Pandemos

The Strategies and Politics of the American War of Independence

Jeremy Black — 2025-02-07

Political-military strategies in the American War of Independence evolved interactively in response to a combination of diverse multifaceted factors, cultural, ideological and psychological, no less than material, tactical or geographical. On the Patriot side, fragmented and militia-oriented as it was, the ending of any hope to bring Canada into the revolutionary front, or the growth of confidence in guerrilla warfare and international support, or the persistence of a widespread fear that Britain might strike back easily, were to prove as much important as the dissemination of a new notion of nationhood and the creation of a Continental Army. On the British side, passivity in Europe and leniency towards the rebels stood as the main tenets of a “satisfied” power which longed for a restoration in America that would be of limited value, if concessions had to be made to ensure international neutrality, and should a substantial garrison be raised and left to hold an irreparably disaffected population down.

The Use of Generative Artificial Intelligence (AIg) in Inclusive Learning: an Exploratory Investigation

Filippo Dettori — 2025-06-20

The contribution intends to illustrate the research carried out within the Learning Technologies laboratories of the training courses for the specialisation of support teachers for pupils with disabilities or Special Educational Needs (BES). The research is part of a first action of a Research Project of National Interest (PRIN) on the characteristics of the inclusive teacher, and involving the Universities of Sassari, Parma and Verona, sought to investigate the impact that IAg can have in the educational process. The methodology used is the administration of a questionnaire to a sample of 263 teachers in training to sound out their opinions on the effectiveness of using IAg as a support for students with disabilities and BES on the inclusive processes implemented in their favour. The results of this survey highlight the strengths and weaknesses of AIg in the teaching and learning process of children who have the most difficulties in school

Empire Considered

Jeremy Black — 2025-07-24

This article reassesses the British Empire, highlighting its cultural, linguistic, and political impact, and its role in shaping modern globalization. It explores both formal and informal imperial influence, appraise the transition of global power to the U.S., and challenges simplified or one-sided critiques of empire. Emphasizing cooperation alongside coercion, it argues that empire was complex, multifaceted, and not uniquely Western. Post-colonial instability and authoritarianism are examined as legacies, urging a more contextual understanding of imperialism and its place in global history.

Cultural and Historical Heritage in the Age of the Electronic Challenge

Chiara Grassi — 2025-06-23

Since the middle of the last century in the elaboration of theoretical models of mental processes, questions have been asked about the potential and limits of artificial intelligence, about the hybridisation of human beings with machines. This contribution intends to focus in particular on what will be the future of the museum, in the face of the impact of artificial intelligence, in its didactic and educational function, its role as a mediator, which has changed and matured over the years, to foster the transmission of cultural heritage resources present in the territory.

Present Discontents

Jeremy Black — 2025-07-29

This essay critiques the modern re-evaluation of the British Empire, arguing that contemporary debates – driven by identity politics, decolonisation rhetoric, and critical race theory – often reduce complex histories to simplistic moral judgments. It highlights how events like protests in Australia and exhibitions in Britain reflect broader cultural battles over imperial legacy. It calls for a more balanced, evidence-based approach to imperial history that acknowledges context, diversity of motives, and indigenous agency, warning against politicised narratives that distort the past to serve present-day agendas.

William Gibson’s Publications and their Context

Jeremy Black — 2025-03-31

This essay celebrates William Gibson’s rich and diverse work as an important contribution to a better understanding of the British past, in several fields which have come under close scrutiny by Anglophone historians for the last thirty or forty years.

The Parliamentary Committees and the Process of Democratic Consolidation. An Introduction

Francesco Soddu — 2025-07-16

Introduction to a selection of the proceedings of the conference held in Sassari on 13 May 2025, as part of the activities of the PRIN 2022 research project entitled «The Italian Parliament in Action. Players, Issues and Praxis. 1968-1994».

The Standing Committees in the Italian Parliament: Composition and Working

Francesco Soddu — 2025-07-16

This paper reflects on the characteristics of the Standing Committees in the two Chambers of the Italian Parliament (the Chamber of Deputies and the Senate), in the period from 1968 to 1994. It explores some elements related to their composition and functioning, in the conviction that the analysis of the dynamics of the daily functioning of the representative institution is an indispensable element for investigating the role it played at a moment of transition in Italian history (as that quarter of a century was).

The Great Relevance of Small Parliaments

Chiara De Micheli — 2025-07-16

This paper investigates the role played by parliamentary committees in the process of democratic consolidation and institutionalization of Parliament during the First Republic, with special reference to the years between 1968 and 1994. It is a stage in a research project pursuing a deeper understanding of the parliamentary dynamics at a crucial moment after their first inception, when the parliamentary regime underwent gradual stabilisation, which was, however, marked by recurring political crises.

The Centrality of Parliamentary Committees in the Experience of an Opposition MP

Giorgio Macciotta — 2025-07-23

This contribution retraces the experience of a protagonist of Italian political life and of the republican institutions in the last quarter of the twentieth century.