de Iberoamérica, Centro de Estudios Constitucionales de la Suprema Corte de Justicia de la Nación, Centro de Estudios sobre América Latina de the University of Bologna, Mexico, 2016.

The Bologna Unit also co-coordinated, alongside the Palermo Unit, the 2015 edition of the Annuario di diritto comparato e di studi legislativi, ESI, Naples, 2015, which includes numerous essays produced by different research units (pp. 1-426).

Additionally, it contributed to the publication of:

S. Bagni, M. Nicolini, E. Palici di Suni, L. Pegoraro, A. Procida Mirabelli di Lauro, M. Serio (eds.), Giureconsulti e giudici. L'influsso dei professori sulle sentenze. I, Le prassi delle Corti e le teorie degli studiosi, Giappichelli, Turin, 2016.

Id., Giureconsulti e giudici. L'influsso dei professori sulle sentenze. II, La dottrina nella giurisprudenza oltre i confini di spazio, giurisdizione e materia, Giappichelli, Turin, 2016.

Referre: Lucio Pegoraro

  

Visiting Professors:

 

9-20 February 2013 Grethell Aguilar Oro (Un. Rey Juan Carlos, Madrid)

April 2013: Franklin Ramírez (Flacso, Ecuador)

April 2013: Palomino Manchego (Universidad de San Marco di Lima, Peru)

April 2013: José Mauricio Arruti (Universidade de Campinas)

April 2013: Attila Badó (Director of the Institute of Comparative Law at the University of Szeged - Hungary)

April 2013: Graciela Ducatenzeiler (Université de Montréal)

May 2013: Jhoana Delgado Gaitán (Universidad Externado di Bogotá, Colombia)

May-July 2013: Magdalena González Jiménez (Universidad Castilla-La Mancha)

July-September 2013: Juan Manuel Goig Martínez (Uned, Spain)

July-September 2013: Maria Mercedes Serrano Pérez (Albacete, Spain)

March-June 2013: Ana Isabel Melado Lirola (Universidad de Almería)

October 2013: José Luis Prado Maillard (Director of the Faculty of Law and Criminology at UANL); Michael Núñez Torres (Deputy Director of Research at the Faculty of Law and Criminology at UANL); Mario Loredo Villa (Deputy Director of Criminology at the Faculty of Law and Criminology at UANL); Ivette Mecott Rivera (Professor-Researcher at the Faculty of Law and Criminology at UANL); Donato Saldívar (Professor-Researcher at the Faculty of Law and Criminology at UANL); Leticia Sánchez (Professor-Researcher at the Faculty of Law and Criminology at UANL)

December 2013: Ernesto Rey Cantor (Universidad Libre di Bogotá, Consultant for the Inter-American Court of Human Rights)

20 November 2014 - 20 January 2015: Maytee Benítez Castillo (Universidad Autónoma de Nayarit, Mexico)

January-February 2015: Leslie Sánchez Lobos (Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile, Universidad de Salamanca)

24 February 2013 - 23 March 2015: Enzo Completa (Universidad de Cuyo, Argentina)

February-August 2015: Clarissa Ligiéro de Figueiredo (Ombudsman's Office, Brazil)

April 2015: Paloma Biglino Campos (Un. Valladolid, Spain)

January-December 2015: Andrés Vargas Zurita (Bolivia)

1 June 2015 - 31 August 2015: María del Carmen Contreras Cortés (Universidad de Castilla-La Mancha, Spain)

26 June 2016 - 1 July 2016: Jesús Hernando Álvarez Mora (Regional Rector of the Bogotá campus of Universidad Libre)

16-21 January 2016: Zurab Matcharadze, Prince Davit Legal Institute, Tbilisi (Georgia)

13 June 2016 - 2 July 2016: Judith Aguirre, Un. Xalapa (Mexico)

1 May - 1 July 2016: Ana Aba Catoira (Universidad de A Coruña, Spain)

September 2017 - March 2018: Pedro Augusto Lopes Sabino (Doctoral Programme: Direito Publico, Universidade Federal de Bahia - UFBA)

16 November 2020 - 15 May 2021: Lara Redondo Sacedo (Universidad de Alcalá)

May 2021 - July 2021: Ana Torrecillas Martínez (Universitat de València, Doctoral Programme: Doctorado en Derechos Humanos, Democracia y Justicia Internacional)

6 September 2021 - 4 December 2021: David Parra Gomez (Universidad de Murcia)

27 February 2022 - 9 March 2022: Yolanda Duart Rosa (Universidad de Valencia)

1 March 2022 - 4 May 2022: Jose Arvey Camargo Rojas (Universidad de Salamanca)

March 2022: José Arvey Camargo Rojas (Universidad de Salamanca)

2 May 2022 - 2 August 2022: Juan Francisco Marquez (Universidad de Extremadura)

5 May 2022 - 25 May 2022: Elif Kuzeci Erol (BAU Bahcesehir University)

May - July 2022: Juan Barroso Márquez (Universidad de Extremadura)

6 September 2022 - 20 September 2022: Pascal Vennesson (Institut D'Etudes Politiques De Paris - SCIENCESPO)

September - November 2021: David Parra Gomez (Universidad de Murcia)

November 2022: Olga Cristina Burgos García (Universidad de Sevilla)

4 November 2022 - 4 December 2022: Olga Burgos (Universidad de Sevilla)

February 2023: Gerardo Ruiz-Rico Ruiz (Universidad de Jaén)

18 April 2024 – 24 April 2024: Manuel Cabanas Veiga (Universidad de Lleida - Spain)

1 April 2024 – 15 May 2024: Humberto Sierra Porto (Universidad Externado, Bogotá)

1 April 2024 - 31 May 2024: Manuel Restrepo (URosario, Bogotá)