Professor Federigo Argentieri on Continuity and Change in Moscow's European Policies

Federigo Argentieri (right) at the European University Institute in Florence.

JCU professors Federigo Argentieri and Michael Driessen took part in the May 23-24, 2019 conference on  ‘Russian Active Measures: Yesterday, Today, Tomorrow’ organized by the Robert Schuman Centre for Advanced Studies at the European University Institute in Florence.  Professor Driessen, currently a fellow at the Institute, chaired a session; Professor Argentieri served as discussant of another session and later presented a paper entitled “From Support to Communist Parties to Support of Populist ‘Sovereignism:’ Continuity and Change in Moscow’s European Policies.”

In his paper, Professor Argentieri pointed out that the Soviet Union supported communist (and occasionally other) parties financially and politically, in order to advance its sphere of influence and strategic interests. This is similar to the support that Russia extends today to the populist parties of the right, such as Front national in France, Lega in Italy and UK Brexit party. Aside from the left-right shift, little has changed after all.

Federigo Argentieri studied politics, history and languages at the Universities of Rome “La Sapienza,” Budapest-ELTE, and Harvard. He has widely published on the contemporary history and politics of Central-Eastern Europe and Italy, particularly on the Hungarian Revolution of 1956 and its Western echoes and effects, as well as on Ukraine. He teaches courses on international security and comparative politics of Europe, Latin America, and developing countries and regularly contributes to Italy’s main newspaper Corriere della Sera and to other Italian and international media.  He is the Director of John Cabot University’s Guarini Institute for Public Affairs.