The International Section of the Dipartimento di Studi sullo Stato of the University of Florence has been an active part, and often a promoter, of a number of multinational research projects in the past twenty-five years. The section is also a participant in several EU Programmes, such as Socrates and Tempus. In 2001 it formally established an inter-university centre which includes a number of Departments from the Universities of Florence, Padua, Pavia, Perugia, Roma Tre, and Urbino. The Machiavelli Centre for Cold War Studies (Centro interuniversitario “Machiavelli” per lo studio dei conflitti strutturali della guerra fredda) is the core of a large network of national and international academic contacts. It is fully linked to a Ph.D. programme in the History of International Relations coordinated by Prof. Massimiliano Guderzo. Recent conferences promoted by the Centre include “From Helsinki to Gorbachev, 1975-1985: The Globalization of the Bipolar Confrontation”, 27-29 April 2006; “Caucasus and Central Asia: The «Near Abroad»”, 6-7 December 2006; “Ripensare l'Europa a cinquanta anni dalla firma dei Trattati di Roma”, 27-28 April 2007.