93540 - Current Affairs Laboratory (LM)

Learning outcomes

The lab aims  to offer the student tools to analyze national and international politics through the analysis of individual cases. At the end of the course the student: - masters the analysis of a case study; - can analyze cases of international politics; - can apply knowledge in content production; - is able to investigate the news.

Course contents

The Current affairs workshop will consist of a series of lectures on current affairs or on topics of international politics  and international history that always have a link to the present time. The aim is to train students to deal with and write about complex national and international topics through the identification of issues, the use of scientific literature and sources.


Each meeting includes one hour of lecture, one hour of discussion with the lecturer and one hour of content work with the workshop teacher During this time, the topics to be developed at home will be discussed, as well as the criteria for planning and layout of what will be the course journal produced with student texts.

The final schedule will be made public at the beginning of the second semester. To get an idea of the topics, students are suggested to consult the 2022/23 programme for now.

Experts in editorial and editorial work are expected to participate in the workshop part.

Teaching methods

Each meeting will be characterised by a one-hour lecture by the invited lecturer or course holder followed by a one-hour discussion with the lecturer and a final hour of workshop activity. The practical part of the workshop will consist of discussion on the organisation of the course journal and the writing of articles on current affairs.

Some topics that will be covered in the course will be the changing international geopolitical balance, the crisis of democracy, the Russian-Ukrainian war, neo-nationalism and populism. An expert in the field of journalism will also be invited. For organisational reasons, the list of lectures will be made available at the beginning of the second semester.

Assessment methods

Students will have to write a summary of the contents of each lecture. Every 15 days participants will be assigned to write a 5000-word text on one of the topics covered that will be included in the course magazine.

At the end of the workshop, students will edit the course magazine, taking care of its layout and form, and write a final in-depth article of 8000 characters on a topic assigned by the lecturer.

The course topics and the final paper will be discussed in the final oral examination.

Please note: students who, for justified reasons, are unable to participate on a continuous basis in the workshop and/or editorial composition may alternatively request to write a 30,000-word paper on a topic assigned by the lecturer

Teaching tools

beamer and other audio-visual tools

Links to further information

https://www.unibo.it/sitoweb/stefano.cavazza/

Office hours

See the website of Stefano Cavazza