Luca Falciola
Assistant Professor
Luca Falciola is an assistant professor of political science at The City College of New York and an adjunct professor at Columbia University’s European Institute. His research focuses on social movements, radical politics, and political violence. Adopting historical and comparative methods, he investigates the development of anti-systemic cultures, the logic of collective mobilization, the mechanisms of radicalization, the evolution of protest policing, and the patterns of legal militancy. He wrote two books: Up Against the Law: Radical Lawyers and Social Movements, 1960s–1970s (UNC Press, 2022) explores the engagement of militant attorneys and their extraordinary impact on social struggles in America; The Movement of 1977 in Italy (Carocci, 2015) surveys the most radical, creative, and violent leftist mobilization of postwar Italy. His publications also include articles and book chapters on various aspects of contentious politics in Europe and the United States. Prior to joining The City College of New York, he has been lecturer in the Department of History at Columbia University; post-doctoral fellow at the Center for the United States and the Cold War, New York University; research fellow at the Catholic University of Milan, Italy; and post-doctoral fellow at Yale University’s program on Order, Conflict, and Violence. He earned a Ph.D. in History at Sciences Po, Paris.
Areas of Expertise/Research
- European Politics
- Political Violence and Terrorism
- Radical Politics
- Social Movements
Building
North Academic Center
Office
NAC 4/143 C
Luca Falciola
Education
Ph.D. History, Sciences Po, 2011
Courses Taught
PSC 23000 Contemporary Comparative Politics
PSC 32400 The Politics of Protest
PSC 33500 Terrorism and World Politics
Publications
Books:
Up Against the Law: Radical Lawyers and Social Movements, 1960s–1970s. University of North Carolina Press, 2022
Il movimento del 1977 in Italia. Carocci, 2015 (reprinted 2017)
Peer-Reviewed Articles:
“Studenti senza terra: la diaspora palestinese in Italia, tra solidarietà, politica e violenza.” Mediterranea–ricerche storiche 19, no. 54 (2022): 69–104
“Transnational Relationships between the Italian Revolutionary Left and Palestinian Militants during the Cold War.” Journal of Cold War Studies 22, no. 4 (2020): 31–70
“A Bloodless Guerrilla Warfare: Why U.S. White Leftists Renounced Violence Against People During the 1970s.” Terrorism and Political Violence 28, no. 5 (2016): 928–949
“I dibatti degli intellettuali italiani nel 1977: segnali di una svolta culturale?” Mondo contemporaneo. Rivista di storia 10, no. 1 (2014): 57–74
“In the belly of the beast. Ipotesi sul contenimento della violenza dei white radicals americani.” Mondo contemporaneo. Rivista di storia 9, no. 3 (2013): 115–145
“Gli apparati di polizia di fronte al movimento del ’77: organizzazione e dinamiche interne.” Ricerche di Storia Politica 16, no. 2 (2013): 161–182
“Il racconto degli anni di piombo sulla stampa quotidiana nazionale (1996-2010).” Rivista di Politica 4, no. 1 (2013): 105–115
“Colpirne uno per salvarne cento. Il processo ai Ceaușescu e le strategie di transizione nella Romania post-comunista.” Contemporanea. Rivista di storia dell’800 e del ‘900 13, no. 1 (2010): 53–78
“Elementi per una storia istituzionale della Romania comunista: il dispotismo di Nicolae Ceaușescu.” Giornale di Storia Costituzionale 7, no. 2 (2007): 233–252.
Book Chapters:
“Avvocate militanti negli Stati Uniti: impegno collettivo e forza dell’esempio.” In Bianca Guidetti Serra e l’avvocatura militante. Tra fonti e storiografia, edited by Francesco Campobello and Santina Mobiglia. Rubbettino, 2022
“Le premesse di una nuova sinistra.” In La meglio gioventù. Dalla Pantera ai nuovi movimenti, edited by Maria Pia Donato and Checchino Antonini. Left, 2020
“Reagire alla crisi nel XX secolo: spontaneità sociale e ipotesi radicali dopo lo shock petrolifero del ’73.” In Italia creativa. Condivisione, sostenibilità e innovazione, edited by Laura Bovone and Carla Lunghi. Donzelli, 2020
“«Il Pci era di un altro mondo»: il confronto impossibile tra sinistra storica e movimento del ’77.” In Il ’77, da vicino e da lontano. Per una riflessione sul PCI nel dopoguerra, edited by Mauro Boarelli, Carlo Ginzburg and Nadia Urbinati. Biblioteca de «l’Archiginnasio», 2019
“Representing Political Violence in the Underground Press: The Case of the Movement of 1977.” In The Last Avant-Garde: Alternative and Anti-Establishment Reviews (1970-1979), edited by Andrea Chiurato. Mimesis, 2019
“La generazione introvabile. Destra radicale e movimento del ’77.” In Il movimento del ’77. Radici, snodi, luoghi, edited by Simone Neri Serneri and Monica Galfré. Viella, 2019
“Frames of Injustice across Borders: Revolutionary Left and Police Repression in Italy, France, and the United States.” In Revolutionary Violence and the New Left: Transnational Perspectives, edited by Alberto Martín Álvarez and Eduardo Rey. Routledge, 2016
“From Legitimation to Rejection of Violence: The Shifting Stance of the Radical Milieu in Italy During the 1970s.” In Political Violence in Context: Time, Space and Milieu, edited by Lorenzo Bosi, Niall Ó Dochartaigh and Daniela Pisoiu. ECPR Press, 2015
“Ceci n’est pas un mouvement: il ’77 e la sua rappresentazione.” In Comprendere il dissenso. Etnografia e antropologia dei movimenti sociali, edited by Alexander Koensler and Amalia Rossi. Morlacchi, 2012
“Luigi court au devant du danger : Luigi Manconi évoque Lotta Continua et les années 1970.” In L’Italie des années de plomb : le terrorisme entre histoire et mémoire, edited by Marc Lazar and Marie-Anne Matard-Bonucci. Autrement, 2012