Paola Rivetti is Associate Professor in Politics and International Relations at the School of Law and Government. She joined DCU in 2011, as an IRC postdoctoral fellow. She researches the government of societies and polities in the Middle East and North Africa from a comparative perspective; social and political mobilizations; gender and politics. She is author of Political Participation in Iran from Khatami to the Green Movement (2020), which she presented in numerous universities across Europe, North America and the Middle East; and co-editor of Islamists and the Politics of the Arab Uprisings: Governance, Pluralisation and Contention (2018), We've Come A Long Way. Reproductive Rights of Migrants and Ethnic Minorities in Ireland (2018), Continuity and Change Before and After the Arab Uprisings. Morocco, Tunisia and Egypt (2015) and Effetto società civile. Pratiche e retoriche in Iran, Libano, Egitto e Marocco (2010). She has published 30 articles in the most important peer-reviewed journals (see publications).
Paola Rivetti was awarded the 2018 Early-Career Researcher of the Year Prize by the Irish Research Council and received the DCU President's Award for Early-Career Researcher. In 2018, she was a TED talk speaker for Trinity College Dublin, with a talk titled "What's wrong with solidarity".
As an academic and intellectual, she contributes to public debates and is involved in a number of cultural and professional initiatives. Paola Rivetti is a Council member of the British Society for Middle Eastern Studies, a member of the Mentorship Committee of the Association for Iranian Studies, and of the Committe for Academic Freedom of the Italian Society for Middle East Studies (SeSaMO). She is a co-founding member of the Irish Network for MENA Studies. She was the General Secretary of the Italian Society for Middle Eastern Studies between 2013 and 2016. She is an Associate Editor at the journals Iranian Studies, and Partecipazione e conflitto. She regularly engages the policy-making community and comments on current affairs for numerous media platforms, such as Sky News, RTE, RAI, Virgin Media TV, Radio popolare, The Journal, il manifesto, and many others. In the past, her research was funded by the Horizon Europe programme, Irish Research Council, Enterprise Ireland, Gerda Henkel Foundation, Giovanni Goria Foundation, and others.
Paola Rivetti regularly reviews submissions to academic journals, book publishers and grant donors (EU Parliament's subcommittee of human rights, ERC, National Science Foundation, IRC, Fonds Schappelijk Onderzoek, MIUR, and others). She regularly attends professional conferences, both in Area Studies and social and political science; she is regularly invited to give talks to different audiences, from academics to policy-makers and activists.
Book
| Year | Publication | |
|---|---|---|
| 2020 | Paola Rivetti (2020) Political Participation in Iran from Khatami to the Green Movement. Basingstoke: Palgrave McMillan. [Link] |
Edited Book
Peer Reviewed Journal
| Year | Publication | |
|---|---|---|
| 2024 | paola rivetti; andrea peto; monica cornejo (2024) 'A conversation with Monica Cornejo, Andrea Pet? and Paola Rivetti on the book Religion, Gender, and Populism in the Mediterranean'. Journal of Intercultural Studies, 45 (4):795-805. [Link] https://doi.org/10.1080/07256868.2023.2273844 | |
| 2023 | Paola Rivetti (2023) 'The reception of Iran's state propaganda by the Italian far right: recasting the diffusion of authoritarian discourse and narratives'. ITALIAN POLITICAL SCIENCE REVIEW-RIVISTA ITALIANA DI SCIENZA POLITICA, Online First (https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/italian-political-science-review-rivista-italiana-di-scienza):1-18. [Link] https://doi.org/10.1017/ipo.2023.18 | |
| 2023 | Paola Rivetti (2023) 'Thinking about social movements and obstacles to protesting globally: Lessons from Palestine'. EUROPEAN POLITICAL SCIENCE (ONLINE), 22 (3). [Link] | |
| 2023 | Paola Rivetti; Shirin Saeidi (2023) 'Political Convergence, Surpluses of Activism, and Genealogy: Examining Iran's Quasi-Revolutionary Situation'. Iranian Studies, 56 (3):563-568. [Link] https://doi.org/10.1017/irn.2023.14 | |
| 2023 | Paola Rivetti, Shirin Saeidi (2023) 'Writing in Turbulent Times. Introduction to the Roundtable on the 2022–23 Iranian Protests'. Iranian Studies, 56 (3):553-556. https://doi.org/10.1017/irn.2023.19 | |
| 2023 | Rivetti, P. (2023) 'Mobilisation, Resistance and Negotiations. Women’s and Feminist Militancy and Political Activism in the Islamic Republic of Iran'. Iride, 35 . [Link] [DOI] | |
| 2022 | Paola Rivetti; Shirin Saeidi (2022) 'Re-Assessing The Possibilities and Limits of Liberal Feminism and Women’s Rights Activism in Iran'. Afriche e orienti, 25 (2):74-92. [Link] | |
| 2022 | Paola Rivetti; Rassa Ghaffari (2022) 'Anti-Gender Ideology and the Transnational Diffusion of Authoritarianism: Examining a Common Discursive Space Between Iran and Italy'. Afriche e orienti, 25 (2):51-73. [Link] | |
| 2021 | Rivetti P., Cavatorta F. (2021) 'Revolution and Counter-Revolution in the Middle East and North Africa. Global Politics, Protesting and Knowledge Production in the Region and Beyond'. Partecipazione e Conflitto, 14 (2):511-529. [Link] | |
| 2020 | Rivetti Paola (2020) 'What happens in-between mobilizations? Building and organizing contentious politics at the University of Tehran (2007-2017)'. Partecipazione e Conflitto, 13 (1):587-606. | |
| 2020 | Paola Rivetti (2020) 'The Museum of the Islamic Revolution and Holy Defence in Tehran'. International Journal of Middle East Studies, 52 (2):349-355. | |
| 2019 | Camozzi, I.; Cherubini, D.; Rivetti, P. (2019) 'The transnational engagement of second generations in Italy: Young people of Egyptian background and the Arab uprisings'. Polis (Italy), 33 . [Link] [DOI] | |
| 2018 | Camozzi, Ilenya; Cherubini, Daniela; Leccardi, Carmen; Rivetti, Paola (2018) 'Arab Mediterranean youth norms and values: a gender analysis'. Revista CIDOB d'Afers Internacionals, (118). [DOI] | |
| 2017 | Saeidi, S.; Rivetti, P. (2017) 'Out of Space: Securitization, Intimacy, and New Research Challenges in Post-2009 Iran'. International Journal of Middle East Studies, 49 . [Link] [DOI] | |
| 2017 | Paola Rivetti (2017) 'Labor and Class in Iran. An Interview with Mohammad Maljoo'. Middle East Report, . | |
| 2017 | Paola Rivetti (2017) 'Political Activism in Iran: Strategies for Survival, Possibilities for Resistance and Authoritarianism'. DEMOCRATIZATION (PRINT), . | |
| 2017 | Paola Rivetti (2017) 'Methodology Matters in Iran: Co-Research and Non-Mainstream Methods in Researching Social Movements in Authoritarian Contexts'. Anthropology of the Middle East, . | |
| 2015 | Rivetti, P. (2015) 'Continuity and change before and after the uprisings in Tunisia, Egypt and morocco: Regime reconfiguration and policymaking in north Africa'. British Journal of Middle Eastern Studies, 42 . [Link] [DOI] | |
| 2014 | Sandro Busso, Paola Rivetti (2014) 'Between training and work. The institutionalized precariousness of psychologists psychotherapists’'. Sociologia del lavoro, . | |
| 2014 | Rivetti, P; Cavatorta, F (2014) 'Iranian student activism between authoritarianism and democratization: patterns of conflict and cooperation between the Office for the Strengthening of Unity and the regime'. Democratization, 21 :289-310. [DOI] | |
| 2014 | Francesco Cavatorta, Paola Rivetti (2014) 'EU–MENA Relations from the Barcelona Process to the Arab Uprisings: A New Research Agenda'. Journal of European Integration, . | |
| 2014 | Sandro Busso, Paola Rivetti (2014) 'What’s Love Got to Do with it? Precarious Academic Labour Forces and the Role of Passion in Italian Universities'. RECHERCHES SOCIOLOGIQUES ET ANTHROPOLOGIQUES, . | |
| 2013 | Rivetti, P. (2013) 'Empowerment without emancipation: Performativity and political activism among iranian refugees in italy and Turkey'. Alternatives, 38 . [Link] [DOI] | |
| 2013 | Rivetti, P.; Cavatorta, F. (2013) ''The importance of being civil society': Student politics and the reformist movement in Khatami's Iran'. Middle Eastern Studies, 49 . [Link] [DOI] | |
| 2013 | Paola Rivetti (2013) 'Governing Chaos: Uncertainty and the Comparative Examination of the 2010/2011 Uprisings in North Africa'. EUROPEAN JOURNAL OF ECONOMIC AND POLITICAL STUDIES, . | |
| 2013 | Paola Rivetti (2013) 'Ideology, democracy and secularism in contemporary Iran. Lessons for the Arab Spring?’'. MEDITERRANEAN POLITICS (PRINT), . | |
| 2011 | Paola Rivetti (2011) 'Iran: Starting from land and history. A tentative interpretation’'. Storia urbana, . | |
| 2011 | Paola Rivetti (2011) 'Italian Alpine expeditions to Iran according to archives’'. Storia urbana, . | |
| 2021 | Rivetti, Paola (2021) 'PARTY POLITICS IN THE ISLAMIC REPUBLIC OF IRAN'. ROUTLEDGE HANDBOOK ON POLITICAL PARTIES IN THE MIDDLE EAST AND NORTH AFRICA, . | |
| 2019 | Camozzi, Ilenya; Cherubini, Daniela; Leccardi, Carmen; Rivetti, Paola (2019) 'The transformation of youth cultural norms and values A gendered analysis'. YOUTH AT THE MARGINS: PERSPECTIVES ON ARAB MEDITERRANEAN YOUTH, . |
Book Chapter
| Year | Publication | |
|---|---|---|
| 2024 | Rivetti, P. (2024) 'Researching social movements in authoritarian states: Preparing and conducting fieldwork in Iran and Turkey' In: Handbook of Research Methods and Applications for Social Movements. [Link] | |
| 2024 | Biagini Erika; Rivetti Paola (2024) 'Islamist women’s mobilization and agency in the Arab Uprisings and their aftermath in Egypt' In: Women, Agency and Religion: Social and Legal Issues in the Mediterranean Public Space. London : Routledge. | |
| 2023 | Paola Rivetti (2023) 'The contradictory consequences of professionalising civil society in Iran: Restricting and radicalising political participation' In: Routledge Handbook of Civil society in MENA. London : Routledge. | |
| 2023 | Erika Biagini and Paola Rivetti (2023) 'Islamist women’s mobilization and agency in the Arab Uprisings and their aftermath in Egypt' In: Women, Agency and Religion: Social and Legal Issues in the Mediterranean Public Space. Routledge : Routledge. | |
| 2023 | Paola Rivetti (2023) 'Party politics in the Islamic Republic of Iran' In: Routledge Handbook of Political Parties in the Middle East and North Africa. London : Routledge. | |
| 2023 | Paola Rivetti (2023) 'I confini dell’Iran' In: Sui confini d’Europa. Storie di frontiere e migrazioni. Roma : ManifestoLibri. | |
| 2022 | 84. Elisabetta Brighi, Mattia Giampaolo, Paola Rivetti (2022) 'Propaganda e fake news tra Italia ed Egitto: il caso Regeni' In: Minnena. Repressione, informazione e ricerca in Egitto e Italia. Messina : Mesogea. | |
| 2020 | Biagini Erika, Rivetti Paola (2020) 'State repression and activist organizing in informal spaces: Comparing feminist movements in Egypt and Iran' In: APSA-MENA Politics Newsletter. Washington : American Political Science Association. [Link] | |
| 2020 | paola rivetti (2020) 'Islam and Factional Politics in Iran' In: The Routledge Handbook to religion and Political Parties. Oxon : Routledge. | |
| 2020 | Armano Emiliana, Rivetti Paola, Busso Sandro (2020) 'La fabbrica della conoscenza e delle precarietà. Riflessioni da un’autoinchiesta nell’università al tempo della crisi' In: Pratiche di inchiesta e conricerca oggi. Milan : Ombre corte. | |
| 2018 | Paola Rivetti and Alam Saleh (2018) 'Governing after Protests. The Case for Political Participation in Post-2009 Iran' In: Islamists and the Politics of the Arab Uprisings: Governance, Pluralisation and Contention. Edinburgh : Edinburgh University Press. | |
| 2018 | Rivetti, P.; Saeidi, S. (2018) 'What is so special about field research in Iran?: Doing fieldwork in religiously charged authoritarian settings' In: Political Science Research in the Middle East and North Africa: Methodological and Ethical Challenges. [Link] [DOI] | |
| 2018 | Paola Rivetti and Hendrik Kraetzschmar (2018) 'Political Islam and the Arab Uprisings' In: Islamists and the Politics of the Arab Uprisings: Governance, Pluralisation and Contention. Edinburgh : Edinburgh University Press. | |
| 2018 | Paola Rivetti, Shirin Saeidi (2018) 'What is so special about field research in Iran? Doing fieldwork in religiously charged authoritarian settings' In: Doing Political Science Research in the Middle East and North Africa: Methodological and Ethical Challenges. Oxford : Oxford University Press. | |
| 2018 | Paola Rivetti and Francesco Cavatorta (2018) 'Algeria: Oil and public opinion' In: Public Brainpower. Civil Society and Natural Resource Management. Basingstoke : Palgrave Mcmillan. | |
| 2018 | Daniela Cherubini, Ilenya Camozzi, Paola Rivetti, Carmen Leccardi (2018) 'Transformations of cultural norms and values among youth through a gendered perspective' In: Youth at the Margins: Perspectives on Arab Mediterranean Youth. London : Routledge. | |
| 2017 | Armano E.; Rivetti P.; Busso S. (2017) 'La fabbrica della conoscenza e della precarietà. Riflessioni da un’autoinchiesta nell’università al tempo della crisi' In: In/disciplinate: soggettività precarie nell’università italiana. Venice : Ca' Foscari University Press. [Link] | |
| 2017 | Rivetti, P.; Cavatorta, F. (2017) 'Functions of political trust in authoritarian settings' In: HANDBOOK ON POLITICAL TRUST. [Link] | |
| 2017 | Rivetti, P.; Cavatorta, F. (2017) 'Algeria: Oil and public opinion' In: Public Brainpower: Civil Society and Natural Resource Management. [Link] [DOI] | |
| 2016 | Holliday S.; Rivetti p. (2016) 'Divided we stand? The heterogeneous political identities of Iran’s 2009-2010 uprisings' In: Political identities and popular uprisings in the Middle East. Lanham : Rowman and Littlefield. | |
| 2015 | Rivetti P. (2015) 'Continuity and Change before and after the Uprisings in Tunisia, Egypt and Morocco: Regime Reconfiguration and Policymaking in North Africa' In: Continuity and Change before and after the Uprisings in Tunisia, Egypt and Morocco. London : Routledge. | |
| 2015 | Busso S.; Rivetti P. (2015) 'Dublin’s boom, burst and slow recovery. Policy variables [in Italian]' In: European cities during the crisis: Lisbon, Rome, Dublin and Santander. Rome : Bordeaux Edizioni. | |
| 2013 | Rivetti P. (2013) 'Civil society in Iran' In: Alternatives to Democracy. Non-democratic regimes and the limits of democracy diffusion in Eurasia. Florence : European Academic Press Publishing. | |
| 2013 | Rivetti P. (2013) 'Co-opting civil activism in Iran' In: Civil society in Syria and Iran: activism in authoritarian contexts. Boulder CO : Lynne Rienner. | |
| 2012 | Readelli R.; Rivetti P. (2012) 'The Arab spring and the Iranian winter [in Italian]' In: The Arab spring. Origins and consequences of the uprisings that are changing the Middle East. Milan : Vita & Pensiero Editrice. | |
| 2012 | Busso S,; Rivetti P. (2012) 'Conditional Freedom. The strategies of the precarious workers in universities between agency and constraints [in Italian]' In: Maps of precariousness. Forms and processes, social imaginary and subjectivity. Bologna : Odoya. | |
| 2012 | Di Peri R.; Rivetti P. (2012) 'Religion and international relations in the Middle East [in Italian]' In: Religion and international relations. Turin : UTET Università. | |
| 2010 | Rivetti P. (2010) ''Civil Society’ in Iran. Notes on consensus, power and politics [in Italian]' In: Civil Society Effect. Practices and Rhetoric in Iran, Lebanon, Egypt and Morocco. Rome : Bonanno. | |
| 2010 | Busso S.; Rivetti P. (2010) 'Rhetoric on Civil Society. A Cultural Instrument for Counter-power? [in Spanish]' In: Culture and Politics. Towards a culturalist democracy?. Barcelona : Ediciones Fundació CIDOB. | |
| 2015 | Rivetti, P.; Cavatorta, F. (2015) 'Eu foreign policy and the middle east' In: The SAGE Handbook of European Foreign Policy. [Link] [DOI] | |
| 2012 | Rivetti P. (2012) 'Student movements in the Islamic Republic: shaping the country’s politics through the campus' In: Iran: a revolutionary republic in transition. Paris : ISS Europe. [Link] |
Published Report
| Year | Publication | |
|---|---|---|
| 2017 | Ilenya Camozzi, Daniela Cherubini, Carmen Leccardi, Paola Rivetti (2017) Transformations of Cultural Norms and Values Among Youth in Arab Mediterranean Countries Through a Gender Perspective [SAHWA scientific paper]. CIDOB/SAHWA project, . [Link] | |
| 2017 | Ilenya Camozzi, Daniela Cherubini, Carmen Leccardi, Paola Rivetti (2017) Young women and men of Arab Mediterranean background in Italy: Transnational involvement of second generation youth in the Arab uprisings [SAHWA scientific paper]. CIBOS/SAHWA project, . [Link] | |
| 2016 | Daniela Cherubini, Paola Rivetti, Carmen Leccardi (2016) European public policies for gender equality in the Arab Mediterranean region [SAHWA policy paper]. CIDOB/SAHWA project, . [Link] | |
| 2015 | Daniela Cherubini, Carmen Leccardi, Paola Rivetti (2015) Institutions, Laws and Practices Hampering Women Engagement (II) [SAHWA background paper]. CIDOB/SAHWA project, . [Link] | |
| 2015 | Ilenya Camozzi, Daniela Cherubini, Carmen Leccardi, Paola Rivetti, Carles Feixa Pàmpols and Jose Sánchez García (2015) Youth Cultures: Values, Representations and Social Conditions [SAHWA Background Paper]. CIDOB/SAHWA project, . [Link] | |
| 2020 | Erika Biagini and Paola Rivetti (2020) State repression and activist organizing in informal spaces: Comparing feminist movements in Egypt and Iran. APSA-MENA Politics Newsletter, . [Link] |
Editorial
| Year | Publication | |
|---|---|---|
| 2019 | Rivetti, Paola (2019) race, identity and the state after the Irish abortion referendum. ED [DOI] |
Other Publication
| Year | Publication | |
|---|---|---|
| 2022 | Rivetti, Paola (2022) Commissioned Book Review: Asli Vatansever, At the Margins of Academia. Exile, Precariousness, and Subjectivity. [DOI] | |
| 2021 | Rivetti, Paola (2021) Contesting the Iranian Revolution. The Green Uprisings. [DOI] | |
| 2021 | Rivetti, Paola (2021) Capitalism's Sexual History. [DOI] |
Certain data included herein are derived from the ? Web of Science (2024) of Clarivate. All rights reserved.
Professional Associations
Honors and Awards
Committees
Research Interests
The global Middle East; Social and political mobilizations; Migration; Gender and sexuality.
I am currently PI of the projects "Gender and Authoritarian Diffusion in Italy: Iranian authoritarian discourse and Italy’s Far Right" (funded by DCU's Research Initiative Fund, 2023) and "How should we revise our assessment methods in political science considering the impact of open AI (artificial intelligence)?" (funded by the HEA and National Fund for Education of Ireland, 2023). For more information about my projects, see tab "Research".