Alberto ALEMANNO

Course offered: The EU Participatory Democracy

Current position: Alberto Alemanno is the Jean Monnet Professor of European Union Law & Policy at HEC Paris. Due to his commitment to bridge the gap between academic research and policy action, Alberto has pioneered innovative forms of academic and civic engagement and activism in the EU transnational space via his civic start up The Good Lobby as well as the EU Public Interest Clinic he established with New York University School of Law. He has been involved in dozens of campaigns, ranging from the first European Citizen Initiative putting an end to international roaming to the drafting of the EU whistleblower directive, and advocated for EU transnational lists.

He’s the author of more than twenty scientific articles and several academic books such as the acclaimed 'Nudge and the Law – A European Perspective'. Alberto is a regular contributor to Le Monde, The Guardian, Bloomberg, Politico Europe, Forbes, and Il Sole 24 Ore, and his scholarly and public interest work has been featured in The Economist, The New York Times, the Financial Times as well Science and Nature.

His latest book, ‘Lobbying for Change: Find Your Voice to Create a Better Society’ provides a timely analysis and guide to levelling the democratic playing field by empowering ordinary citizens to speak up and inform policy decisions at local, national and international level.

The World Economic Forum nominated him Young Global Leader in 2015 and Friends of Europe included him among the 40under40 European Young Leaders.

He sits on the board of several civil society organisations, such as European Alternatives, Access Info Europe and Diritto di Sapere, as well as the citizens’ campaigning movements We Move, which operates transnationally, and Riparte il Futuro, which is active in Italy.

Previous professional affiliations: Georgetown University Law Center (2010-2012), European Court of Justice (2005-2009), Bocconi University (2002-2005).

Education: Originally from Italy, he is a graduate of Harvard Law School, the College of Europe (where he served as a Teaching Assistant in 2001-2002) and holds a PhD in International Law & Economics from Bocconi University.

Other professional activities:  

• Founder and Director, The Good Lobby
• Young Global Leader, World Economic Forum
• Global Professor of Law, NYU School of Law (2014-2018)
• Visiting Professor of Public Policy, University of Tokyo (2015-present)
• Attorney at law, New York State

Research interests: European Law, Democracy and Public Participation, Risk Regulation & Regulatory Reform, Behavioural Law, Policy & Economics, Litigation and legal remedies.

Recent publications:

• Lobbying for Change: Find Your Voice to Create a Better Society, Icon Books Ltd, 2017.
• Beyond Consultations: Reimagining European Participatory Democracy, Carnegie Europe, Reshaping European Democracy, 2018 (Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=3304510)
• There are 17 million mobile EU citizens who deserve a political voice, The Guardian, 1 May 2019 (https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2019/may/01/17-million-mobile-eu-citizens-european-elections)
• Reinventing Legal Education: How Clinical Education Is Reforming the Teaching and Practice of Law in Europe, Cambridge University Press 2018
• "Unpacking the Principle of Openness in EU Law, Transparency, Participation and Democracy", European Law Review, February 2014, vol. 39, n° 1, pp. 72-90.