Dr. Antonella Ratti

Libera Università Internazionale degli Studi Sociali (LUISS), Rome

Curriculum Vitae

Antonella Ratti studied Political Science at the University of Rome I “La Sapienza” until 2004, at which time she left for the University of Teramo, where she finished her studies in law in 2008, with a doctoral thesis on “The protection of the rights of religious minorities in Europe”. Since, Ratti has been working as lecturer at the social science Luiss Guide Carli University in Rome. From October 2011 to September 2012, she was Junior Fellow at the Käte Hamburger Center for Advanced Study in the Humanities “Law as Culture”.

Research project

Rethinking the relationship between religion and secular law. Religious identities in public spaces from a comparative perspective

The focus of my research lies in the resurgence of religious discourse in the European public sphere. During the last ten years, and with growing intensity since the events of 9/11, a number of European countries have faced an increase in claims for the recognition and implementation of religious traditions and communities of faith in the process of governance.

These claims undermine classical theories of secularization, which long theorized about the inadequacy of religious identities in shaping the public sphere, and predicted their relegation to the private sphere.

The research demonstrates that this new „de-privatization“ of religion does not question the separation between the ‚spiritual‘ and the ‚political‘, but reflects the ambition of religious traditions to participate – as any other belief or opinion – in the complex process of redefining the normative basis of „post-secular“ societies.

Within this context, the study discusses the extent and implications of the involvement of religious groups in the normative process and explores solutions to guarantee competing world views equal access to the public arena.

Publications (selected)

• Principio di laicità e valore storico-culturale del crocifisso in un recente giudizio del Consiglio di Stato, in: Giurisprudenza italiana  4/2007, pp. 838-844
• Giuramento (diritto costituzionale), in: Mangiameli, Stelio: Dizionario sistematico di Diritto costituzionale, Rome  2008
• Il problema delle relazioni tra Stato e Chiesa: dal dibattito costituente sull’articolo 7 all’elaborazione del principio di laicità, in: Fioravanti, Marco (Ed.): Culture e modelli costituzionali dell’Italia repubblicana , Cosenza 2008
• Il Ponte: il contributo della diaspora azionista alla Costituente: Buratti, Andrea /Fioravanti, Marco (Eds.): Il Costituenti ombra’, Rome 2010