96997 - ODI ET AMO: INTEGRATION AND DISINTEGRATION IN SOUTH-EASTERN EUROPE

Conoscenze e abilità da conseguire

During classes students are expected to acquire an in-depth knowledge of the most relevant dynamics that alternatively marked the relations among the countries of South-East Europe. Starting from the end of the 18th century, this journey will come across the 19th and 20th centuries up to nowadays. Students are particularly expected to grasp the geopolitical evolution of integration and disintegration in State changes, national identities, economic and social developments. They will be able, at the end of the course, to compare analytically the variety of integrative projects that intellectuals and policy makers have elaborated locally or as outsiders, as well as the reasons of their failure and the potential of the plans shared between 1840 and 1870, in 1913, with the Balkan conferences, during WWII, with the Balkan pact, the multilateral Balkan cooperation, the variety of transnational organizations operating between the two millennia up to the Mini Schengen agreement.

Contenuti

It is a widespread belief (if not a bias) that the modern history of South-East Europe (or the Balkans) is marked by a predominant exclusive nationalism that makes impossible to stabilize the peninsula and guarantee peace and economic growth.

The aim of this course is to challenge this approach by analysing alternative policies that did play a crucial role in increasing the dialogical development of the events.

Therefore, a special focus will be centred on the federal or confederal options that were outlined or even politically pursued in the 19^th and 20^th centuries, sometimes autonomously in the region, sometimes promoted by external Great Powers. Therefore, students will be acquainted with often unexplored dynamics that suggested commonwealth or unions. Pursued by intellectuals increasingly concerned about the impact that divisive nationalisms might have on the geopolitical arrangements of the intercultural characteristics of the region, the integrative ideas became a substantial goal to be achieved by a variety of policy makers, either promoting liberal, or peasant, and socialist ideologies.

Consequently, the course will explore the most relevant options elaborated by local or international scholars as well as visionary projects, which have been reinforced by the Italian and German unification, as well as by the prospect of European integration since Briand and Stresemann submitted their ideas to the League of Nations.

As a result, student will learn the relevance of alternative options that historically existed, the reasons of success and failure of federal perspectives, the most successful examples of them were the establishment of Yugoslavia and Czechoslovakia in the 20^th century. Paradoxically, even after their collapse in the 1990s, particularly in the Balkan case, the ideas of reconciliation and reintegration are still recurrent, despite projects aimed to implement further the fragmentation of the region.

Since the topic of this course is rarely scrutinized by the local and international literature, the sources are mostly fragmented and in different languages. Students will therefore be encouraged to work in teams and interact actively with the instructor in oder to aproach readings aim to bridge the gaps existing in the present historical and political narratives.

To these ends, the course will look at a number of key methodological approaches strengthening the interdisciplinary dimensions, while students will be invited to read, when possible, original documents and excerpts from article or other studies with the aim to prepare themselves for presentations.

Structure of the lectures

Lesson 1:

Introduction to the subject and methodology:

Lesson 2

The background: contested perimeters of integration

Lesson 3:

Enlightenment and its constitutional impact in Central and SEE

Lesson 4:

Great Empires and national expectations: the Hungarian reconsideration

Lesson 5

First Federal or Union projects in SEE

Lesson 6

From Illyrism to Yugoslavism and the Austrian-Turkish border

Lesson 7

Thinking the unthinkable and the example of Italy

Lesson 8

Austro-Marxism and the debate on the Austrian future

Lesson 9

Balkan federal projects and Serbian socialism

Lesson 10

WWI as change accelerator: Nation-States and the Adriatic question

Lesson 11

Controversies over the "new Europe"

Lesson 12

Poland, Turkey and the Balkans: how to arrange geographies?

Lesson 13

The 1930s: the Balkan conferences

Lesson 14

The Balkan entante

Lesson 15

WWII and the Foreign Office: confederal projects in central Europe

Lesson 16

WWII and the Communists: rearranging the Balkans without Stalin?

Lesson 17

The 1953-1955 Balkan Pact: a new opportunity?

Lesson 18

Diplomacy at work: cooperation and rapprochements from the late 80s

Lesson 19

In search of stability. The Lessons (not) learned from the Yugoslav partition

Lesson 20

Between further partitions and the “Open Balkans” cooperation. The current prospects of SEE

Concluding remarks

Testi/Bibliografia

Compulsory readings:

John R. Lampe, Balkans into Southeastern Europe, Palgrave Macmillan, New York, 2006.

Stefano Bianchini, Relations between East-European Countries: the Balkan federation, 1942-1949), in Antonio Varsori and Elena Calandri (Eds.), The Failure of Peace in Europe, 1943-1948, Palgrave, London, 2002, pp. 197-210.

Roumen Genov, Federalism in the Balkans: Projects and Realities, “Codrul Cosminului”, XX, n. 2, 2014, pp. 391-412.

Loukianos Hassiotis, The ideal of Balkan Unity from a European perspective 1789-1945, CEEOL, 2010

Together with:

All the documents selected and discussed during lectures

Metodi didattici

Methodologically, classes are organized interactively. Regular lessons include discussions on the topic of the day and students' acquisition of transversal skills. In particular, students are expected to organize themselves in team-works and make oral presentations of the selected documents with the support of readings, according to the instructions received during classes. Social responsibility toward classmates, ability in addressing the audience, direct focus on the key issues and strictly respect of deadlines are among crucial components of the lessons guided by the Professor. His lesson explanations will help students to understand the historical context and receive additional interpretative inputs aimed to increase their critical thinking.

Modalità di verifica e valutazione dell'apprendimento

Oral exam. Students are expected to analyze and discuss in details the topics that have been developed during classes with appropriate references to the sources offered by the readings. The ability of comparing theoretical approaches and policies implementation will be highly appreciated.

Strumenti a supporto della didattica

PowerPoint and overhead projector

Orario di ricevimento

Consulta il sito web di Stefano Bianchini