On the centenary of the death of Vilfredo Pareto (1848-1923)

Best known as an economist and sociologist, Vilfredo Pareto is the author of a “theory of the circulation of elites” particularly influential in twentieth-century political theory. Reflecting on the crisis of liberal regimes between the end of the nineteenth and the beginning of the twentieth century, he investigated the relationship between the masses and the elite in an original way. Traditionally recognized as a major figure in the tradition of political realism, his work can be reinterpreted in the context of the current crisis of liberal democracies.

On the centenary of his death, we are dedicating a day to the study and the reading of a classic whose sociological-political works are perhaps not as well-known as they should.

Programme

10h30

EPLab Masterclass Series

Pier Paolo Portinaro (Università di Torino): Pareto, the classics of politics and the theory of crisis

15h00

Pareto and the crisis of democracy [workshop]

Hugo Drochon (University of Nottingham): Pareto, elites and dynamic democracy
Natasha Piano (UCLA): An Angry Warning: Pareto and Elite Circulation
Marco Di Giulio (Università di Genova): Back to the Future. Vilfredo Pareto and the problem of ‘Technocracy’