Carlo Nicoli Aldini

Research Areas

• Legal mobilization
• Lawfare
• Legal culture
• Legal pluralism

Current Research

I am interested in understanding the role of law both as an instrument of domination and as a means of resistance, and how this dynamic unfolds in plural legal systems and across cultural and political contexts. 

My doctoral dissertation, titled "Legal and lethal. Lawfare, legal mobilization, and environmental injustice in Taranto, Italy" explores the role of law in the environmental conflict in Taranto, a city in southern Italy that hosts the largest steel factory in Europe - a facility that has caused a public health crisis for decades. Law has been a pivotal instrument in the evolution of this crisis: institutions have used it to enable the factory’s operations, while large segments of the local population have resorted to it to push for the factory’s closure. My analysis situates the conflict in Taranto within the broader historical process of Italy’s state formation, particularly focusing on the ideological and material consequences of framing southern Italy as a ‘question.' More generally, my research contributes to our understanding of the role of law in environmental conflicts. The project is funded by the Agenda 2030 Graduate School established at the Faculty of Social Science, Lund University.