Short biography
Born in Italy in 1957. BA in Political Science (Milan, 1982) and PhD in Sociology (Turin, 1987). NATO-CNR Fellow at Strathclyde University in Glasgow (1990). Lecturer in Milan (Bocconi University, 1987-1991) and Pavia (1993-1996); professor of Sociology at Strathclyde (1996-2001) and Trento (2001-2010). European Editor for Mobilization (1997-2005), and board member for several journals, including Contemporary Sociology (2006-2009). Member of the Board of Directors of INSNA - International Network for Social Network Analysis. Work has been funded by the British, Italian, Canadian and Swedish research councils, and by the European Commission-DG XII. Publications include Social Movements (1999/2006, with D. della Porta; translated in five languages), Social Movements and Networks (2003, edited with D. McAdam), and articles in leading journals such as American Sociological Review, American Journal of Sociology, Social Networks, Theory & Society, Acta Sociológica. Research interests
My research interests include social movements and collective action, the network analysis of political processes, environmental politics, ethnic nationalism and migrants' political participation, social capital, and voluntary action.
I have just completed a book which illustrates my approach to social movements as a distinctive form of network organization, drawing upon a study of British civic networks, conducted in the early 2000s.
Other current lines of research include individual participation in protest activities from a comparative angle, the role of association members as links between organizations, the structure of migrants' organization networks and their impact over migrants' political integration, the development of network analytic methods in the field of political analysis, and the role of local communities in tackling environmental and social degradation.
Key words
social movements, social networks, civil society, participation, social capital