93482 - THUCYDIDES, IMPERIALISM AND HEGEMONIC WAR

Conoscenze e abilità da conseguire

The course moves from the assumption that Thucydides' Histories can be seen not only as a masterpiece of ancient historiography and classical political philosophy but also as a grand theory of international politics based upon a number of ideal-type characterizations of states and their interactions. At the end of the course students will be able to identify a set of central notions and ideas and organize them in a comprehensive conceptual system.

Contenuti

Il corso adotta una modalità di organizzazione della didattica secondo il modello del seminario strutturato, organizzato in 13 incontri da tre ore, una volta alla settimana (l'ultima settimana l'incontro sarà di quattro ore). La partecipazione al corso richiede che gli studenti si presentino a lezione avendo già letto il materiale assegnato.  

Testi/Bibliografia

Students should buy their own copy of the Histories (translation by R. Warner, Penguin edition) and bring it always to class. D. Cartwright’s A Historical Commentary on Thucydides, Ann Arbor, University of Michigan Press, 1997, is a handy companion to Warner’s translation. D. Kagan, The Peloponnesian War, New York, Viking, 2003, is a basic textbook, the one-volume version of the author's earlier tetralogy recommended below.

1. Setting the Stage

Required:

- G. Kateb, «Thucydides' History: A Manual of Statecraft», Political Science Quarterly, 79, 1964, pp. 481-503;

- R. Aron, «Thucydides and the Historical Narrative» (1960), in Aron, Politics and History, New York, The Free Press, 1978, pp. 20-46;

- M. Finley, «Introduction» to the Penguin edition of the Histories, pp. 9-34.

Recommended:

- J.H. Finley, Thucydides, Cambridge, Harvard University Press, 1942, pp. 289-325;

- W. Jaeger, Paideia. The Ideals of Greek Culture 2^nd ed., Oxford, Oxford University Press, 1965:

- V.J. Hunter, Thucydides. The Artful Reporter, Toronto, Akkert, 1973, pp. 177-184.

- T. Rood, Thucydides. Narrative and Explanation, Oxford, Clarendon Press, 1998, pp. 3-23.

- J. de Romilly, The Rise and Fall of States according to Greek Authors, Ann Arbor, The University of Michigan Press, 1977.

 

2. The Origins and the Outbreak of the War

Required:

- Thucydides, Book I

Recommended:

- M.I. Finley, «The Fifth-Century Athenian Empire: A Balance Sheet», in P.D.A. Garnsey and C.R. Whittaker (eds.), Imperialism in Ancient World, Cambridge, 1978, pp. 103-126;

- G.E.M. de Ste. Croix, The Origins of the Peloponnesian War, Ithaca, 1989, pp. 50-63;

- D. Kagan, The Outbreak of the Peloponnesian War, Ithaca, Cornell University Press, 1989;

- W.R. Connor, Thucydides, Princeton, Princeton University Press, 1984, pp. 20-51.

 

3. Pericles' Policies

Required:

- Thucydides, Book II

Recommended:

- D. Kagan, The Archidamian War, Ithaca, Cornell University Press, 1990, pp. 17-146;

- W.R. Connor, Thucydides, Princeton, Princeton University Press, 1984, pp. 52-78;

- B. de Wet, «The So-Called Defensive Policy of Pericles», Acta Classica, 12, 1969, pp. 103-119;

- J. Ober, «Thucydides, Pericles, and the Strategy of Defense», in J. Eadie and J. Ober (eds.), The Craft of the Ancient Historian, Lanham, University Press of America, 1985, pp. 171-188.

 

4. Lesbos' Defection and Civil War in Corcyra

Required:

- Thucydides, Book III

Recommended:

- A.W. Gomme, «International Politics and Civil War», in More Essays in Greek History and Literature, Oxford, Blackwell, 1962, pp. 156-176;

- D. Kagan, The Archidamian War, Ithaca, Cornell University Press, 1974, pp. 147-362;

- W.R. Connor, Thucydides, Princeton, Princeton University Press, 1984, pp. 79-108;

- J.J. Price, Thucydides and Internal War, Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, 2001, pp. 6-78.

 

5. Pylos; Brasidas in Thrace

Required:

- Thucydides, Book IV

Recommended:

- D. Kagan, The Peace of Nicias and the Sicilian Expedition, Ithaca, Cornell University Press, 1981, pp. 17-156;

- W.R. Connor, Thucydides, Princeton, Princeton University Press, 1984, pp. 109-140;

- T. Kelly, «Argive Foreign Policy in the Fifth Century B.C.», Classical Philology, 69, 1974, pp. 81-99;

- H. Westlake, «Corynth and the Argive Coalition», American Journal of Philology, 61, 1940, pp. 413-421.

 

6. The Peace of Nicias

Required:

- Thucydides, Book V

Recommended:

- D. Kagan, The Peace of Nicias and the Sicilian Expedition, Ithaca, Cornell University Press, 1981, pp. 19-155;

- W.R. Connor, Thucydides, Princeton, Princeton University Press, 1984, pp. 141-184;

- H.R. Rawlings, The Structure of Thucydides' History, Princeton, Princeton University Press, 1981, pp. 58-125;

- R. Legon, «The Peace of Nicias», Journal of Peace Research, 4, 1969.

 

7. The Launching of the Sicilian Expedition

Required:

- Thucydides, Books VI

Recommended:

- D. Kagan, The Peace of Nicias and the Sicilian Expedition, Ithaca, Cornell University Press, 1981, pp. 157-372;

- S. Forde, The Ambition to Rule. Alcibiades and the Politics of Imperialism in Thucydides, Ithaca, Cornell University Press, 1989, pp. 12-115;

- J. Riley, «Freedom and Empire: The Politics of Athenian Imperialism», in L.S. Gustafson (ed.), Thucydides' Theory of International Relations, Baton Rouge, Louisiana State University Press, 2000, pp. 117-150.

 

8. The Athenian Defeat in Sicily

Required:

- Thucydides, Books VII

Recommended:

- D. Kagan, The Fall of the Athenian Empire, Ithaca, Cornell University Press, 1987, pp. 1-210;

- W.R. Connor, Thucydides, Princeton, Princeton University Press, 1984, pp. 185-230;

- S. Forde, The Ambition to Rule. Alcibiades and the Politics of Imperialism in Thucydides, Ithaca, Cornell University Press, 1989, pp. 116-175.

 

9. War in Ionia and the Oligarchic Coup in Athens

Required:

- Thucydides, Books VIII

Recommended:

- G. de St. Croix, «The Constitution of the Five Thousand», Historia, 5, 1956, pp. 1-23.

- A. Gomme, «The Working of the Athenian Democracy», Historia, 36, 1951, pp. 12-28;

- M. Goldstein, «Athenian-Persian Peace Treaties: Thuc. 8.56.4 and 8.58.2», California Studies in Classical Antiquity, 7, 1974, pp. 155-164.

- A. Andrewes, «Thucydides and the Persians», Historia, 10, 1961, pp. 1-18.

 

10. Justice and Expediency

Required:

- G.A. Woodhead, Thucydides on the Nature of Power, Cambridge, Harvard University Press, 1970, pp. 3-28;

- D. Cohen, «Justice, Interest and Political Deliberation in Thucydides», Quaderni urbinati di cultura classica, 16, 1984, pp. 35-60;

- J. de Romilly, Thucydides and Athenian Imperialism, Oxford, Blackwell, 1963, part I, chapt. II («The Athenian Ambition»);

- R. Meiggs, The Athenian Empire, Oxford, Clarendon Press, 1972 pp. 375-396.

Recommended:

- S. Forde, «Power and Morality in Thucydides», in L.S. Gustafson (ed.), Thucydides' Theory of International Relations, Baton Rouge, Louisiana State University Press, 2001, pp. 151-173;

- M. Finley, «Thucydides the Moralist», in Aspects of Antiquity, London, Chatto & Windus, 1968, pp. 44-57;

- M. Cogan, The Human Thing. The Speeches and Principles of Thucydides' History, Chicago, The University of Chicago Press, 1981;

- C. Orwin, The Humanity of Thucydides, Princeton, Princeton University Press, 1994;

- L.M. Johnson, Thucydides, Hobbes and the Interpretations of Realism, De Kalb, Northern Illinois University Press, 1993, pp. 72-147.

 

11. The Law of the Stronger

Required:

- J. de Romilly, Thucydides and Athenian Imperialism, Oxford, Blackwell, 1963, part III, chapt. III («The System of Athenian Imperialism»);

- M. Ostwald, Anánke in Thucydides, «American Classical Studies» n. 18, Atlanta, American Philological Association, 1988, pp. 1-19;

- D. Kagan, The Outbreak of the Peloponnesian War, Ithaca, Cornell University Press, 1969, pp. 345-374.

Recommended:

- W.K.C. Guthrie, The Sophists, (Part 1 of Guthrie’s History of Greek Philosophy, Vol III, “The Fifth-Century Enlightenment”) Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, 1971, pp. 55-134.

- C. Brown, «Thucydides, Hobbes, and the Derivation of Anarchy», History of Political Thought, 8, 1, 1987, pp. 33-62;

- P.R. Pouncey, The Necessities of War. A Study of Thucydides' Pessimism, New York, Columbia University Press, 1980, pp. 139-186;

- L.M. Johnson, Thucydides, Hobbes and the Interpretations of Realism, De Kalb, Northern Illinois University Press, 1993, pp. 3-71;

- W.O. Chittick and A. Freyberg-Inan, «'Chiefly for Fear, Next for Honour, and Lastly for Profit': An Analysis of Foreign Policy Motivation in the Peloponnesian War», Review of International Studies, 27, 1, 2001, pp. 69-90.

 

12. War, Alliances and Domestic Politics

Required:

- R. Aron, Peace and War. A Theory of International Relations (1962), Garden City, Doubleday, 1966, chapt. 5;

- P.J. Fliess, Thucydides and the Politics of Bipolarity, Baton Rouge, Louisiana State University Press, 1966, pp. 13-27; 53-120; 138-159;

- L.M. Johnson Bagby, «The Use and Abuse of Thucydides in International Relations», International Organization, 48, 1994, pp. 131-153;

- M. Pope, «Thucydides and Democracy», Historia, 37, 1988, pp. 276-296.

Recommended

- B.S. Strauss, «Of Balances, Bandwagons, and Ancient Greeks», in R.N. Lebow and B.S. Strauss, (eds.), Hegemonic Rivalry. From Thucydides to the Nuclear Age, Boulder, Westview, 1991, pp. 189-210.

- C. Bruell, «Thucydides’ View of Athenian Imperialism», American Political Science Review, 68, 1, 1974, pp. 11-17;

- C. Starr, Political Intelligence in Classical Greece, Leiden, Brill, 1974.

- L.A. Losada, «Megara and Athens: Thucydides and the Motivation for Treason», Classica et Mediaevalia, 30, 1969, pp. 145-157;

- W.D. Garst, «Thucydides and the Domestic Sources of International Politics», in L.S. Gustafson (ed.), Thucydides' Theory of International Relations, Baton Rouge, Louisiana State University Press, 2001, pp. 67-97;

- R.D. Luginbill, Thucydides on War and National Character, Boulder, Westview, 1999, pp. 82-172.

 

13. Thucydides and International Relations Theory

Required:

- H.J. Morgenthau, Politics among Nations. The Struggle for Power and Peace, New York, Knopf, 1948 and ff. editions, chapt. 1;

- K. Waltz, Man, the State and War, New York, 2001, pp. 159-223;

- M.W. Doyle, Ways of War and Peace, New York, Norton, 1997, pp. 41-92;

- R. Gilpin, «The Theory of Hegemonic War», Journal of Interdisciplinary History, 18, 1988, pp. 591-613;

- D.A. Welch, «Why International Relations Theorists Should Stop Reading Thucydides», Review of International Studies, 29, 3, 2003, pp. 301-319;

- J. Monten, «Thucydides and Modern Realism», International Studies Quarterly, L, 1, 2006, pp. 3-25.

Recommended:

- D. Boucher, Political Theories of International Relations : From Thucydides to the Present, Oxford, Oxford University Press, 1998, pp. 67-89;

- S. Forde, «Thucydides on the Causes of Athenian Imperialism», American Political Science Review, 80, 2, 1986, pp. 433-448.

- R.L. Lebow, «Thucydides the Constructivist», American Political Science Review, 95, 3, 2001, pp. 547-560;

- P. Rahe, «Thucydides’ Critique of Reapolitik», in B. Frankel (ed.), Roots of Realism. Historical and Philosophical Dimensions, London, Cass, 1996, pp. 105-141;

- D. Bedford and T. Workman, «The Tragic Reading of the Thucydidean Tragedy», Review of International Studies, 27, 1, 2001, pp. 51-67;

- L. Gustafson, «Thucydides and Pluralism», in L.S. Gustafson (ed.), Thucydides' Theory of International Relations, Baton Rouge, Louisiana State University Press, 2000, pp. 174-194;

- G. Crane, Thucydides and the Ancient Simplicity. The Limits of Political Realism, Berkeley, University of California Press, 1998, pp. 36-71:

- S. Dolgert, «Thucydides, Amended: Religion, Narrative, and IR Theory in the Peloponnesian Crisis», Review of International Studies, 38, 2012, pp. 661-682.

Metodi didattici

The workload consists of 13 lectures, structured reading and writing assignments, and one take-home final exam (two essays, of approximately 3000 words each).

Modalità di verifica e valutazione dell'apprendimento

Students will be evaluated on the grounds of their class participation (50% of the grade) and final exam (50% of the grade).

Orario di ricevimento

Consulta il sito web di Marco Cesa