About us

Established in 2009 through a grant of the Compagnia di San Paolo, T.wai is an independent, non-profit institute dedicated to rigorous academic and policy-oriented research in the fields of global politics and security studies.

Based in Torino (Italy), T.wai offers a dynamic environment for researchers from different disciplinary backgrounds and cultural milieu to work in close cooperation. The Institute takes part in the international conversation on the critical global, regional and country-specific challenges of our age by promoting informed debate and influential ideas through seminars, academic lectures, web tools and joint initiatives with the media.

T.wai regularly hosts speakers from around the world for a rich programme of events and conferences, often in parnership with the local University of Torino. The Institute is also home to the monthly papers OrizzonteCina and IndiaIndie, among Italy’s leading publications on the politics, economics and international relations of contemporary China and India.

T.wai maintains substantial partnerships with a number of high-profile academic departments, research centres and individual researchers throughout the world, including the German Marshall Fund of the United States, the Mario Einaudi Center at Cornell University, SIPRI, the Chinese Institute for Contemporary International Relations, the East Asian Institute (National University of Singapore) and CM2S (Centre Marocain des Sciences Sociales). The Institute does seeks financial support from other organizations in order to carry out its broad research programme.


Research

Research is structured around three areas:
1) Emerging Actors, with special attention devoted to China and India
2) Europe and the Maghreb, international order and the theory of global politics
3) Security studies, with a focus on new approaches to security and the privatization of violence

Who’s who

The founding members of T.wai are senior and junior scholars affiliated to the Department of Political Studies of the University of Torino, one of Italy’s largest universities.

T.wai’s structure comprises the President, Vice President and four Heads of Research:

President
Anna Caffarena, associate professor of International relations

Vice President
Giovanni Andornino, lecturer in the International relations of East Asia

Heads of Research
Fabio Armao, professor of International relations
Irene Bono, post-doctoral research fellow on the Political and historical sociology of non-institutional actors
Giuseppe Gabusi, adjunct professor of International political economy and political economy of East Asia
Stefano Ruzza, adjunct professor of Strategic studies and Democratization processes

Research Associates
Matilde Adduci, post-doctoral research fellow on the Socio-political and economic development of contemporary India
Chiara Carrozza , post-doctoral research fellow, CES - Centro de Estudos Sociais, Coimbra.
Enrico Fardella, Bai Ren jihua Research Fellow 北京大学百人计划研究员, Peking University and S&T China, UE
Chiara Ruffa, post-doctoral research fellow on Peace studies, Belfer Center (Harvard University)

Next event: 2012, Mar 22nd

Global Politics Library

La biblioteca di T.wai è pronta sarà inaugurata a marzo. Terminati gli ultimi test del software di ricerca, sarà a disposizione del pubblico per prestito e consultazione.

Connect with Twai

Partners

  • The Compagnia di San Paolo was founded in Torino in 1563 as a charitable brotherhood and it is now one of Europe’s most important private foundations. The Compagnia participates in society’s activities by pursuing ends that are of public interest and social utility, with the aim of favoring civil, cultural, and economic development in the community in which it is active.

  • The Istituto Affari Internazionali (IAI) was founded in 1965 on the initiative of Altiero Spinelli. The IAI's main objective is to promote an understanding of the problems of international politics through studies, research, 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.

  • SIPRI is an independent international institute dedicated to research into conflict, armaments, arms control and disarmament. Established in 1966, SIPRI provides data, analysis and recommendations, based on open sources, to policymakers, researchers, media and the interested public.

  • The Mario Einaudi Center for International Studies supports research, teaching and outreach activities that advance international studies at Cornell, in order to contribute to our knowledge of the world. The Center is committed to multi-disciplinary and collaborative research, teaching and outreach promoting cross-cultural and cross-national understanding.

  • The German Marshall Fund of the United States (GMF) is a non-partisan American public policy and grantmaking institution dedicated to promoting transatlantic cooperation. GMF supports individuals and institutions working in the transatlantic sphere, convenes leaders of the policy and business communities, contributes research and analysis, and provides exchange opportunities.

  • The Centre Marocain des Sciences Sociales (CM2S), based in Casablanca, is an autonomous research association, aimed at engendering institutional research questions about social change and transformation. Up to present, the main research topics have concerned urban anthropology, historical sociology, migrations, electoral processes and entrepreneurship.

  • The Fonds d’analyse des sociétés politiques, created in 2003 by researchers at the French CNRS, is an autonomous research association. It aims at contributing to a better understanding of political societies, through an approach of historical sociology of politics and economics, by comparing the thematic fields of ‘world governance’ with the concrete historical situations to which they are applicable.

  • The Department of Political Studies of the University of Torino was established in 1982. Research themes range from the theoretical and historical reflection on the development of ideas and political doctrines, to the comparative analysis of political systems and democratic forms in contemporary societies, in a scenario of globalization and changing international relations.

  • The School of Political Science, University of Torino is among Italy's top training centers for students, professionals and military personnel in the fields of political science, international relations, economics, law, sociology and foreign languages. Established in the second half of the XX century, it counts Norberto Bobbio among its founding fathers.

  • The East Asian Institute (EAI) is an autonomous research organization of the National University of Singapore. Its main mission is to promote academic and policy-oriented research on East Asian development, particularly the political, economic and social development of contemporary China (including Hong Kong and Taiwan), and China's growing economic relations with the region and the world.

View All