Dr. Angelo Vito Panaro
Dr. Angelo Vito Panaro
Institute of Political Science
Chair of Human Rights Politics
- Email: angelo.panaro@fau.de
Dr. Angelo Vito Panaro is a postdoctoral researcher at the FAU – Institute of Political Science, where he collaborates with the V-Dem Institute on the “Academic Freedom Index” research project.
Prior to joining FAU, Angelo was a postdoctoral researcher at Bielefeld University (2023-2024) and a postdoctoral fellow at the University of Milan (2021-2023). From 2019 to 2024 he also served as an adjunct professor in the Department of Political and Social Sciences at the University of Bologna. His research focuses on authoritarianism, regime changes, comparative welfare states, the politics of social policy, global social redistribution, and socio-economic inequalities. His work has been published in Democratization, Contemporary Politics, Journal of International and Comparative Social Policy, Review of Policy Research, Social Policies/Politiche Sociali, Italian Political Science Review, Italian Political Science, among other journals. Since 2023, he has regularly contributed to the Global Social Policy Digest.
In recent years, Angelo has taught courses on autocratization, comparative welfare states, global social redistribution and inequalities, and the politics of social policy. He has also been a visiting fellow at the Research Center on Inequality and Social Policy (SOCIUM) (2019) and the European Centre for Social Welfare Policy and Research (2018).
Angelo is the coordinator of the Italian Political Science (SISP) Standing Group ‘Political Regimes’ (with Dr. Tiziana Corda) and in 2022 he was awarded the Carlo Maria Santoro Prize for the best paper presented by an early-career researcher at the SISP Conference (co-authored with Dr. Andrea Vaccaro). Further information can be found on Google Scholar and ORCID.
- 2024- present Postdoctoral Researcher, Institute of Political Science, FAU Erlangen-Nürnberg, Germany
- 2023-2024 Postdoctoral Researcher, Faculty of Sociology, Bielefeld University, Germany
- 2021-2023 Postdoctoral Fellow, Department of Political and Social Sciences, University of Milan, Italy
- 2021 Ph.D. in Political Science, Faculty of Political Science and Sociology, Scuola Normale Superiore, Italy
- 2019-2024 Adjunct Professor, Department of Political and Social Sciences/Department of Economics, University of Bologna, Italy
- 2019 Visiting Fellow, Research Center of Inequality and Social Policy (SOCIUM), University of Bremen, Germany
- 2018 Visiting Fellow, European Centre for Social Welfare Policy and Research, Austria
- 2016 M.A. in Economics, Department of Economics, Bocconi University, Italy
- 2012 B.A. in Political Science, Department of Political and Social Sciences, University of Bologna, Italy
- Authoritarian regimes
- Regime changes
- Comparative welfare states
- Politics of social policy
- Global social redistribution
- Socio-economic inequalities
- EU social policy
Articles in peer-reviewed journals
- Panaro, A. V. (2025) All that is left is all that matters: the politics of social spending in authoritarian regimes, Democratization, 1–26.
- Berten J., Grabo K., Kaasch A., Martens K., Meier S., Moore M., Panaro A.V. (2025) Global social policy ideas in the COVID-19 crisis: Ideational change and continuity in the ILO, the OECD, the WHO, and the World Bank, Journal of International and Comparative Social Policy. 1-15
- Vaccaro A., Panaro A.V. (2024) It’s the state, indeed! How state capacity facilitates social equality in authoritarian regimes, Contemporary Politics. Online First.
- Panaro A.V. (2024) Policy convergence in authoritarian regimes: A comparative analysis of welfare state trajectories in post-Soviet countries, Review of Policy Research. Online First.
- Cassani A., Panaro, A.V., Szymański A., Zamęcki L. (2024) Democratic backsliding and resilience in extraordinary times: Poland and Italy during the Covid-19 crisis, Italian Political Science, 18(1) 57-77
- Panaro, A.V., Vaccaro A. (2023) Income inequality in authoritarian regimes: the role of political institutions and state capacity, Italian Political Science Review, 53(2), 161-178
- Panaro A.V. (2021) Determinants of health and education equality: evidence from post-Soviet states, International Journal of Sociology and Social Policy, 42(1/2), 124-140
Articles
- Bao F., Berten J., Panaro A.V. et al. (2025) A crisis of multilateralism in times of polarization?, Global Social Policy, 25 (2) online first
- Bao F., Berten J., Panaro A.V. et al. (2025) Migration, refugees, and forced displacement as issues of global social policy, Global Social Policy, 25 (1), 202-230.
- Bao F., Berten J., Panaro A.V. et al. (2024) Adopting a gender lens to tackle gender disparities, Global Social Policy, 24 (3), 507-533.
- Berten J., Babirye M., Panaro A.V., et al. (2024) Recalibrating investment at the global level, Global Social Policy, 24 (2), 336-362.
- Berten J., Besche-Truthe F., Panaro A.V., et al. (2024) How inequalities and the climate crisis are entangled, Global Social Policy, 24 (1), 117-146.
- Berten J., Besche-Truthe F., Panaro A.V., et al. (2023) Ready for the future?, Global Social Policy, 23 (3), 535-574.
Book chapters
- Shahini V., Panaro A.V., Jessoula M. (2024) The Politics of Minimum Income Protection in the EU: The long road to a Council Recommendation, In: Vanhercke B., Sabato S. and Spasova S. (eds) Social policy in the European Union: State of play 2023, An ambitious implementation of Social Pillar, Brussels, ETUI and OSE Publications.
- Panaro, A.V. (2023) Delivering on Legitimation Strategies: Creating Access for CSOs in Authoritarian Regimes, In: Grömping Max and Teets Jessica (eds) Lobbying the Autocrats: Dynamics of policy advocacy in non-democracies, University of Michigan Press
- Valbruzzi M., Martelli R., Panaro A.V., and Soliman S. (2019), Che Programmi Avete per le Elezioni Europee? Un’analisi dei programmi elettorali dei partiti, In: L’Italia sovranista e la sfida all’Europa. Le elezioni europee ed amministrative 2019, Istituto Carlo Cattaneo – Fondazione di Ricerca
Reviews
- Panaro, A.V. (2023) Social Dictatorships: The Political Economy of the Welfare State in the Middle East and North Africa, Ferdinand Eibl, Oxford University Press (2020), ISBN 978-0-19-883427-4, Democratization, 30 (3), 540-541
- Panaro, A.V. (2019) Autocratization in Post-Cold War Political Regimes, Andrea Cassani and Luca Tomini (eds), Challenges to Democracy in the 21st Century, Palgrave Macmillan, (2019), ISBN 978-3-030-03124-4, Journal of Soviet and Post-Soviet Politics and Society, 5(2), 349-350
Working papers
- Shahini V., Panaro A.V. (2023) Analysing the Implementation of the EPSR Through the European Semester, EUROSHIP Working Paper No. 33. Oslo: Oslo Metropolitan University
- Panaro A.V., Shahini V., Jessoula M. (2023) The politics of minimum income schemes reforms in seven European countries, EUROSHIP Working Paper No. 31. Oslo: Oslo Metropolitan University
- Shahini V., Panaro A.V. (2023) Ensuring workers’ right to fair pay and decent standard of living: the minimum wage initiatives in a multilevel governance framework, EUROSHIP Working Paper No. 24. Oslo: Oslo Metropolitan University
- Panaro A.V., Shahini V., Jessoula M. (2022), A supranational social protection floor for all? The politics of minimum income protection in the European Union, EUROSHIP Working Paper No. 17. Oslo: Oslo Metropolitan University
- Panaro A.V., Shahini V., Jessoula M. (2022), The Social Dimension of the European Union: Grand Strategies, Governance Framework and Policy Development in the EU (2000-2020), EUROSHIP Working Paper No. 10. Oslo: Oslo Metropolitan University
Policy Reports
- Kinzelbach K., Lindberg S.I., Lott L., Panaro A.V. (2025) Academic Freedom Index 2025 Update, FAU Erlangen Nürnberg and V-Dem Institute.
- Panaro A.V., Shahini V., Jessoula M. (2023) Closing gaps in social citizenship: What more can Europe do?, EUROSHIP Policy Brief No.3, Oslo: Oslo Metropolitan University.
- Zamęcki L., Szymanki A., Cassani A., Panaro A.V., Tomini L. (2022), De-democratisation at the times of Covid-19, Report from the Excellence Initiative – Research University Project, University of Warsaw.
- Valbruzzi M., Erittu E., Panaro A.V. (2018), Che Programmi Avete per le Elezioni? Analisi delle Proposte Politiche dei Partiti, Istituto Carlo Cattaneo – Fondazione di Ricerca.
Open Pieces
- Panaro A.V. (2025) What determines public social spending in authoritarian regimes?, Social Policy Worldwide.
- Interview on the State of Academic Freedom (May 2025) German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD).
- Panaro A.V. (2025) 2024 elections: a stress test for democracy, the Loop – European Consortium for Political Research (ECPR) Political Science Blog.
- Panaro A.V. (2022), Recent protests in Kazakhstan expose the fragility of the autocratic regime, the Loop – European Consortium for Political Research (ECPR) Political Science Blog.
- Panaro A.V. (2020), Trump exploited social media platforms to question the election outcome. Their swift response has helped safeguard American democracy, the Loop – European Consortium for Political Research (ECPR) Political Science Blog.