77092 - United Stated International Relations

Learning outcomes

The course will study the history of US international relations, looking at the national and international institutions and the economic, cultural and political understandings that have shaped US foreign policy. At the end of the course students will be expected to know the key events and issues of US international relations and their impact on the XX and XXI century international system, and the interaction between domestic politics and foreign policy.

Course contents

Starting from the current debate about the “end of the American century” (the “decline of the American empire”, the “hegemonic crisis” of the United States in the liberal international order, and the hypothetical ascendancy of a “post-American world”), the course will study key issues in US international relations (from the 1898 Spanish-American war up to the First and Second World War, from the Conference of Bretton Woods up to the Washington Consensus, from the end of the Cold War up to the 9/11) paying attention to some of the fundamental concepts that have shaped the US foreign policy (exceptionalism, isolationism, internationalism, modernization, globalization, unilateralism), and the origins, crises and transformations of the XX and XXI century international system. The course consists of traditional lectures and seminar discussions on primary sources (essays, speeches, documents) of the academic and political debate that marked the twentieth century construction of the American century, with particular reference to the ideological and economic matrixes shaping the international relations of the United States.

Readings/Bibliography

PROGRAM FOR ATTENDING STUDENTS

- Mario Del Pero, Libertà e Impero. Gli Stati Uniti e il Mondo, 1776-2016, Roma-Bari, Laterza, 2017.

One between:

- Frank Ninkovich, The Wilsonian Century. U.S. Foreign Policy since 1900, Chicago, Chicago University Press, 1999.

- Michael Latham, The Right Kind of Revolution: Modernization, Development, and U.S. Foreign Policy from the Cold War to the Present, Ithaca, Cornell University Press, 2011.

Attending students that will not give a presentations in class will also study the following essays published in Andrew J. Bacevich (ed.), The Short American Century. A Postmortem, Cambridge (Mass.), Harvard University Press, 2012:

- Andrew J. Bacevich, “Life” at the Dawn of the American Century, pp. 1-14

- Emily S. Rosenberg, Consuming the American Century, pp. 38-58

- Eugene McCarraher, The Heavenly City of Business, pp. 187-230

- Andrew J. Bacevich, Not So Different After All, pp. 231-240

For students who have never attended United States History: Arnaldo Testi, Il secolo degli Stati Uniti, Bologna, Il Mulino, 2014

NON-ATTENDING STUDENTS SCHEDULE:

- Mario Del Pero, Libertà e Impero. Gli Stati Uniti e il Mondo, 1776-2016, Roma-Bari, Laterza, 2017.

- Andrew J. Bacevich, The Short American Century. A Postmortem, Cambridge (Mass.), Harvard University Press, 2012.

And two between:

- Mario Del Pero, Henry Kissinger e l'ascesa dei neoconservatori: alle origini della politica estera americana, Roma-Bari, Laterza, 2006.

- Mario Del Pero, Era Obama. Dalla speranza del cambiamento all'elezione di Trump, Milano, Feltrinelli, 2017.

- Michael Latham, The Right Kind of Revolution: Modernization, Development, and U.S. Foreign Policy from the Cold War to the Present, Ithaca, Cornell University Press, 2011.

- Frank Ninkovich, The Wilsonian Century: U.S. Foreign Policy since 1900, Chicago, University of Chicago Press, 1999.

- Federico Romero, Storia della guerra fredda: l'ultimo conflitto per l'Europa, Torino, Einaudi, 2009.

- Anders Stephanson, Destino Manifesto. L'espansionismo americano e l'Impero del Bene, Milano, Feltrinelli, 2004.

- Umberto Tulli, Tra diritti umani e distensione. L'amministrazione Carter e il dissenso in Urss, Milano, FrancoAngeli, 2013.

For students who have never attended United States History: Arnaldo Testi, Il secolo degli Stati Uniti, Bologna, Il Mulino, 2017

Teaching methods

Traditional lectures and seminar discussions

Assessment methods

The grade will be based upon class participation and final oral test.

Teaching tools

Primary Sources (essays, speeches, documents).

Office hours

See the website of Matteo Battistini