Professor

PhD Indiana University

Email: filippo.sabetti@mcgill.ca

Research interests

• Canadian and Comparative Politics
• Social Dilemmas
• Polycentric Governance
• Crime and Punishment
• Religion and Politics
• Development of Liberal, Constitutional & Federalist Thought

Publications

Books:

Filippo Sabetti, Barbara Allen and Mark Sproule-Jones, eds. (2009). The Practice of Constitutional Development: Vincent Ostrom’s Quest to Understand Human Affairs. Lanham, MD: Lexington Books.

Mark Sproule-Jones, Barbara Allen and Filippo Sabetti, eds., (2008).The Struggle to Constitute and Sustain Productive Orders. Vincent Ostrom's Quest to Understand Human Affairs. Lanham, MD : Lexington Books.

Filippo Sabetti, ed. (2007). Libertà e Liberali in Europa e in America [Liberty and Liberalism in Europe and America]. Milan: Edizioni Guerini.

Carlo G. Lacaita and Filippo Sabetti, eds. (2006). Civilization and Democracy: The Salvemini Anthology of Cattaneo’s Writings. Toronto: University of Toronto Press.

Filippo Sabetti (2004). Alla Ricerca del Buon Governo in Italia. Updated version of The Search for Good Government. Manduria-Bari-Rome: Piero Lacaita Editore.

Filippo Sabetti (2002). Village Politics and the Mafia in Sicily. 2nd edition of Political Authority. San Francisco: ICS Press, and Montreal: McGill-Queen's University Press.

Saverio Di Bella, Filippo Sabetti and Pierre Tremblay, eds. (2001). Il Crimine in America. Cosenza: Pellegrini Editore.

Filippo Sabetti (2000). The Search for Good Government: Understanding the Paradox of Italian Democracy. Montreal: McGill-Queen's University Press, paperback 2002. Shortlisted for Canadian Social Science Prize.

Filippo Sabetti (1993). Politica e potere in un comune siciliano. Updated version of Political Authority. Cosenza: Pellegrini Editore.

Filippo Sabetti and Raimondo Catanzaro, eds. (1991). Italian Politics. A Review. Vol. 5. London: Pinter Publishers.

Raimondo Catanzaro and Filippo Sabetti, eds. (1990). Politica in Italia. I fatti dell’anno e le interpretazioni. Edizione 1990. Bologna: Il Mulino.

Harold M. Waller, Filippo Sabetti, Daniel J. Elazar, eds. (1988). Canadian Federalism: From Crisis to Constitution. Lanham, MD: University Press of America.

Filippo Sabetti (1984). Political Authority in a Sicilian Village. New Brunswick, N.J.: Rutgers University Press.

Filippo Sabetti and Harold Waller, eds., (1984). Crisis and Continuity in Canadian Federalism. Special issue of Publius: The Journal of Federalism, vol. 14.

Current Book Projects:

Carlo Cattaneo and the Making of Modern Liberalism (funded by SSHRC and the Earhart Foundation)

Gasparo Contarini, The Commonwealth and Government of Venice [1599 edition of De Magistratibus et Republica Venetorum] with Peter Mentzel (DaPonte Italian Library Book Series, UCLA, Los Angeles).

Select Journal Articles and Book Chapters:

“Institutions as Human Artifacts.” Pp. 3-14. In F. Sabetti, B. Allen and M. Sproule-Jones, eds., The Practice of Constitutional Development: Vincent Ostrom’s Quest to Understand Human Affairs. Lanham, MD: Lexington Books, 2009 (ed. with Barbara Allen and Mark Sproule-Jones).

"Democratization without Violence: Can Political Order be Achieved through Peaceful Means" Pp. 85-110. In M. Sproule-Jones, B. Allen and F. Sabetti, eds., The Struggle to Constitute and Sustain Productive Orders. Lanham: Lexington Books, 2008.

"Normative and Empirical Inquiries into Systems of Governance." Pp. 3-10. In M. Sproule-Jones, B. Allen and F. Sabetti, eds., The Struggle to Constitute and Sustain Productive Orders. Lanham: Lexington Books, 2008.

“Democracy and Civic Culture.” Pp.340-62. In The Oxford Handbook of Comparative Politics, ed.by C. Boix and S. Stokes. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2007.

"Types of Federalism: Achieving Self-Governing Capabilities in Societies with Federal Potentials." Pp. 27-54. In The Dynamics of Federalism in National and Supranational Political Systems, ed. by M. Pagano and R. Leonardi. New York: Macmillan Palgrave, 2007.

“Libertà e Potere nel percorso del liberalismo classico [Liberty and Authority in the Trajectory of Classical Liberalism].” Pp. 11-25. Libertà e Liberali in Europa e in America, ed. by Filippo Sabetti. Milan: Edizioni Guerini, Turin: Centro Einaudi, 2007.

“Incivilmento e autogoverno nel pensiero politico dell’Ottocento: il contributo di Carlo Cattaneo in una prospettiva comparatistica [Civilization and Self-Government in Nineteenth-Century Political Thought: Cattaneo’s Contribution in a Comparative Perspective].” Pp. 453-484. In Città e Pensiero Politico Italiano dal Risorgimento alla Repubblica, ed. by R. Ghiringhelli. Milan: Edizioni Vita & Pensiero, 2007.

“Carlo Cattaneo and Varieties of Liberalism.” (with C.G. Lacaita). Pp. 3-52. In Civilization and Democracy, ed. by C.G. Lacaita and F. Sabetti. Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 2006.

“Dalla cultura civica al capitale sociale: progresso nella scienza politica comparata [From Civic Culture to Social Capital: Progress in Comparative Politics]." Rivista Italiana di Scienza Politica 36 (August 2006): 183-205.

The Mafia Misunderstood - Again." Journal of Modern Italian Studies 11 (no. 2, 2006): 232-239.

“Local Roots of Constitutionalism.” Perspectives on Political Science 33 (no. 2, Spring 2004): 70-78.

“Il Passaggio alla Modernita’: Riflessioni Teoriche sull’Esperienza di Francia, Italia e Spagna.[Passage to Modernity: Theoretical Reflections on the Historical Experience of France, Italy and Spain]” Teoria Politica 18 (no.3 2002): 21-43.

"Covenant Language in Canada: Continuity and Change in Political Discourse." pp. 259-284. In The Convenant Tradition: From Federal Theology to Modern Federalism, ed. by D. J. Elazar and J. Kincaid. Lanham, MD: Lexington Books, 2000.

"Cuestiones dificiles y solution de problema: reto del federalismo canadiense, antes y ahora [Problem Solving in the Organization and Practice of Canadian Federalism]." In Hacia in nuevo federalismo? Alicia H. Chávez, ed. Pp. 177-200. Mexico City: Colegio de México, 1996.

"Path Dependency and Civic Culture: Some Lessons from Italy about Interpreting Social Experiments." Politics & Society 24 (March 1996): 19-44. Reprinted in English, and translated in Catalan.

"Whose Law, Whose Justice? Of Crime and Punishment in Modern Times." pp. 129-144, in S. Hellman and G. Pasquino, eds., Italian Politics: A Review, vol. 7. London: Pinter Publishers, 1992. Published also in Italian.

"The Mafia and the Anti-mafia: Moments in the Struggle for Justice and Self-Governance in Sicily." pp. 174-195, in. R. Nanetti and R. Catanzaro. eds., Italian Politics. A Review, vol. 4. London: Pinter Publishers, 1990. Published also in Italian.

"Un precursore siciliano di 'Public Choice'? Francesco Ferrara e lo sviluppo delle scienze sociali in Nord America." Il Politico 54 (July - Sept. 1989): 409-423. Reprinted in 1990.

“The Historical Context of Constitutional Change in Canada.” Law and Contemporary Problems 45 (Autum 1982): 11-32. Reprinted in 1984.

“Reflections on Canadian Urban Governance Research.” Comparative Urban Research 8 (no.2, 1981): 87-112.

Other publications:

“Thinking Theoretically and Comparatively about History.” Italian Politics & Society no. 56 (Fall 2002): 28-34.

“In Conversation: The Meaning of Democracy and the Vulnerability of Democracies.” Polycentric Circles 8 (no. 1 January 2002): 1-3 (with Barbara Allen).

“A Different Way of Knowing: A Research Note on the Real Montegrano”. Italian Politics & Society (no. 44, Fall 1995): 18-25.

“The Absence of a Covenantal Tradition”, Pp. 259-263 in Boundaries of Identity: A Quebec Reader, ed. by W. Dodge.. Toronto: Lester, 1992.

Review of Agrarian Elites by Enrico Dal Lago. Journal of Modern History, 2008.

Review of The Case for the Enlightenment: Scotland and Naples 1680-1760 by John Robertson. Canadian Journal of Political Science, 2007.

Review of Politics as Religion by Emilio Gentile. Perspectives on Politics 5 (March 2007): 149-150.

Review of Mazzini and Marx: Thoughts upon Democracy in Europe, by Salvo Mastellone. Journal of Modern History, 78 (no. 2. June 2006): 468-69.

Review of Jane C. Schneider and Peter T. Schneider, Reversible Destiny. Mafia, Antimafia and the Struggle for Palermo (University of California Press 2003). In The American Historical Review 108 (no.5, December 2003): 1552-1553.

Review of Norberto Bobbio, Ideological Profile of Twentieth-Century Italy (Princeton University Press, 1995); and Carlo Violi, ed., Bibliografia degli Scritti di Norberto Bobbio (Laterza, 1995). In Canadian Journal of Political Science 30 (June 1997): 392-393.

Review of Benjamin Higgins and Donald Savoie, Regional Development Theories and Their Application (Transaction, 1995). In Canadian Journal of Political Science 29 (June 1996): 420-421.

Review of David M. Olson and C.E.S. Franks, eds., Representation and Policy Formation in Federal Systems, Canada and the United States (University of California Institute of Governmental Studies Press, 1993). In Canadian Public Policy 20 (December 1994): 445.

Review of M. Keating, Comparative Urban Politics (E. Elgar, 1991). In Canadian Journal of Political Science 26 (March 1993): 183-184.

Undergraduate Courses

• Introduction to Comparative Politics
• Comparative Local Government
• Issues in Canadian Public Policy
• Society and Politics in Italy
• Comparative Institutions and Policies
• Development and Public Policies in Western Europe
• State and Market in Comparative Analysis
• Making Democracy Work: A Comparative Perspective
• Canadian Public Administration
• Presidential and Congressional Politics in the US
• Hon. Seminar in Comparative Politics Developed: topics have included: Markets and Politics; Passage to Modernity in Europe and North America; Faith, Reason and Democratic Transformations

Graduate Courses

• Freedom and the City
• Introduction to Comparative Politics: Approaches and Issues
• Comparative Federalism
• Comparative Institutional and Policy Analysis
• European Politics

Graduate and Undergraduate Reading Courses

• Theories of Multi-Level Governance: Implications for Latin American politics
• Policies for Urban Growth in Europe
• Canadian Social Issues and Federalism
• Health Policies and Marginal People in Israel and Canada
• Religion and Public Life
• 18th and 19th Century Liberalism
• Nationalism and the Congress of Vienna
• Empirical Theory and Policy Analysis
• Public Choice Theory and Canadian Politics
• Women and the Catholic Church in Italian Politics