Dr Giuseppe Grieco

Overview

Giuseppe is a historian of international thought. His work focusses on empires, international law, and the Mediterranean in the nineteenth century. At City, he teaches history of empires, intellectual history, and history of international law. He also co-directs the Modern History Research Cluster and convenes the annual History and International Affairs Workshop.

His research contributes to the rewriting of current histories of international law from the viewpoint of small and semi-peripheral polities, between Europe and the colonial world. His current book project - based on his PhD dissertation - offers a global intellectual history of the interaction between empires and the Two Sicilies in the central Mediterranean in the age of revolutions (1800-1860).  By taking as its starting point the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies, the book brings to light types of imperial rule beyond colonialism at the margins of Europe and until now neglected Southern cosmopolitan visions of world order and anti-imperial theories of international law.

Giuseppe's PhD dissertation was awarded the 26th Premio Spadolini (ex-aequo) for the best PhD thesis in modern and contemporary Italian history (2023, prize awarded by the Fondazione Spadolini, Florence). 

Giuseppe's research also focuses on Enlightenment political thought and its legacy. He recently co-edited with Vincenzo Ferrone and Valentina Altopiedi, The Legacy of the Enlightenment: Rights, Constitution, Equality (Florence: Leo S. Olschki, 2025). The volume is the result of a project on human rights and the Enlightenment funded by the Turin Humanities Program (Fondazione 1563, Turin).

Giuseppe is also interested in the history of international order and in how best to apply historically-grounded knowledge in policy-making and international affairs. Beyond academia, he has extensive experience of collaboration with think tanks. He was Young Adviser at Chatham House, The Royal Institute for International Affairs (2020-2023) and collaborates with the Queen Elizabeth Academy. In 2020-22 he was Associate at Counterpoint UK and contributed to the project The Green Wedge. Climate Views in Context, providing cultural analysis of climate policies across Europe. Since 2024, he is Junior Fellow at the Aspen Institute Italia.

Qualifications

• PhD in History, Queen Mary University of London, United Kingdom, October 2017 - May 2022
• Postgraduate Degree in Modern History, Scuola Normale Superiore di Pisa, Italy, October 2012 - July 2017
• MA in Modern History, University of Pisa, Italy, September 2015 - July 2017
• BA in History, University of Pisa, Italy, October 2012 - July 2015

Employment

• Lecturer in Modern History, City, University of London, United Kingdom, September 2024 - present
• Lecturer in Modern History (fixed-term contract), City, University of London, United Kingdom, January 2023 - September 2024
• Visiting Lecturer, City, University of London, United Kingdom, October - December 2022
• Research Associate, Fondazione 1563, Italy, November 2021 - present
• Fellow, Luigi Einaudi Foundation, Italy, October 2021 - January 2023

Languages

English (can read, write, speak, understand spoken, peer review), French (can read), Italian (can read, write, speak, understand spoken, peer review) and Spanish; Castilian (can read)

Expertise

Geographic Areas

• Europe - Southern
• Europe - Western

Publications by category