Carlo Galli

Carlo Galli is an Italian philosopher, political scientist and academic, a specialist in the history of modern and contemporary political thought. Having graduated in Philosophy at the University of Bologna in 1972, he developed his entire academic career at the same university, where he became full professor of History of Political Doctrines.

He has held numerous prominent roles in the cultural and publishing world, collaborating with the journal and publishing house il Mulino, directing the journal Filosofia politica and chairing the Gramsci Emilia-Romagna Foundation. He has also edited important scholarly works and taken part in international conferences.

His research focuses on modern and contemporary political thought, with studies devoted to authors such as Machiavelli, Hobbes, Weber, Schmitt, Arendt and others. He has explored fundamental themes of political philosophy, including the State, democracy, war, globalisation, totalitarianism, representation and political theology, publishing numerous essays that have also been translated abroad.

Alongside his academic work he has carried out intense activity as an opinion writer and publicist, reflecting on the main problems of contemporary politics. Between 2013 and 2018 he was a member of the Chamber of Deputies of the Republic, elected on the lists of the Democratic Party; he subsequently joined Sinistra Italiana and then Articolo 1, before returning to university teaching.

In 2020 the volume Figure del potere. Saggi in onore di Carlo Galli was dedicated to him, and in 2023 he received the Isaiah Berlin Prize for his contribution to the study of political thought.