If you walk in any Italian bookshop these days, you are bound to hit the displays containing books on national scandals. 15 years after Tangentopoli (Bribesville), which brought to surface the corruption-based system that used to rule Italy, books like Sprecopoli (Squanderville: All you never heard about squanders in politics), La Casta (The Caste, also on squanders and corruption in Bel Paese politics), Impuniti (Unpunished), La Casta dei Giornali (Newspapers’ Caste), Mal di Merito (Merit disease, on favors to secure jobs), Toghe Rotte (Broken Togas, on Court corruption) and Mani Sporche (Dirty Hands, yes you guessed this right) are selling hundreds of thousands copies across the country. Best sellers of all, Gomorrah, by Roberto Saviano, recently reviewed by The Economist.
I purchased La Casta myself, but after reading just a few pages, I was so disgusted that I had to let it down.
Universitopoli has not been published yet, but it may be a matter of weeks. Independent blogs pointing a finger to the scandals of the Italian Research and Teaching scenario are sprouting. Literally (see below). In many cases, authors decide not to reveal their names, otherwise, they can be sure their career is jeopardized. An article written by journalist Davide Carlucci and which appeared three days ago on one of the Italian leading Newspapers, La Repubblica, however, explicitly writes about professors bringing their peers to court for securing positions that they clearly did not deserve, and which they obtained via rigged selections. Many of these scandals run in families. Allegations have it that sons, relatives, or fiancées of powerful Academiciancs have their easy way up the ladder thanks to rigged selections.
Italian corruption has always been a big problem, it was accentuated after the second world war by the US to make sure that the Communists (that were rising fast in popularity as a response to years of Fascist mis control) never took control. That and PR as a way of voting. Still, it has nice wine.
Huatulco Condos
YEAHHHHHH I cannot wait for Universitopoli. I am already putting money apart as I am sure there will be hundreds of books and I want them all. Actually, I may start to write one myself…..after all you only need a couple year experience in an Italian University to come across some incredible stories who may sound as unbelievable (and badly written) as Harry Potter.
Seriously, I would just like to highlight what I think it is an important factor behind the corruption in the Italian Universities. As Massimo mentioned, some of these scandals run in the family but even when there are no family ties involved, the reason does not seems to be money (which I guess is the reason why Universitopoli has been harder than Tangentopoli to unveil). So why would a senior academic member favour a less brilliant candidate? POWER is the only explanation I can find. I believe that in order to keep their prestigious roles and influential power, some senior leaders prefer to surround themselves with trustworthy people rather than bright and motivated workers. This causes a double blow: 1) the future academic leading class will be made of mediocre people who therefore will rely on the same trustworthy mechanisms to progress in their career (see Max’s “Friendly Review” post) 2) the smart people will be forced to migrate to more meritocratic countries.
This vicious circle, in my opinion, has created a mediocre leader class and lack of smart people…........ and from here the step to an Harry Potter-a-like story is very very small.
Am I dreaming? Is someone really talking about this topic on a website? You know, when people talk about how selections are carried in italian Universities they always whisper….
Thanks Massimo and thanks to the oncologist M.Federico. I really hope they won’t let him disappear with an Harry Potter-like trick!
Hi Kevin, thanks for you comment. Yes, Italian wine is pretty good despite our frequent political thunderstorms. Grapes are rather savvy. As far as your mention of US intervention in Italian politics post WW2, you are opening a can of worms which I’d rather not comment on. It gets too complicated.
Giuseppe, thank you for your comment which, like your previous notes, goes right to the point! Giuseppe also published another interesting comment on similar notes and with equally clear-cut ideas. You can find it here
Manuela! Welcome to NN and nice to see that you are willing to sustain the dialogue. Hopefully we will turn this blog into a forum soon. You also have a nice experience of emigrating in search of meritocracy and opportunities.
A few days later…Universitopoli has not appeared yet! But I did notice other prospected best-sellers…Monnezzopoli (TrashVille) just came out…pictured below. Coming back home tonight, I noticed a new book ad in the street: Lady ASL (ASL is an operational unit in the Italian National Health Service) now on sales in bookstores…
I am happy to find someone so brave to take on this glorious task and set up a discussion thread on Italian academia. This could be MUCH more helpful than ‘ricorsi al TAR’ and similar amenities. I teach comparative politics up in Bozen/Bolzano and enjoy keeping an eye on what is going on in the Italian academic scene. Good luck!!!
Dear Roberto, thank you very much for your note of encouragement. Hopefully, this blog may serve as a platform for the installment of a group+forum here on this NN portal, which may give voice to many, and therefore paying a tribute to pluralism.
For our foreign readers, “ricorsi al TAR” are cases taken to relatively minor courts, namely, Regional Administrative Courts that operate in each Italian region (Tuscany, Piedmont, Lombardy, etc)
Once upon the time…there was a young woman, named Iphigenia, who did not like some wrong laws. She was opposing them fiercely, but she was left alone…Now, at begin of third millennium, women earn less than men, even if sometimes men aren’t men, from the sexual viewpoint.
Sergio, thank you for your participation. Perhaps it takes more than one Iphigenia to get things straight? That is the power of uniting to from a group.