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Formation | 1965 |
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Type | International relations think tank |
Headquarters | Via dei Montecatini, 17 |
Location | |
President | Michele Valensise |
Vice Presidents | Ettore Greco (Executive), Michele Nones, Pier Carlo Padoan |
Director | Nathalie Tocci |
Website | iai.it/en |
The Istituto Affari Internazionali (IAI)(Institute of International Affairs) is an Italian international relations think tank, and non-profit organisation founded in 1965 by Altiero Spinelli. It is ranked among the global top-20 think tanks in the "Foreign Policy and International Relations" and "Defense and National Security" categories, according to the 2020 Global Go To Think Tank Index. [1]
Altiero Spinelli was the institute's first director, thanks to joint contributions from the Fondazione Olivetti, the cultural and political association Il Mulino and the Nord e Sud Research Center, as well as to substantial support from the Ford Foundation. Spinelli took North American and British think tanks as a model: he created a flexible private organization, distinct from university institutes and governmental or ministerial research centers, yet capable of inter-acting and cooperating with the government, the public administration, national economic actors and foreign academic centers. These are still the IAI's outstanding features today. In September 2020 the Institute moved to Palazzo Cipolla, an elegant Neo-Renaissance building in the heart of Rome. The Institute's main objective is to promote an understanding of the problems of international politics through studies, research, training, meetings and publications, with the aim of increasing the opportunities of all countries to move in the direction of supranational organization, democratic freedom and social justice (IAI Statute, Article 1). [2]
Research focuses on the following thematic areas:
The research staff is made up of nearly 40 researchers, including area or project directors. Most of the research projects are carried out together with other institutes with similar characteristics.
The Institute is an active participant in – and has sometimes even been a promoter of – important transnational research networks:
In addition, the IAI manages two websites:
IAI is an acronym for:
Altiero Spinelli was an Italian communist politician, political theorist and European federalist, referred to as one of the founding fathers of the European Union. A communist and militant anti-fascist in his youth, Spinelli spent 10 years imprisoned by the Italian fascist regime. Having grown disillusioned with Stalinism, he broke with the Communist Party of Italy in 1937. Interned in Ventotene during World War II, he, along with fellow democratic socialists, drafted the manifesto For a Free and United Europe in 1941, considered a precursor of the European integration process.
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