07223 - Strategic Studies

Learning outcomes

The course aims to provide students with theoretical elements which can help to understand modern and contemporary wars. At the end of the course students are expected to gain an in-depth understanding of great powers' main strategic views. Furthermore, students will be able to analyze EU and US defence and security policies, with particular regard to the post-Cold War era.

Course contents

The course will analyze the evolution of strategy from antiquity to today. Several views on war will be discussed and a special attention will be given to its transformation through history (from the modern age to the cold war) and to the main strategic war-related theories, with particular reference to that of Clausewitz. Classes will then focus on contemporary international issues, starting from the debate on the nature of international system after 1989, new threats (such as civil wars, international terrorism, failed states and nuclear proliferation) and strategic implications for great powers and  for the international community.

Readings/Bibliography

M. Howard: War in European History (2nd ed.), Oxford, Oxford University Press, 2001, trad. it. La guerra e le armi nella storia d'Europa, Bari, Laterza, 1978.
P. Paret (ed.): Makers of Modern Strategy. From Machiavelli to the Nuclear Age (2nd ed.), Princeton, Princeton University Press, 1992.
Notes on http://campus.unibo.it/117566/

Teaching methods

20 two hour lectures.

Assessment methods

Written examination.

Teaching tools

Power point.

Office hours

See the website of Filippo Andreatta