Benedetta Cotta holds a Ph.D. in Political and Social Sciences from the European University Institute in Florence (Italy). She worked as a research fellow at the Sant’Anna School of Advanced Studies in Pisa (2023) and at Cà Foscari University of Venice in the Department of Philosophy and Cultural Heritage (2021-2022). Previously, she worked as a Post Doctoral Research Fellow in the GOVERNECT project at Leuphana University Lüneburg (Germany) from July 2017 until the end of December 2020.
She has published articles on the implementation of EU environmental policies in the member states with a specific focus on waste management, on environmental attitudes of citizens and leaders and global environmental governance. Her current research focuses on “just transition” and the emergence of eco-social policies at European, national and local levels of governance. She is a Board Member of the Sustainable Welfare and Eco-Social Policy Network and a Board Member of the Observatory on Sustainability, Equality and Social Justice (OSES) at the University of Padova.
She is part of the Research Group on Governance and Sustainability at Leuphana University and continues to actively collaborate with its members.
Publications:
2026
Cotta, B. (2026) Environmental Policy Implementation Amid Shifting Democratic Trajectories. A Comparative Analysis of Hungary and Poland. Edward Elgar Publishing, ISBN: 978 1 0353 9375 6.
Zito, A. & Cotta, B. (2026) ‘The challenges of European Union environmental policy implementation’. In: Zito, A. and Domorenok, E. (eds.) De Gruyter Handbook on European Union Environmental Policy. Berlin: Walter de Gruyter GmbH.
Cotta, B., & Righettini, M. S. (2026). Governing Cybersecurity in the Digital Age: Mapping Comprehensive Policy Mixes With the Nodality‐Authority‐Treasure‐Organization Lens. Review of Policy Research, 43(4), e70113.
2025
Cotta, B., Domorenok, E., Graziano, P., & Panov, T. (2025). Varieties of Ecosocial Policies in the EU: The Case of the National Recovery and Resilience Plans. Regulation & Governance. https://doi.org/10.1111/rego.70057
Cotta, B. (2025). The eco-social aspects of the European Green Deal and the Farm to Fork. Global Social Policy, 25(1), 112-130.
Roux, N., Coenen, J., Fleischmann, B., Cotta, B., Dorninger, C., Erb, K. H., Haberl, H., Kaufmann, L., Mayer, A., & Newig, J. (2025). Integrating sufficiency in the trade and biodiversity agenda of the European Union. One Earth, 8(7), 101347.
Jager, N. W., & Cotta, B. (2025). Public participation in eco-social policies: exploring mechanisms for bridging the gap. In The Eco-Social Polity? (pp. 138-152). Policy Press [free open access content].
Otto, A., Gugushvili, D., Zimmermann, K., Gengnagel, V., & Cotta, B. (2025). Public support for eco-social policies: insights from focus group studies in Germany and Italy. In The Eco-Social Polity? (pp. 123-137). Policy Press.
2024
Cotta, B. (2024) Unpacking the eco-social perspective in European policy, politics, and polity dimensions. European Political Science, 23(1), 1-13.
Cotta, B. & Domorenok, E. (2024) Conclusion: bringing together the eco-social debate and established political science perspectives: synergies and new research pathways. European Political Science, 23(1), 80-85.
Buzogány, A., & Cotta, B. (2024). Post-accession backsliding and European Union environmental policies. In Global Environmental Politics and International Organizations (pp. 83-101). Routledge.
2023
Cotta, B., Bressanelli, E., Galligani, I., & Natali, D. (2023). The politics of the European Green and Fair Transition: Italian parties’ voting behaviour in the European Parliament. Italian Political Science, 18(3), 194-210.
2022
Cotta, B., Coenen, J., Challies, E., Newig, J., Lenschow, A., & Schilling-Vacaflor, A. (2022). Environmental governance in globally telecoupled systems: Mapping the terrain towards an integrated research agenda. Earth System Governance, 13, 100142 [free open access content].
Cotta, B., & Domorenok, E. (2022) Catching up with the European Union’s recovery and resilience agenda: green transition reforms in the Italian National Recovery and Resilience Plan. Contemporary Italian Politics, 14:4, 424-440, DOI: 10.1080/23248823.2022.2126925
2021
Schilling-Vacaflor, A., Lenschow, A., Challies, E., Cotta, B., & Newig, J. (2021). Contextualizing certification and auditing: Soy certification and access of local communities to land and water in Brazil. World Development, 140, 105281.
Buzogany, A., & Cotta, B. (2021). Post-accession backsliding and European Union environmental policies. Post-Communist Economies 34(5):647-665, DOI: 10.1080/14631377.2021.1965361.
2020
Cotta, B. (2020) What goes around, comes around? Access and allocation problems in Global North-South waste trade. International Environmental Agreements: Politics, Law and Economics, 20(2), 255–269 [free open access content].
Cotta, B. & Memoli, V. (2020). Do environmental preferences in wealthy nations persist in times of crisis? The European environmental attitudes (2008-2017). Italian Political Science Review/Rivista Italiana di Scienza Politica, 50(1), 1-16.
Newig, J., Challies, E., Cotta, B., Lenschow, A., & Schilling-Vacaflor, A. (2020). Governing global telecoupling toward environmental sustainability. Ecology and Society, 25(4), 21 [free open access content].
Rimmert, M., Baudoin, L., Cotta, B., Kochskämper, E., & Newig, J. (2020). Participation in River Basin Planning Under the Water Framework Directive – Has it Benefitted Good Water Status? Water Alternatives, 13(3), 484-512 [free open access content].
2019
Newig, J., Lenschow, A., Challies, E., Cotta, B., & Schilling-Vacaflor, A. (2019). What is governance in global telecoupling? Ecology and Society, 24(3), 26 [Free Open Access Content].
2018
Cotta, B. (2018) Wasted money, wasted time? Analysing the sustainability of EU assistance in Hungary and Poland in the waste management sector. emecon Employment and economy in Central and Eastern Europe, 7(1), 1-18.
2016
Ceccobelli, D., & Cotta, B. (2016). Leaders’ ‘green’ posts. The environmental issues shared by politicians on Facebook. European Policy Analysis, 2(2), 68-93.
Cotta, B. (2016). Communities in Transition: Protected Nature and Local People in Eastern and Central Europe. Europe-Asia Studies, 68(2), 351-352.
2015
Cotta, B. (2015). Wasted compliance strategies? The policy-making styles of Hungary and Poland in the implementation of European environmental directives. LPF Working Papers Series, 3, 1-44.
2010
Cotta, B. (2010). La questione dei rifiuti in Europa ed in Italia: un’analisi della direttiva RAEE. Cittalia Fondazione ANCI Ricerche, p. 1-33.
