The Institute is an internationally renowned center of expertise in comparative and applied research on federal, regional, and local governmental trends.

We investigate and compare legal and institutional tools and decision-making processes for coping with ever more complex governance and an increasingly pluralist society in multi-level systems. Embedded in the autonomous context of South Tyrol within Italy and influenced by the nearby federal systems of Austria, Switzerland and Germany, the institute aims to animate the study of federalism and autonomy with innovative, and multidisciplinary debates.

Since its early days, the Institute has analyzed Italy’s asymmetrical regionalism and South Tyrol’s well-established autonomy arrangements, and it has increasingly addressed and compared current constitutional and political developments regarding the autonomy of subnational and local entities worldwide. The Institute provides a focal point for research in instruments and models of institutional innovation and participatory democracy. These research foci are complemented by the examination of specific policy fields in multi-level systems; notably, the researchers undertake and promote research in policy areas such as fiscal federalism and environmental policy.

The Institute aims to combine cutting-edge research with practice-oriented consultancy activities and well-established training programs.