Thursday, February 25, 2010

Francioni & Lenzerini: Reflections on the Impact of Communism on Italian International Law Scholarship: 1945-1989

Francesco Francioni (European Univ. Institute - Law) & Federico Lenzerini (Univ. of Siena - Law) have posted Reflections on the Impact of Communism on Italian International Law Scholarship: 1945-1989. Here's the abstract:
What has been the impact of Communism on the European scholarship of international law in the post-World War II period ? What are lingering differences today in the attitudes of scholars from West and East Europe twenty years after the end of the cold war? This paper, which is part of a series of country studies, is aimed at contributing to a reflection on these questions by focusing on Italy and Italian international law scholarship in the period 1945-1989. The research has covered the responses of Italian scholars to some of the major international crises triggered by Soviet Communism during the Cold War, the influence of Communist theories of international law on Italian doctrine, Communism as an object of study by Italian international law scholars, and the influence of Communism on the active political engagement of Italian scholars. Surprisingly, the conclusion is that such influence has been extremely limited, in spite of the profound impact of Communism on post World-War II Italian political and social life.