PIERO IGNAZI Professor of Comparative Politics at the University of Bologna, Italy. He is Chairman of the Research Committee for Political Sociology of IPSA and ISA. He has worked extensively on party systems in Italy and Europe. His most recent publication is Extreme Right Parties in Western Europe (2006, 2nd expanded and updated edition). GIAMPIERO GIACOMELLO Assistant Professor of International Relations at the University of Bologna, Italy, and Adjunct Professor of European Studies at the James Madison University EU Policy Studies M.A. programme, Florence, Italy. His latest publication is Security in the West (2009, edited with C. Nation). FABRIZIO COTICCHIA Research Fellow at the Sant'Anna School of Advanced Studies, Pisa, Italy. His research interests are international relations, conflict and post-conflict studies, development and institutional change.