Le trasformazioni del sistema internazionale

International relations scholars highly disagree on the nature of contemporary international politics, on its likely evolution, on its sources of legitimization and on the new emergent threats. According to some "nothing has really changed" - the logic of power politics still dominates relations among states. For others instead, we are experiencing a radical discontinuity with the past and the nature of the international system is therefore no longer understandable through the lenses provided by the traditional paradigms of the discipline. Main goal of this research is to build bridges among these divergent views and, eventually, propose a theoretically powerful and empirically accurate synthesis. Main goal is to provide a theoretical framework able to explain the origins and the evolution of the current transformations. The research will be organized around four macro themes, which seems particularly relevant for the evolution of the international system. Unit 1 will build a series of scenarios (four at least), which states might face in the coming years. Moreover, a duty of this Unit is to outline for each scenario a theoretical framework that will permit to the other Units to draw the implications for topic studied in their own research (international legitimacy, new threats, international order). Unit 2 will approach the evolution of the principles that inform international legitimacy and the corresponding legitimizing strategies used by international actors. Unit 3 will identify the distinguishing elements of the new threats that challenge the stability of the international system, paying special attention to the role and decline of the state. In particular, this Unit needs to define the features and the nature of the most dangerous threats (terrorism, failed states and organized crime). Unit 4 will articulate the likely implications for international order resulting from the forces at play in today's world, providing a comprehensive picture and a detailed analysis of the security arrangements that have been created after the end of the cold war and explaining their origin. The research is going to be articulated around four local units coordinated by the University of Bologna, at Forlì (Unit 1) and formed by the University Statale of Milan (Unit 2), by the Catholic University of the Sacred Heart in Milan (Unit 3) and by the University of Pavia (Unit 4). In addition, other scholars that belong to other Italian and foreign universities are expected to join the research. From a methodological point of view, the project is based both on the comparative analysis of different case studies and on the quantitative examination of some variables that seem to play a crucial role in the contemporary international system. In particular, we aim to identify the most relevant transformations occurred in the international system after the end of the cold war and their policy implications. With this study, we expect, on the one hand, to achieve a more detailed empirical knowledge of the changes occurred in international politics (actors, strategies, alliances) since the end of the cold war. On the other, we expect to identify the theoretical paradigms that are better suited to understand the transformations that are currently affecting the international system. In particular, with our theoretical framework we expect to influence the future work of international relations scholars in this field.