05515 - History of International Relations

Learning outcomes

The course in History of International Relations is aimed at understanding the evolution of the international scenario from the Congress of Vienna to the breakdown of USSR. Students will be able to manage historical diplomatic case-studies and analyze new crisis for an autonomous comprehension. History of International Relations is a basic course of international studies and for diplomacy.

Course contents

History of International Relations focuses on the evolution of international scenarios and actors, mainly through diplomatic practice and agreements as first tool of behaviour in foreign affairs and crisis resolution.

 I Part: Subject

History of International Relations and Historiography

International Treaties and Other Diplomatic Documents

Diplomacy and diplomats in history: secret diplomacy, open diplomacy, multialteral diplomacy, cultural diplomacy, public diplomacy

Geopolitics Idealism Realism

 

 II Part: Concert of Europe and German rise 

Congress of Vienna

Diplomacy by Conference and Crimean War

Italian international position

Bismarck and his power system

 

 III Part: Europe towards disaster

Power policy and colonial struggles

Birth of defensive alliances

Italy and the Alliance

First World War

Italy from neutrality to Entente

Internationationalism against war: United States, Russia, Holy See

 

 IV Part: Birth and failure of collective security

Heritage of First World War

Peace treaties and League of Nations

Debts and war reparations

German and Soviet isolation

Fascism and foreign policy

Locarno treaties

Economic crisis of  1929 and international consequences

Weimar and Nazism rise

Manchuran crisis

Ethiopian war

Spanish civil war

Mussolini and Hitler

Appeasement

Anschluss

Munich conference

Pact of Steel

Ribbentrop-Molotov Pact

Second World War

Allied War conferences

Yalta and Potsdam

End of European power and beginning of atomic power

  

 V Part: Bipolar World

United Nations

Bretton Woods

Peace treaties

Superpowers

Great Western alliance: Containment, Marshall Plan, North Atlantic Treaty

European integration process and Cold War

Italy: from defeat to Western community

Birth of Israel and Palestinian question

Corean War

German question and Warsaw Pact

Destalinization

Hungarian crisis

Suez crisis

Bandung conference and the beginning of decolonization process

Decolonization of Congo

Decolonization of Algeria

Cuban crisis

Six Days War

Czech crisis

Nuclear Non Proliferation Treaty

Vietnam War

Triangular Diplomacy

Yom Kippur war and oil shock

Strategic Agreements between Superpowers

Detente, Ostpolitk, CSCE

Second Cold War: Iran, Afghanistan, Euromissiles

Slow Soviet decline

Gorbachev's reforms and Soviet breakdown

German reunification and the Birth of European Monetary Union

 

 VI Part: Multipolarism and Globalization

After Bipolarism: American Unilateralism

Postbipolar crisis: Somalia, breakdown of Jugoslavia, Kosovo

Larger West: European Union and NATO Enlargment

Crisis and Rise of Russia

Rise of China

September 11 and International Terrorism

American Reaction: Afghanistan and Iraq

Obama and the End of American Unilateralism

"Arab Springs" and Destabilization of Middle East

Globalization: Beyond World Order?

 

Readings/Bibliography

 

First Part:

Massimo De Leonardis, Storia dei Trattati e Politica Internazionale. Fonti. metodologia ed evouzione della diplomazia permanente, EduCatt, Milano 2015 (pp. 7-91)

 

Second and Third Part:

Guido Formigoni, Storia della politica internazionale nell'eta' contemporanea, il Mulino, Bologna 2006 (pp. 71-87, 97-123, 132-156, 167-174, 181-212, 220-244)

Fourth, Fifth and Sixth Part:

Antonio Varsori, Storia Internazionale. Dal 1919 a oggi, il Mulino, Bologna 2015 (the entire book)

 

Readings (one):

- M. Anastasi, Salvatore Contarini e la politica estera italiana (1891-1926), Aracne, Roma 2017;

- Antonio Badini, The Changing Process of Globalization, Luiss University Press, Rome 2016;

- A. Basciani, L'illusione della modernità. Il Sud-Est dell'Europa tra le due guerre mondiali, Rubbettino, Soveria Mannelli 2016;

- M. Borgogni e P. Soave (eds.), Italia e Libia. Un secolo di relazioni controverse, Aracne, Roma 2015;

- D. Borsani, La "special relationship" anglo-americana e la guerra delle Falkland (1982), Le Lettere, Firenze 2015;

- M. De Leonardis (ed.), Effetto Trump? Gli Stati Uniti nel sistema internazionale fra continuità e mutamento, EDUCatt, Milano 2017;

- Massimo De Leonardis, Alla ricerca della rotta transatlantica dopo l'11 settembre. Le relazioni tra Europa e Stati Uniti durante la presidenza di George W. Bush, EDUCatt, Milano 2016;

- Ennio Di Nolfo, Il mondo atlantico e la globalizzazione. Europa e Stati Uniti: storia, economia e politica, Mondadori Universita', Milano 2014;

- Nixon, Kissinger e il Medio Oriente (1969-1973), Antonio Donno, Giuliana Iurlano (eds.), Le Lettere, Firenze 2010;

- Henry Kissinger, L'arte della diplomazia, Sperling & Kupfer, Milano 2014;

- Valentine Lomellini, La grande "paura rossa". L'Italia delle spie bolsceviche (1917-1922), Angeli, Milano 2015;

- Lorenzo Medici, Dalla propaganda alla cooperazione. La diplomazia culturale italiana nel secondo dopoguerra (1944-1950), Cedam, Padova 2009;

- L. Monzali, Il colonialismo nella politica estera italiana 1878-1949. Momenti e protagonisti, Società Editrice Dante Alighieri, ROma 2017;

- M. Mugnaini (ed.), 70 anni di storia dell'Onu 60 anni di Italia all'Onu, Franco Angeli, Milano 2017;

- Leopoldo Nuti, La sfida nucleare. La politica estera italiana e le armi atomiche 1945-1991, il Mulino, Bologna 2007;

- Bruno Pierri, Giganti petroliferi e grandi consumatori. Gli Stati Uniti, la Gran Bretagna e la rivoluzione petrolifera, Studium, Roma 2015;

- Luca Riccardi, L'ultima politica estera. L'Italia e il Medio Oriente alla fine della Prima Repubblica, Rubbettino, Soveria Mannelli 2014;

- Angela Santese. La pace atomica. Ronad Reagan e il movimento antinucleare (19179-1987), Mondadori, Milano 2016;

- Enrico Serra, La diplomazia. Strumenti e metodi, Le Lettere, Firenze 2009;

- Paolo Soave, Fra Reagan e Gheddafi. La politica estera italiana e l'escalation libico-americana degli anni '80, Rubbettino, Soveria Mannelli 2017;

- Antonio Varsori, Radioso Maggio. Come l'Italia entro' in guerra, il Mulino, Bologna 2015;

- Antonio Varsori, L'Italia e la fine della guerra fredda. La politica estera dei governi Andreotti (1989-1992), il Mulino, Bologna 2013;

A. Villani, Dalla parte dei bambini. Italia e Unicef fra ricostruzione e sviluppo, Cedam, Padova 2016;

- Odd Arne Westad, La guerra fredda globale. Gli Stati Uniti, l'Unione Sovietica e il mondo. Le relazioni internazionali del XX secolo, il Saggiatore, Milano 2015.

 

Teaching methods

Two hours lectures.

Assessment methods

During the course and before the final oral exam, regularly attending students (the presence will be verified) will take two progressive written tests. Each test lasts 45 minutes and includes some open questions. It will be evaluated up to 30, contributing to the average of the written tests. In case of absence (to justify) to a test, or negative evaluation, the part of program will be brought to the final oral exam. For those who have passed all tests, oral exam will permit to evaluate the analytical capacity, the general understanding of the course and of the reading. Final grade will be the average between the written tests average and the oral grade. Not attending students must take the exam orally, reading included.

Teaching tools

 The main international treaties, historical documentaries, other online sources and some lectures of highly qualified scholars.

Office hours

See the website of Paolo Soave