88044 - History Of International Relations (A-L)

Learning outcomes

The course in History of International Relations is aimed at understanding the evolution of the international scenario from the Congress of Vienna to the breakdown of USSR. Students will be able to manage historical diplomatic case-studies and analyze new crisis for an autonomous comprehension. History of International Relations is a basic course of international studies and for diplomacy.

Course contents

The course will consist of 50 hours of lectures and will be divided into two phases. The first will examine topics from the Congress of Vienna up to the eve of the Second World War; the second phase will start from the Second World War up to the multilateralism of the 21st Century.

I Introduction to History of International relations

Foreign Policy, War, Diplomacy

Evolution of diplomacy: secret diplomacy, open diplomacy, cultural diplomacy, multilateral diplomacy, public diplomacy, cyber-diplomacy.

Diplomats and consuls, treaties and diplomatic documents

II The Concert of Europe and the German rise to power

The post-Napoleonic World: Eurocentrism and Balance of Power

The Congress of Vienna, Holy Alliance and Quadruple Alliance, the Diplomacy by Conference

The Crimean War

Diplomatic Issues of Italian Unification: the Great Powers' intervention.

Bismarck: from German national unification to continental hegemony: The Three Emperors and the Triple Alliance.

III Imperialism and WWI

From the Bismarckian system to William II's Weltpolitik: break of the alliance with Russia and global challenge to Great Britain

Ascent of United States and Japan, Russo-Japanese War, the Chinese question: Open Door, Ishii-Lansing Agreement

Two opposing blocs: Triple Alliance and Triple Entente

The First World War: The Treaty of London, Sykes-Picot Agreement, Balfour Declaration.

Lenin and Benedict XV

Wilson's Fourteen Points

IV Birth and Failure of Collective Security

Paris Peace Conference: diplomatic clash between Old and New World

Peace treaties and the League of Nations

Russian and German Isolation: Cicerin-Rathenau Agreement

From "Mutilated Victory" to the Treaty of Rapallo.

Reparations and War Debts: Dawes and Young Plans

Treaties of Locarno, German entrance into the League of Nations, Briand-Kellog Pact

The Crisis of 1929, the Manchurian question, Hitler's seizure of power, German remilitarisation.

Mussolini and Hitler: Four-Power-Pact, Conference of Stresa, Anglo-German Gentlemen's Agreement, Ethiopian question, Spanish civil war, Antikomintern Pact, Axis Rome-Berlin

Appeasement

Anschluss and Munich Conference

Pact of Steel

Ribbentrop-Molotov agreement

WWII: German hegemony and Tripartite Pact, Atlantic Charter, United Nations Declaration, Casablanca, Tehran, Moscow, Yalta, Potsdam

V Bipolar Era and Cold War

The UN and multilateralism

Bretton Woods: new economic international order and American supremacy

From the idea of the 'Four Policemen' for a new world order to the struggle of the two superpowers, USA and USSR

The Cold War

People's democracies, Long Telegram, Containment, Marshall Plan, Berlin Blockade, Mao's China, Korean War, NSC 68, NATO

The foundation of Israel and the first Arab-Israeli War

Stalin and the Warsaw Pact

The Conference of Geneva and the spirit of détente

Bandung Conference, decolonisation, non-alignement

Suez crisis, Cold War and the Middle East, Kruscev and the Eisenhower Doctrine

1957: Achieving Strategic Nuclear Balance

Cold War and European Integration

Kennedy and the second Berlin crisis

Cuba and the missile crisis

The Break between USSR and PRC

Vietnam War

Six-Day-War

Nixon, Kissinger, Breznev and Détente: nuclear diplomacy, 1963 agreement, NPT, ABM, SALT, triangular diplomacy

Yom Kippur War and Oil revolution

Ostpolitik and Helsinki final Act

Second Cold War and the decline of the USSR: Carter, Euromissiles, Iranian revolution, Occupation of Afghanistan.

Reagan, INF Agreement

The collapse of the Soviet bloc and the end of the USSR

VI The post-bipolar World

German reunification, European restart

Bush sr., Clinton and Democratic Enlargement, 9/11 and American unilateralism

New China,

Globalization and multilateralism: the new diplomacy

VII Russia and China

From USSR to Russia; the emerging China; Shangai Cooperation Organisation and the new Silk Road

VIII The Arctic

Global warming and geopolitical issues of the Arctic

Readings/Bibliography

All the following books and sources are mandatory for both attending and non-attending students

Handbook

• Luciano Monzali-Federico Imperato-Rosario Milano-Giuseppe Spagnulo, Storia delle Relazioni Internazionali (1492-1918). Dall’ascesa dell’Europa alla Prima Guerra Mondiale, Vol. I, Mondadori Università, Milano, 2022

  pp. 167-247; pp. 275-476

• Luciano Monzali-Federico Imperato-Rosario Milano-Giuseppe Spagnulo, Storia delle Relazioni Internazionali (1919-2021). Tra Stati nazionali, potenze continentali e organizzazioni sovranazionali, Vol. II, Mondadori Università, Milano, 2022

         pp. 3-701

One of the following readings, both attending and non attending students:

- F. Bettanin, Putin e il mondo che verrà. Storia e politica della Russia nel nuovo contesto internazionale, Viella, Roma 2018.

- H.A. Kissinger, Ordine Mondiale, Mondadori, Milano 2017.

- G. Lenzi, Diplomazia: passato, presente e futuro, Rubbettino, Soveria Mannelli 2020.

- R. Milano, L'Italia e l'Iran di Khomeini (1979-1989), Le Monnier, Milano 2020.

- L. Monzali, Il colonialismo nella politica estera italiana 1878-1949. Momenti e protagonisti, Società Editrice Dante Alighieri, Roma 2017.

- B. Pierri, Giganti petroliferi e grandi consumatori: gli Stati Uniti, la Gran Bretagna e la rivoluzione petrolifera (1968-1974), Studium, Roma 2015.

- L. Riccardi, Yalta. I Tre Grandi e la costruzione di un nuovo ordine internazionale, Rubbettino, Soveria Mannelli 20021;

- P. Soave, Una vittoria mutilata? L'Italia e la Conferenza di Pace di Parigi, Rubbettino, Soveria Mannelli 2020.

- P. Soave, Fra Reagan e Gheddafi: la politica estera italiana e l'escalation libico-americana degli anni '80, Rubbettino, Soveria Mannelli 2017.

- G. Spagnulo, Il Risorgimento dell'Asia. India e Pakistan nella politica estera dell'Italia repubblicana (1946-1980), Le Monnier-Mondadori, Firenze-Milano, 2020.

- L. Tondo, L'Aquila e il Sol Levante. La politica degli Stati Uniti verso il Giappone (1920-1932), Congedo, Galatina 2008.

Teaching methods

The course (50 hours) will consist of lectures aimed at introducing students to the discipline, its conceptual categories and major historical themes as the basis for historical reasoning applied to the national aspect of foreign and international policies. The focus will be on diplomacy, its articulation and evolution as the prevailing practice of international relations.

Assessment methods

Students who attend classes regularly will take two written intermediate tests, the dates of which will be announced at the beginning of the course. The tests will be based on open-ended questions aimed at soliciting the student's historical reasoning skills.

The evaluation of the tests will be expressed in thirtieths. In the event of a failing grade mark or absence (always to be justified) from a test, this will be made up at the final oral examination. Students may reject a test grade, but are strongly advised to consider doing so at the end of the written tests. Even in this case, the test will be made up orally in the final examination.

For students who have passed both tests and do not wish to reject any marks, the final examination will consist of a few questions aimed at testing general historical reasoning skills, without the repetition of questions on specific course content already examined in the previous tests. Other questions will focus on the general themes of the chosen monograph.

The final grade will be determined by the arithmetic mean of the two intermediate tests and the grade of the final oral examination.

Non-attending students will take the examination in a single oral interview on the entire programme, including the chosen monograph.

Students may reject the final grade once only.

Teaching tools

I will present in class and make available on Virtual.unibo.it [https://virtuale.unibo.it/] additional supporting materials to facilitate the study and understanding of the programme topics.

Office hours

See the website of Giuseppe Spagnulo