77967 - INTERNATIONAL POLITICS AND THE USE OF FORCE

Conoscenze e abilità da conseguire

The course aims to provide students with the historical and theoretical knowledge which can help them evaluate the use of force in international politics. At the end of the course students are able to understand the relationship between society and military power, the different ways force has been used in various international systems, the main strategies involving the use of force

Contenuti

The course is organized in lectures and seminars, as detailed in the following program. Lectures (16 hours on line on MS TEAMS) aim to introduce students to the core tenets of the discipline. Seminars (12 hours) aim to provide occasions for in-depth discussions of class materials and exercises. For the seminar section of the course, students will be divided in two groups according to their preferences and according to rules concerning the current pandemic emergency: one group will do the seminar in classroom (12 hours) and another group will do the seminar remotely on MS TEAMS (12 hours), for a total of 28 hours for each student. Students are required to carefully read the assigned material before the session and - in the case of seminars - active participation through presentations of existing scholarship and case studies will also be expected. Regardless of the health-related conditions and the specific organization of the course, students will be able to follow the lessons of the entire course remotely on MS TEAMS.
The first part will consist in 8 2-hours lectures on the theoretical interpretations and historical development of the various ways force has been used in international politics. Lectures will introduce the seminar part.

The second part will consist in 6 seminars (each of which will be organized both online and in class), on the following topics.

Seminar 1, The origins of the use of force: Notes chap. I.
Seminar 2, The rise and fall of the Roman Empire: Notes chap. II, III; Howard chap. 1.
Seminar 3, The use of force in the modern War: Notes chap. IV, V, VI; Howard chap. 2, 3, 4; Paret chapp. 1, 2, 3, 4.
Seminar 4, The First World War: Howard chapp. 5, 6; Pareet chapp. 5, 7, 10, 11, 18.
Seminar 5, The Second World War: Howard chap. 7; Paret chapp. 19, 20, 21, 22, 23.
Seminar 6, The contemporary World: Paret chapp. 25, 27.

Testi/Bibliografia

Students are required to read:

- Class notes.
- Howard, M. (1976/2009) War in European History, Oxford: Oxford University Press, Passim, .
- Paret P., Craig, G. e Gilbert, F. (1986) Makers of Modern Strategy. From Machiavelli to the Nuclear Age, Princeton University Press, Chapp. 1-4.

Both volumes are available as ebooks in kindle format on Amazon at € 7,93 and € 34,28, respectively.

As optional reading and as background for the seminars, students may also read:

- Freedman, L. (2013) Strategy: A Histroy, Oxford University Press (Kindle ed. € 17,92)

- Gray, C. (2007) War, Peace and International Relations: An introduction to strategic history, Routledge (Kindle ed. € 25,72)

Metodi didattici

14 two-hours classes.

Modalità di verifica e valutazione dell'apprendimento

Attending students will be assessed by seminar presentations and in class discussion (1/3 of the grade) and a final take-home exam (2/3 of the grade) to be finished by the end of the course.

Non-attending students can sit a written examination in one of the exam dates (appelli) on the following materials:

- Howard, M. (1976/2009) War in European History, Oxford: Oxford University Press, Passim, .
- Paret P., Craig, G. e Gilbert, F. (1986) Makers of Modern Strategy. From Machiavelli to the Nuclear Age, Princeton University Press, Chapp. 1-5, 7, 10, 11, 18, 19-23, 25, 27.

- Gray, C. (2007) War, Peace and International Relations: An introduction to strategic history, Routledge, Passim.

Strumenti a supporto della didattica

Moodle, MS Teams.

Orario di ricevimento

Consulta il sito web di Filippo Andreatta