Romain Descendre, professor of Italian studies and history of political thought

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Biography

Professor of Italian studies at the ENS de Lyon, Romain Descendre is also a member of the French University Institute. His research within l'UMR Triangle, deals with Italian political thought of the sixteenth and seventeenth century and its links with the standards and practices. His work also investigates the exchanges and the links between political thought and other areas of knowledge (literature, philosophy, history, law, geography, visual arts), from the 15th to the 17th century.

Research areas

  • Italy 15th -17th century
  • History of political thought
  • Political Philology, historical semantics, history of concepts
  • History of ideas and history of knowledge
  • Law and literature
  • Geography and politics (15th-17th century)
  • Exchanges and interactions between knowledge at the beginning of the modern age (literature, philosophy, history, law, geography, visual arts)
  • Italian political thought (Machiavelli, Giovanni Botero, Paolo Sarpi, theories of the reason of State, relations of Venetian ambassadors, Antonio Gramsci)
  • Leonardo de Vinci
  • Geographical literature (Amerigo Vespucci, Giovambattista Ramusio, thought of the "Discovery")

Awards and honors

Program winner of the Chaires Françaises in the State of São Paulo in 2014

Honorary Member of the Institut universitaire de France (elected in 2006)

Major publications

  • Botero Giovanni, Della ragion di Stato, Pierre Benedittini & Romain Descendre, Torino, Einaudi, 2016
  • Géographie et politique au début de l’âge moderne, R. Descendre & P. Carta, Laboratoire italien, 2008
  • L’État du Monde. Giovanni Botero entre raison d’État et géopolitique, R. Descendre, Droz, 2009