The life and intellectual histories that this seminar will explore began in Berlin in 1932, when Eugenio Colorni met Otto Albert Hirschmann and his sister Ursula. Eugenio Colorni (1909–1944) was born in Milan. A philosopher and political activist, he led the ‘Centro Interno Socialista’ in Trieste. He was arrested in 1938 and after a period of detention in Varese, was sentenced to a five-year confinement at Ventotene. With his wife Ursula Hirschmann, he supported the elaboration of Altiero Spinelli and Ernesto Rossi’s manifesto on the United States of Europe, to which he later wrote an introduction. After he joined the Resistance in Rome, Colorni was killed in May 1944, just before the liberation of the city. His life and work has greatly influenced Albert O. Hirschman’s. 

Otto Albert Hirschman (1915–2012) was born in Berlin. Involved in several anti-Nazi and anti-fascist activities in France, Spain and Italy, he took refuge across the Alps after the enactment of racial laws and the arrest of Eugenio Colorni. Changing his name to Albert O. Hirschman, he enlisted in the American armed forces and returned to Italy with the Allies. After the war, he worked on the Marshall Plan as an economist with the Federal Reserve, researching the Italian and French economies and some inter-European payment schemes. He was one of the most distinguished experts on Latin America and the problems of economic and political development. Unsurprisingly for someone who constantly mediated the nuances between leaving, fighting, and accepting, Hirschman was preoccupied by two fundamental questions: Why do people engage or disengage in public welfare? And how do people bring about social or political change?

Luca Meldolesi and Nicoletta Stame will review some of the key concepts developed by Albert Hirschman and Eugenio Colorni as their intellectual journeys crossed national borders and disciplinary boundaries. They will also reflect on the ways in which Hirschman and Colorni may inspire fresh approaches to research on democratic practices today.

• Luca Meldolesi is an economist, historian of economic thought, professor of economic policy, expert in development economics, and the functioning of the state. He has developed his original scientific point of view, multidisciplinary (from economics to history, from political science to sociology), working in England with Piero Sraffa, in France with Fernand Braudel and in the United States with Albert O. Hirschman. In Italy, he taught at Sapienza in Rome, at the University of Calabria, at the Higher School of Public Administration and at Federico II in Naples. He co-founded the A. Colorni-Hirschman Institute in Rome. Among his numerous books: Discovering The Possible: The Surprising World of Albert O. Hirschman (1995), Albert Hirschman, entre Europa y América Latina. Reflexiones teórico-prácticas desde una perspectiva colorniano-hischmaniana (2017).

• Nicoletta Stame is co-founder of the A Colorni Hirschman Institute, professor of social policy at Sapienza University of Rome. She was a co-founder and first president of the Italian Evaluation Association. She was subsequently the president of the European Evaluation society.  She is a member of the editorial board of “Evaluation. The International Journal of  Evaluation Theory and Methodology”.  Her recent publications include Valutazione possibilista (2016), Beautiful Pages by Judith Tendler (2018), The Evaluation Enterprise, a Critical View (2019).

For participants who will attend the event in person: please register in advance by using the "REGISTRATION" form on this page in order to ensure seating availability and to get the information about the sandwich lunch organised before the seminar.

PLEASE NOTE: Access to indoor public events is limited to attendees with a Swiss or European COVID certificate. In addition, face masks must be worn to all in-person events at the Graduate Institute.