June 4, 2007

PRESS RELEASE

TOCQUEVILLE-ACTON: the italian think-tank for a free and virtuous society

 

Tocqueville-Acton

Centre for Studies & Documentation

www.cattolici-liberali.com

 

was founded in June, 2007 by Novae Terrae Foundation, an organisation promoting human rights, and Catholic-Liberal Centre "Alexis de Tocqueville", created for those who share a liberal outlook in economics but feel conservative about valuesthe. It is an independent think-tank with a liberal and catholic approach. It seeks to promote contact amongst scholars and followers of the works of French intellectual Alexis de Tocqueville and English historian Lord Acton, as well as providing a meeting point for academic professors and business executives with an interest in philosophical, historical, epistemological, political, economical, juridical and cultural issues, connected to the anthropological perspective of the Church and its Social Doctrine.

The reference to Tocqueville and Lord Acton is by all means deliberate. In fact, both these Catholic intellectuals devoted their lives to pursuing a positive confrontation with a particular brand of liberalism, one which lays aside the excesses of rationalism, utilitarianism and materialism in order to emphasize its affinities with Western thought, in particular the Jewish-Christian tradition.

The activities of the Tocqueville-Acton Centre are governed by directors Flavio Felice, Professor of Economics and Politics at the Pontificia Università Lateranense and general director of Novae Terrae Foundation; and Fabio G. Angelini, who is completing his doctoral studies in Administrative and Public Law at the Università degli Studi di Milano and is also president of Catholic-Liberal Centre "Alexis de Tocqueville".  Among the members of the Centre are the research fellows, a group of intellectuals and postgraduate students, the majority of whom are under 35, belonging to the academic, professional and entrepreneurial world. The Centre’s research fellows are deeply committed to pursuing and developing political, economic and social thought, as well as seeking to implement public policy solutions. The Centre also promotes thought-provoking discourse amongst prominent intellectuals and academics from the political, institutional, professional and entrepreneurial world.

In addition to providing an area where documentation about the lives, works and thoughts of Tocqueville and Lord Acton is collected, the Centre promotes a space for a comprehensive contribution to public discussion, in order to promote knowledge and awareness in the fields of market competition, economic development, environment, energy, liberalisation and privatisation, finance and public accounts, media and information, technology and innovation, welfare and political-institutional reforms. For this reason, the Centre invites those who share such interests to engage in the debate over the above-mentioned issues with their own reflections and writings.

In conjunction with its research interests, which are aimed primarily at reaching out to Italian politics and formulating alternatives for public policy, the Centre holds seminars and conferences where the academic, professional-entrepreneurial and political-institutional worlds can meet.

The Centre is also strongly committed to didactic and cultural activities, forming young scholars and intellectuals, and encouraging young professionals and academic students to reach a high standard of excellence. With this aim, the Centre promotes the yearly Scuola di Alta Formazione Politica "Luigi Sturzo" and periodically hosts the Tocqueville-Acton Lectures, given by well-known members of the academic, entrepreneurial and political world.

 

Flavio Felice                                                          Fabio G. Angelini

 


Tocqueville-Acton
Centro Studi e Documentazione
www.cattolici-liberali.com
[email protected]

+39 348.0349131
 


                                                              

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