Center for Parliamentary Studies (CESP)

The CESP, Center for Parliamentary Studies, was created in 1995 as a research center on the two chambers of the Italian Parliament and then extended its goals to Regional Councils, the European Parliament and the comparative analysis of other legislative assemblies.

The Center’s research areas are: Italian and European Union parliamentary law; regulatory techniques and legislative trends; history of Parliament; financial and parliamentary procedures; interparliamentary cooperation and support for parliaments in democratic transitions; sociology and parliamentary statistics.

The CESP is based on a traditionally very close link between the study of parliamentary institutions (from a legal, historical and political point of view) and the officials of the Chamber and Senate, and enhances this link by involving councilors and former councilors in its governing bodies parliamentarians. CESP is also linked to training and teaching initiatives at various levels: courses in parliamentary law and the law of elective assemblies; legislative drafting laboratories; Second level Master in Parliament and Public Policy; Postgraduate course in legislative drafting; Erasmus + Joint Master in Parliamentary Procedures and Legislative Drafting; preparation courses for competitions for parliamentary advisers; Summer program in Parliamentary Democracy in Europe.

The Center is also responsible for the publication of the “Percorsi - Diritto” series published by Il Mulino.