Project description
Political powerplays in Republican Rome
What made Roman magistrates in Rome between 78 and 46 BC successful candidates amidst a period of political crisis? What was the actual political power of the Roman people? The EU-funded AMBIRE project will answer these questions by studying many unknown aspects of Roman political life. Current research has focused more on processes rather than persons. To fill the knowledge gap, AMBIRE will focus on individuals. It will integrate historical analysis with perspectives drawn from political psychology. It will reveal how and why the success of different types of propaganda and political campaigns during a crisis is related to modern societal and political challenges.
Objective
AMBIRE wants to investigate the reasons whereby Roman magistrates in Rome between 78 and 46 BC won the elections; that is, what made them successful candidates in a period of political crisis. This problematic is strictly connected to other fundamental questions in modern scholarly debate, about the actual political power of the Roman people, the existence of political programmes, or the nature of the crisis of the Republic. The modern discussion was ignited in the 1980s from a radical critique to the old conception of the Roman state as being a closed oligarchy, prompting a revision of many still unquestioned aspects of Roman political life. However, new research has focused more on processes, rather than persons. AMBIRE wants to address this gap by focusing on individuals, and integrating historical analysis with perspectives drawn from political psychology. This has a great potential for new, more complex and multifaceted perspectives on the field, and for establishing a new field of enquiry. Thus, the results of this 3-years project, disseminated through academic publications and seminars, will greatly contribute to the aforementioned debate. The mutual exchange of knowledge between my host department (especially my supervisor, an expert in the field) and me, and the collaboration with the department of Psychology at my host institution will be instrumental towards this aim. This project can also provide useful insights into modernity – studying the reasons for the success of different types of propaganda and political campaigns in a moment of crisis is very relevant to modern societal and political challenges. Thus the action includes initiatives to reach out to young people and the general public, through visits to schools, an educational video and public events.
Fields of science
Programme(s)
Funding Scheme
MSCA-IF - Marie Skłodowska-Curie Individual Fellowships (IF)Coordinator
35122 Padova
Italy