Research Areas (from the 39th cycle)

The primary aim of the PhD programme in Comparative and European Legal Studies is to train lawyers with an interdisciplinary background who will be qualified to examine transnational phenomena and to work in academic and non-academic fields.

The programme focuses on the diachronic and synchronic comparisons of law, and on the links between the subjects that are involved in the following 4 research areas:

1. Pluralism, method and legal traditions

Research in this area covers the identification and classification of legal systems, institutes or rules of private or public law. These include, for example, the critical analysis of the functionalist and structuralist approaches, legal change, the relationship between sources of law, the role of non-state rules. The research work takes into account the Roman foundations of European law in a historical perspective, and the use of comparative law for the creation and interpretation of rules. These studies also aim to investigate the ontological and axiological dimensions of law, as they delve into legal topics beyond national borders and in a diachronic and synchronic perspective. Emphasis will be placed on some crucial aspects in the work of a lawyer, such as the techniques of interpretation and argumentation, understanding and resolution of legal problems, while encouraging an interdisciplinary approach to methodological and substantive issues which, where possible, may touch on non-legal disciplines that enable the students to explore concepts and theories from different fields. This will help them develop their epistemic skills, thanks to which they will learn to integrate the different contributions involving the anthropological and epistemological dimension of law.

2. Market law, welfare and taxation

This line of research concerns the analysis of the regulation of the activities of private individuals and public entities at all levels, and of the different forms of state intervention in markets and society to regulate, direct, amend or facilitate the adoption of certain policies by those who operate in national and European markets. The studies will take into account aspects of public, private and criminal law as well as the plural and multifaceted dimension of regulation, and the regulation of business activity and acts (including in agri-food chains). Particular emphasis will be placed on studies that focus, in a European and transnational perspective, on financial and banking markets, the business crisis, the regulation of individual and collective labour relations, trade union law, pension and social security law and the regulation of equal opportunities, the analysis of the impact of political choices in tax matters and the taxation system, including forms and techniques for the protection of workers in the market and in the employment relationship through private and public welfare measures.

3. Fundamental freedoms, social transitions and institutional structures

Lines of research in this area may involve topics connected to public law, international and supranational law, particularly regarding the safeguarding and protection of fundamental rights. The conceptualisation of fundamental rights, which is currently challenged by the technological, social and institutional transitions, urges jurists to continue to safeguard the rights of individuals (including those who have been deprived of their personal freedom) while at the same time work to adapt them to new situations, placing special emphasis on the relationships between law, ethics, science and technology and on protection instruments, such as jurisdiction in European and international contexts, international criminal courts, administrative justice, civil and criminal justice. More specifically, the subject of research in this area are studies on the constitutional principles of all branches of law, the rights of EU citizens and third-country nationals, the instruments of law, including international ones. Studies on the rights of peoples and ethnic, linguistic, religious minorities are also considered of particular interest, as well as the protection of human rights in armed conflicts, the relationship between the protection of economic and social rights, the protection of the environment and the obligations related to international trade, global labour chains and investment law.

4. Autonomy, protection of rights and safeguards

This area encompasses the lines of research investigating the new means through which individuals, organizations, public and private institutions exercise their autonomy, as they have been redefined by the ongoing technological innovation processes and the pursuit of environmental, social and economic sustainability objectives and the respect for fundamental rights recognized at national and supranational level. These lines of research are linked to the study of the different private, criminal and administrative liability systems, and of the different forms of protection of collective or individual rights and interests, in public and private law, as the latter have been affected by the profound transformations caused by the EU harmonization process and by the cooperation between national and supranational courts, which also aim to ensure effective and efficient protection systems. The research topics in this area are developed bearing in mind the general doctrines of civil, criminal and administrative law, the studies of their procedural dimension, and the exercise of penal powers by States, and taking advantage of the methodological tools provided by comparative law that examine different phenomena in a European and transnational perspective, at national and international level, while also considering alternative dispute resolution techniques, and the opportunities offered by restorative justice and mediation and assisted negotiation practices.