The Ethical Regulation of Social Research from a Global Perspective: An Analysis of the Italian Situation

In this paper, I make a first attempt to conduct comparative analysis of the forms and consequences of the spread of the culture of ethical regulation beyond the borders of the English-speaking countries. In particular, I compare Mark Israel's pioneering analysis on South Africa and Brazil with certain empirical observations on the situation in my own country, Italy. As theoretical tool for the comparison, I employ the category of isomorphism preferred to that of imperialism. From the comparison it emerges that the situation in Italy is to some extent different from that portrayed by Israel with regard to Brazil and South Africa and that this is due in all likelihood a) to the solidity and strength of the Italian domestic scientific community, b) to the reduced importance of funding from countries or international bodies dominated by a regulatory culture and above all, c) to the fact that the central Italian State has not yet decided to move decisively in the direction of the rigorous ethical and bureaucratic regulation of research.