Prof. Gian Luca Gardini, Ph.D.

Gian Luca Gardini is full professor and Chair of History of International Relations (with focus on Latin America) at the University of Udine, Italy. He is also Carlos Saavedra Lamas Visiting Professor of International Relations at Friedrich-Alexander University, Erlangen Nuremberg, Germany. From 2014 to 2021, he was Chair of International Business and Society Relations with focus on Latin America at the School of Business, Economics and Social Sciences at Friedrich-Alexander University. He has previously taught at the University of Cambridge and at the University of Bath in the United Kingdom.

Professor Gardini holds a Master of Philosophy (MPhil) and a PhD in International Relations from the University of Cambridge. He also obtained a Graduate Diploma in European Studies from the Italian Centre for International Economic Cooperation.

His main research interests cover the international relations of Latin America, foreign policy analysis, comparative regional integration, international organisation, and issues of international power, order and institutions. Among his recent books are External Powers in Latin America (Routledge, 2021), The World Before and After COVID-19 (EIIS, 2020) and Foreign Policy Responses to the Rise of Brazil (Palgrave, 2016).

He also acted as a practitioner of International and EU affairs. He was project manager for several EU consulting firms, Representative to the EU of the Italian Confederation of Industry, and International Trade Advisor to EUROCHAMBRES, the European Association of Chambers of Commerce and Industry. In 2012, he was seconded officer to the Chilean Foreign Ministry working in the team that organised the EU-Latin American and Caribbean Summit.

Professor Gardini was a Visiting Professor at Shandong University in the PRC, the University of Sao Paulo in Brazil, the University of Ljubljana in Slovenia, the University of Venice and Bologna in Italy.

• Foreign Policy Analysis (of Latin American countries and/or comparative)
• Regional integration (Latin America and comparative)
• International Organisation (theoretical arguments with empirical illustrations)
• Topics relevant to the nexus between international power, order and institutions

List of publications

• Power, Order and Institutions in World Politics

Power in its several tenets has steadily shifted between states and recently from state actors to other actors in the international system. The theoretical file rouge of this course is the combination of/tension between changes in the international order (distribution of power) and changes in the nature of power. This has occurred at different times and with different intensity, depending on the geographical area or the thematic subject. The course aims to bridge theory and practice with emphasis on the latter, by providing students with a clear theoretical toolkit that is applied to a number of case studies. The implications of different approaches to power for the international order and institutions will be spelt out during lectures and seminars.

• International Politics II

This course offers an introduction to a topical aspect of International Politics: International Organisations. Theoretically, the course discusses why, by whom and when international organisations are created and promoted. Empirically, we analyse the United Nations, the World Bank, the International Monetary Fund and the World Trade Organisation. Special attention is given to case studies to clarify the connection that exists between the letter of the treaties and the diplomatic practice.