The transformations in modern society, from a socio-economic and political standpoint, have led to a crisis with regard to the traditional structure of the nation state. Its powers have been eroded from the top down, in favour of new international power centres and institutions, and from the bottom up, with the increasingly insistent demand for decentalisation in favour of local government.

One of the Centre’s priorities is the study of these processes with a view to forging links with the academic world, political parties, trade unions, employers’ and sectoral organisations, the general public, local authorities and national, European and international institutions.
With these objectives in mind, beginning in May of 2002, the Centre has promoted a series of seminars and conferences also in collaboration with other research organisations. The aim is to provide an occasion for an in-depth debate on such issues, also involving public opinion, which is often distracted or misinformed with respect to these seemingly distant processes which have instead a direct influence on the lives of all citizens.