Giorgio Comai ita eng bhs

Giorgio Comai - Senior researcher and data cruncher

PhD at Dublin City University, MA in East European Studies and degree in Political Science from the University of Bologna. He is an expert on post-Soviet affairs, with research focusing in particular on de facto states and on different approaches for the bulk extraction and analysis of textual contents form the web in this context. He is the author of a text-mining package for the R programming language. He is member of the board of directors of Asiac, Italy’s academic association for the study of Central Asia and the Caucasus. Exchange student at Jagiellonian University in Cracow, Poland, and Russian State University for the Humanities in Moscow, Russia; he has been visiting regularly Russia and other post-Soviet countries since 2000. He speaks fluently Russian and Romanian. 


Articles by Giorgio Comai

“Abchazja” and other untranslated bits of Wojciech Górecki's Caucasus trilogy

26/06/2020 -  Giorgio Comai

Górecki spent a lavish amount of time in the Caucasus, meeting people across the region and hearing their stories. His Caucasus trilogy makes for excellent reading. Yet, not all of it is accessible to the international readership it deserves

Dealing with Russia's brazenness in cyber space

22/04/2020 -  Giorgio Comai

Western governments recently attributed to Russia a massive cyber-attack against Georgia. In this and other situations, the brazenness of the attack was seemingly a goal in itself. But Russia is not the only cyber threat. Structural political incentives for better security practices and international solidarity and assistance are needed

Datajournalism, my wife, and the Romanian presidential elections

13/12/2019 -  Giorgio Comai

Take a man passionate of datajournalism and Eastern Europe and make him drive the wife to a polling station, you'll end up with a very special analysis on the recent Romanian presidential elections. The making of

Romania’s 2019 presidential elections: the diaspora at the ballot box

26/11/2019 -  Giorgio Comai

At the latest Romanian presidential elections, almost one million Romanians voted from abroad, largely by casting their ballots in more than 800 polling stations open from Friday through Sunday. A visual exploration of the data

Political funding and external interference: limits on donations, transparency, and controls

23/10/2019 -  Giorgio Comai

In Italy, the abolition of public funding for politics has made political actors more dependent on private subjects and potentially more vulnerable to interference. It is therefore urgent to adjust the legislative framework and introduce measures that reduce these vulnerabilities and ensure actual transparency. Some reflections and concrete proposals

The Eu and de facto states: adjust expectations, support small steps

13/02/2019 -  Giorgio Comai

Meaningful engagement with de facto states and consistent, patient support for constructive approaches as they emerge from the region are the way to go for the EU and other international actors in the coming months

Ten years after the war in South Ossetia, time to embrace nuance

06/08/2018 -  Giorgio Comai

Ten years after the war between Georgia and Russia in South Ossetia, in a context where grand bargains and comprehensive agreements are difficult to imagine, it is time to embrace a nuanced approach to conflicts in the post-Soviet space. Pragmatic and humane solutions that acknowledge local agency are the way forward

After a new president came to power, what happened to Transnistria’s media?

18/06/2018 -  Giorgio Comai

We have analysed Transnistrian online media 18 months after Vadim Krasnoselski came to power. We found clear evidence of selective removal of “unpleasant” old news items, but no evidence of mass dismissal of journalists

Who else is watching Romanian films?

17/04/2018 -  Giorgio Comai

Romanian New Wave keeps receiving international accolades at film festivals across Europe, yet it attracts relatively little public in its home country. A data-driven analysis

Finding Tito

04/09/2017 -  Giorgio Comai

Recently Zagreb city assembly decided to rename the square named after Josip Broz Tito. But how many streets and squares in the former Yugoslavia are dedicated to the former Yugoslav President?