Research
Research areas 
- Comparative Politics
- Regional and Local Government
- Public Administration
- Public Policy Analysis
- Regionalization and decentralization
- Elections and electoral studies
- Europeanization and European Integration
Current research
(2017-2020) Italian Ministry-funded project (PRIN): Politics and
Policy in Europe in times of crisis: Causes and Consequences (all
details on http://www.polcrises.unimi.it/)
(2017) research on German federal election 2017
(2015 - present) research on rationalization processes in Italian public sector
(2015 - present) research on local government, territorial reforms, territorial governance, intermunicipal cooperation in Italy and Europe
Concluded research
[produced publications]
(2011 - 2015) research on territorial reforms in Italy and Europe [Bolgherini 2015a; Bolgherini, Lippi, Maset 2015, 2016; Bolgherini, Lippi 2016]
(2015 - 2016) research on 2015 Italian regional elections [Bolgherini, Grimaldi 2015a, 2015b, 2016a, 2016b]
(2015 - 2016) research on rationalization measures in Italian public sector [Bolgherini, Dallara 2016a, 2016b, 2016c]
(2014-2015) scientific coordinator of the local research unit on policies for enterprises in Piemonte and Campania (Istituto Cattaneo Bologna) [Bolgherini, Orientale Caputo, Taglietti 2016]
(2013-2014) research on German federal elections 2013 and EU elections 2014 [Baldini and Bolgherini 2014, Baldini and Bolgherini 2015, Bolgherini 2014d]
(2013-2014) scientific coordinator of the local research unit on territorial capital after the global crisis (Istituto Cattaneo Bologna) [Bolgherini, Fighera, Orientale Caputo 2013, 2014]
(2011-2013) Italian Ministry-funded project: New forms of local governance as a tool for strategic territorial development. A comparative study on six European regions [Bolgherini 2013a, 2013b; Bolgherini e Messina 2014a, 2014b; Bolgherini 2014a, 2014b, 2014c, Bolgherini 2015a]
(2011-2012) research on territorial governance in Italy [Bolgherini
2013c]
(2008-2010) research on the connections between primary elections and political participation (special issue co-edited with F. Gelli of the journal Partecipazione e Conflitto – FrancoAngeli) [Bolgherini e Gelli 2011a, 2011b]
(2009-2010) research on inter-municipal cooperation in Italy and Germany [Bolgherini 2011a]
(2008-2010) research on regional and federal elections in Germany [Bolgherini 2010b; Bolgherini and Grotz 2010a, 2010b, 2010c, 2010d, 2010e, 2010f; Grotz and Bolgherini 2011]
(2009) scientific coordinator of the local research unit on Democratic Party (PD) primary national elections [Bolgherini and Musella 2010]
(2008) research on the mobilization of cities and municipalities in the EU extrastate channels [Bolgherini 2010a]
(2007-2009) direction, by the Istituto Carlo Cattaneo, with G. Baldini, of the research Governo locale e Unioni di comuni: tre esperienze emiliano-romagnole nel contesto italiano ed europeo (Local Government and Intermunicipality) [Baldini, Bolgherini, Dallara, Mosca 2008, 2009; Bolgherini 2009b]
(2006-2007) theoretical and empirical research on primary elections in Italy [Bolgherini e Musella 2006]; scientific coordinator of the local research unit on municipal primary elections [Bolgherini e Musella 2009]
(2005- 2008) participation at the project and member of the Editorial Staff of IpsaPortal, IPSA online publication (www.ipsaportal.net), a selection and evaluation of the best online resources for political science and social sciences for web research. Between 2006 and 2008 Editorial Assistant of the same publication
(2006) analysis of some theoretical aspects in the spreading of online scientific resources and in the role of governments in enhancing e-government policies [Bolgherini 2006c e 2007b]
(2006) research on personalization of municipal elections, related to direct election of mayors and to empowerment of local executives [Bolgherini 2007]
(2005-2006) comparative research on transformations in representation and administration in some European regions; coordination of an international research group on this topic [Morlino e Bolgherini 2005]
(2005) research on personalization in politics and in the candidate-electors relationships at the regional level [Bolgherini e Musella 2007]
(2003-2006) update and enrichment of the thesis research [Bolgherini 2006] as well as further researches on the paradiplomacy of regional governments in UE [Bolgherini e Rieuf 2005, Bolgherini 2008a] and on interregional cooperations [Bolgherini 2008b]
(2004) research on administrative adaptation of some European regions in order to face EU policies [Bolgherini 2005b]
(2002) research on regionalization of party organization and electoral campaign in Italy [Loughlin e Bolgherini 2006]
(2001) analysis of legislative elections in Greece in the last decades [Bolgherini 2002a]
(2000-2003) Thesis comparative research on mobilization and networking capacities of Southern European regions in the EU arenas [Bolgherini 2003a e 2003b]
(1998-2000) Graduate Thesis research on Bund-Länder relations in
institutional and economic policies [Bolgherini 2000]