Fondazione Basso

The Foundation’s commitment to research comes in different forms: from independent research sponsored by scholarships, training courses, seminars and conferences, to exhibitions and publications.
The focus is on socio-historical and juridical-institutional research.

Major areas:

Political theory and law
Interest in this area, which in the nineties focused on publications and conferences devoted to the Italian Constitution, now centres on issues related to the process of the constitutionalization of Europe.
It is around this issue – of central importance for European political culture – that the Foundation’s initiatives revolve, which involve the organization of national and international conferences, seminars, courses, publications and multimedia products. In 2007 an observatory on the respect of fundamental rights in Europe was set up, in collaboration with other institutions (www.europeanrights.it).
In 2005 the Foundation merged with the Fondazione Internazionale Lelio Basso for the rule of law and the liberation of peoples, which now forms the international section. Studies are carried out and conferences, seminars and training courses organized on human rights and peoples, adapted to different specificities.
The Permanent Peoples' Tribunal, an independent body, also has links with the Foundation.

Historical research and the culture of sources
An established branch of the Foundation’s work is historical and documentary research on sources of relevance for modern and contemporary history. Numerous instruments have been published on key themes of the French Revolution and Papal Rome: from traditional bibliographies to critical studies and electronic databases.
The regularly organized seminars and conferences on contemporary history are mostly aimed at stimulating international and interdisciplinary debate on fundamental historiographical issues.

Bioethical issues
In this area, the name of the Foundation is linked to the first international fora organized in Italy in the early nineties. The Foundation is part of a network of European institutions that promote reflection and research on the ethical and social consequences of Information and Communication Technology (ICT).
There are two permanent initiatives:
1. Interdisciplinary dialogues on bioethics: a series of regular meetings on issues of particular relevance.
2. The implementation of the ‘Biogea’ database (www.biogea.org), an innovative system of electronic data storage organized around the major concepts of the various fields of knowledge on bioethics.