Leonardo Morlino (28 June 1947 – 18 June 2025) was an Italian political scientist, known for his work on democracy and democratization.
Biography
He graduated in Political Science and specialized in comparative politics with Giovanni Sartori.
He has been Professor of Political Science at the Faculty of Political Science "Cesare Alfieri" of the University of Florence from 1971 to 2006. There, he served as Dean of the Faculty of Political Science from 1992 to 1995, and as Vice-Rector for Research and Deputy Rector from 2003 to 2006. He was also Director of the Interuniversity Research Center on Southern Europe (CIRES).
He has been Professor of Political Science at LUISS "Guido Carli" University from 2012 to 2018, later becoming Emeritus Professor of Political Science at the same university. There, he held the position of Vice-Rector for Research and contributed to the development of the Luiss School of Government.
He has been President of the Italian Political Science Association (SISP) from 1998 to 2001, and the first Italian President of the International Political Science Association (IPSA) from 2009 to 2012.
He has been a visiting professor at Stanford University, New York University, the Institut d'Études Politiques in Paris, the Centro de Estudios Políticos y Constitucionales and the Juan March Institute in Madrid, and a fellow at Nuffield College and Yale University.
During Pinochet's dictatorship, and throughout the democratic transition, Morlino actively participated in the work of the Centro de Estudios de la Realidad Contemporánea (CERC) in Santiago, Chile, directed by Carlos Huneeus, as well as in the meetings of the Vicaría de la Solidaridad, promoted by Cardinal Raúl Silva Henríquez. These two institutions played a decisive role in shaping the new Chilean democracy and in the training its future leaders.
He authored over 45 books and more than 230 journal articles and book chapters, on changes in political regimes, democratization processes, the quality of democracy, equality in contemporary democracies. They have been published in English, French, German, Spanish, Hungarian, Chinese, Mongolian, and Japanese.
His most recent books include Inequalities in European Democracies (Oxford University Press, forthcoming; with F. Raniolo); Equality, Freedom, and Democracy (Oxford University Press, 2020); Comparison: A Methodological Introduction for the Social Sciences (Barbara Budrich Publisher, 2018); The Impact of Economic Crisis on South European Democracies (Palgrave, 2017); How Economic Crisis Changes Democracy. Evidence from Southern Europe (Palgrave, 2017, with F. Raniolo); The Quality of Democracies in Latin America (International IDEA, 2016); Changes for Democracy: Actors, Structures, Processes (Oxford University Press, 2011); Democracias y Democratizaciones (CIS, 2008); International Actors, Democratization and the Rule of Law: Anchoring Democracy? (Routledge, 2008, with A. Magen); Democratization and the European Union. Comparing Central and Eastern European Post-Communist Countries (Routledge, 2010, with W. Sadurski); Introduzione alla ricerca comparata (Il Mulino, 2005) and Democracy Between Consolidation and Crisis. Parties, Groups, and Citizens in Southern Europe (Oxford University Press, 1998).
Morlino died on 18 June 2025, at the age of 77.Morto il politologo Leonardo Morlino, il prof che rese celebre l'università di Scienze Politiche di Firenze
The theory of anchoring Morlino developed the theory of anchoringL.Morlino, "Democracy Between Consolidation and Crisis. Parties, Groups, and Citizens in Southern Europe", Oxford, Oxford university Press (1998) to understand how and why there can be democratic consolidation or democratic crisis, the processes of legitimation and of anchoring should be carefully explored. The key proposition is that to achieve consolidation with a limited legitimation strong anchors are needed. The main anchoring mechanisms we can empirically find are: party organization, clientelism, neo-corporatist arrangements, and party control of interests. Other possible anchors include: a strong leader, a successful tv channel, an internet networking skillfully managed. Likewise, there is an internal crisis of democracy when for a number of different reason the existing anchors fade away, i.e. there is a de-anchoring. In case of crisis this phenomenon is usually compounded by delegitimation in terms of dissatisfaction about the implemented policies or of a decisional stalemate.
How to analyze democratic quality According to Morlino a good democracy is, first of all, a regime widely legitimized and stable, where citizens are fully satisfied because the elected rulers are capable and able to respond to their needs and questions (quality as result). If institutions are still challenged, attention, energy will be absorbed by the needs and objectives of its consolidation or maintenance. In addition, its citizens and communities enjoy freedom and equality beyond the minimum(quality as content). Third, citizens of a good democracy must be able to monitor and evaluate it through elections (electoral accountability) or indirectly (mutual control among the institutions) if and how the two values of freedom and equality are achieved through the full compliance with the current rules, the so-called rule of law, their efficient implementation, effectiveness in decision-making along with the political responsibility for the choices made by elected elites in relation to the questions raised by the civil society (quality as procedure). Citizens, experts, scholars with different ideal conceptions of democracy can check which of the qualities listed above best suit their ideals and to what extent those qualities are implemented in a certain country at a certain time, using the empirical research conducted by Morlino.L. Morlino, Changes for Democracy (2011), Chapters 7 and 8
Prizes and awards He has been awarded the Dartmouth Medal - Honorable Mention (Library Journal Best Reference 2011) for The International Encyclopedia of Political Science (Sage).
He held Doctorates Honoris Causa from the Universidad Mayor de San Andrés (UMSA) (La Paz, Bolivia), the Universidad Nacional Mayor de San Marcos (Lima, Peru), the University of Bucharest (Bucharest, Romania), the Universidad Autónoma de Guerrero (UAGRO), México.
Morlino has been the recipient of the Award for Scientific Achievements in Political Science by the Chilean Association of Political Science and of the Award for Academic Achievements and Contribution to the Development of Political Science by the Sociedad Argentina de Analisis Politico (Buenos Aires, Argentina).
He has been appointed Profesor Honorario of the Universidad Nacional de la Matanza (Buenos Aires, Argentina) and Honorary Member of Tunisian Association of Political Science, as well as life member of the International Political Science Association (IPSA) and of Mexican Association of Political Sciences (AMECIP).
He has been conferred the title of Huésped de Honor of the city of Buenos Aires (Argentina) and Visitante Distinguido of the city of Puebla (Mexico).
The Facultad de Derecho at the Universidad Autónoma de Querétaro in Mexico hosts a "Cátedra Leonardo Morlino sobre estudios de la democratización", dedicated to the analysis and reflection on democracy and democratization in Latin America and beyond.
Publications
Books
Author:
10.2020 – Equality, Freedom and Democracy. Europe After the Great Recession, Oxford, Oxford University Press (Italian translation: Bologna, Il Mulino, 2021).
9.2018 – Comparison. An Methodological Introduction for the Social Sciences,Leverkusen and London, Barbara Budrich Publisher (Italian translation: Bologna, Il Mulino, 2020).
8.2014 – La calidad de las democracias en América Latina. Informe para IDEA (English translation: The Quality of Democracies in Latin America. A Report for IDEA, 2016) Stockholm, International IDEA.
7.2011 – Changes for Democracy. Actors, Structures and Processes, Oxford, Oxford University Press (reprinted 2012; Italian translation, 2014; Spanish translation 2019).
6.2005 – Introduzione alla ricerca comparata, Bologna, Il Mulino (Spanish translation 2010; French translation 2013).
5.2003 – Democrazie e democratizzazioni, Bologna, Il Mulino (first Spanish translation 2005, second Spanish edition 2009; Romanian transl. 2015).
4.1998 – Democracy Between Consolidation and Crisis. Parties, Groups, and Citizens in Southern Europe, Oxford, Oxford University Press (Italian translation: Bologna, Il Mulino, 2008).
3.1985 – Como cambian los regimenes politicos, Madrid, CEC (revised Spanish version of 1980 book).
2.1981 – Dalla democrazia all’autoritarismo. Il caso spagnolo in prospettiva comparata, Bologna, Il Mulino.
1.1980 – Come cambiano i regimi politici. Strumenti di analisi, Milan, Angeli Editore.
Co-author:
11.2026 (forthcoming) - Inequalities in European Democracies, Oxford, OUP
10. 2022 – Disuguaglianza e democrazia, Milan, Mondadori.
9.2022 – Per la partecipazione dei cittadini. Come ridurre l’astensionismo e agevolare il voto, Roma, Presidenza del Consiglio dei Ministri.
8.2017 – The Impact of the Economic Crisis on South European Democracies, London, Palgrave (Italian transl: Bologna, Il Mulino, 2018).
7.2017 – Political Science, Thousand Oaks and London, Sage Publications (Italian transl. 2018).
6.2009 – Qualità della Democrazia e Innovazione Locale, Padova, Edizioni Sapere.
5.2004 – Fondamenti di Scienza Politica, Bologna, Il Mulino.
4.2001 – Scienza Politica, Bologna, Il Mulino (new ed. 2008).
3.2001 – Rights and the Quality of Democracy in Italy. A Report, Stockolm, IDEA.
2.1990 – Le elezioni nel mondo 1982-1989, Florence, Edizioni della Giunta Regionale Toscana.
1.1986 – Manuale di Scienza della Politica, Bologna, Il Mulino (Spanish transl.: Madrid, Alianza Editorial, 1988).
Editor:
7. 2009 – Istituzioni, Partiti, e Società civile, by Seymour M. Lipset, Bologna, Il Mulino.
6.2000 – Transizione e consolidamento democratico, by J.J. Linz e A. Stepan, Italian translation, Bologna, Il Mulino.
5.1998 – Un’occasione mancata? Intervista sulle riforme costituzionali to Giovanni Sartori, Bari, Laterza.
4.1997/2004 – Partiti e sistemi di partito in Italia. Le trasformazioni organizzative, 4 voll., Bologna, Il Mulino.
3.1995 – Laurea in Scienze Politiche. Identità e sbocchi professionali, Firenze, Editrice La Giuntina.
2.1991 – Costruire la democrazia. Gruppi e partiti in Italia, Bologna, Il Mulino.
1.1989 – Scienza Politica, Turin, Edizioni della Fondazione Agnelli.
Co-editor:
23.2021 – L’illusione della scelta. Come manipolare l’opinione pubblica in Italia, with Michele Sorice, Roma, Luiss University Press.
22.2020 – The Politics of the Eurozone Crisis in Southern Europe. A Comparative Reappraisal, with C. Sottilotta, London, Palgrave Macmillan (Italian translation: Bologna, Il Mulino, 2020).
21.2020 – Calidad de la democracia en América Latina. Una nueva mirada, with Gloria de la Fuente and Marianne Kneuer, Santiago (Chile), Fondo de Cultura Económica.
20.2020 – Polarización, radicalización y populismo, with Marcelo Cavarozzi and Juan Russo, a special issue of Revista Euro latinoamericana de Análisis Social y Político (RELASP), 1 (1).
19.2020 – Handbook of Political Science, with Dik Berg-Schlosser and Bertrand Badie, Thousand Oaks and London, Sage Publications, 3 vols.
18.2020 – The politics of the Eurozone crisis in Southern Europe: A comparative reappraisal, with Cecilia Sottilotta, London, Palgrave MacMillan (Italian transl: Bologna, Il Mulino, 2020).
17.2017 – Calidad de la Democracia en América Latina, Curitiba (Brazil), Editora CRV.
16.2015 – The American Exceptionalism Revisited, Rome, Viella.
15.2013 – La qualità della democrazia in Italia, Bologna, Il Mulino.