88044 - 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

The course is organized in lectures and seminars, as detailed in the following program. Lectures (26 hours in remote on MS TEAMS) aim to introduce students to the core tenets of the discipline. Seminars aim to provide occasions for in-depth discussions of class materials and exercises. The division into lessons and seminars is specified in the program that follows. For the seminar section, students will be divided into some groups according to their preferences and according to rules concerning the current pandemic emergency: some groups will do the seminar in classroom (12 hours) and other groups will do the seminar remotely on MS TEAMS (12 hours). Therefore, a total of 38 classroom hours are scheduled 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.

Part I (26 hours remotely for everyone)

Introducing History of International Relations

Diplomats and diplomatic affairs

The Congress of Vienna and the Concert of Europe.

Bismarck's Era.

European colonialism, Imperialism and the emerging of the Extraeuropean actors.

Alliances and First World War

The Paris Peace Conference

Failures of the collective security

Hitler and the appeasement

Second World War

The emerging of the superpowers and the roots of Cold War

The globalization of Cold War: stability and crisis

 

Part II (12 hours groups, in classroom or remotely): Cold War and Beyond

- From détente to European Union

- Cold War and Middle East

- From Bipolarism to the American Unipolarism

- Globalization, mtilateralism, China.

Readings/Bibliography

All the following books and sources are mandatory for both attending and non-attending students.

Handbook:

- Antonio Varsori, Storia Internazionale. Dal 1919 a oggi, Il Mulino, Bologna 2020 (second edition), also available on Pandoracampus (https://www.pandoracampus.it/pandora/booksheet/index/ean13/9788815284853 )

- Slides available on Virtuale.unibo.it

- B. Pierri, Giganti petroliferi e grandi consumatori: gli Stati Uniti, la Gran Bretagna e la rivoluzione petrolifera (1968-1974), Studium, Roma 2015;

A reading from the following books:

- F. Bettanin, Putin e il mondo che verra'. Storia e politica della Russia nel nuovo contesto internazionale, Viella, Roma 2018;

- S. Bianchini e A. Fiori (a cura di), Russia e Cina nel mondo globale. Due potenze fra dinamiche interne e globali, Carocci, Roma 2018;

- F. Cardini, S. Valzania, La pace mancata. La conferenza di Parigi e le sue conseguenze, Mondadori, Milano 2018;

- N. Ferguson, Impero. Come la Gran Bretagna ha fatto il mondo moderno, Mondadori, Milano 2018;

- J.L. Gaddis, La guerra fredda. Cinquant'anni di paura e di speranza, Mondadori, Milano 2017;

- F. Imperato, La chiave dell'Adriatico: Antonio Salandra, Gaetano Salvemini, la Puglia e la politica balcanica dell'Italia liberale durante la grande guerra (1914-1918), Rubbettino, Soveria Mannelli 2019;

- P. Kennedy, Ascesa e declino delle grandi potenze, Garzanti, Milano 1993;

- H.A. Kissinger, L'arte della diplomazia, Sperling & Kupfer, Milano 2014;

- G. Lenzi, Diplomazia: passato, presente e futuro, Rubbettino, Soveria Mannelli 2020

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

- H. Nicolson, Il Congresso di Vienna, Castelvecchi, Roma 2015;

 

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

- A.D. Smith, La nazione. Storia di un'idea, Rubbettino, Soveria Mannelli 2018;

- P. Soave, Una vittoria mutilata? L'Italia e la Conferenza di Pace di Parigi, Rubbettino, Soveria Mannelli 2020;

- G. Spagnulo, Il Risorgimento dell'Asia. India e Pakistan nella politica estera dell'Italia repubblicana (1946-1980), Mondadori Education, Milano 2020;

- L. Tosi, In Somalia con l'Onu e contro. La missione Ibis nella transizione italiana e internazionale dopo la guerra fredda, Cedam, Padova 2019;

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

- O.A. 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

The first part of the course (26 hours, remotely) will be based on lectures aimed at introducing the students to the main diplomatic international issues from the Congress of Vienna to the Cold War, especially focusing on diplomatic activities and the evolution of the international order.

The second part of the course (12 hours, in classroom or remotely) will be based on more interactive activities and seminars. Some main issues of Cold War and after will be debated and the students, both in the classroom and remotely, will be required to read before specific chapters of the handbook.

Assessment methods

Regularly attending students will be evaluated twice with written intermediate test after both parts of the course. The tests will be held remotely and based on some questions stimulating the students' skills in historical thinking.

The students are required to pass both tests in order to be admitted at the final oral exam. Tests evaluated less than 18/30 will be recovered orally in the final exam.

Once passed the intermediate tests the final oral exam will be based on some questions of general historical thinking and on the reading. The students are required to choose a reading in the list of books and read it carefully in order to develop a critical thinking.

The exam mark will be determined by the arithmetic mean between the mean of the written intermediate tests and the mark of the oral exam.

Teaching tools

The handbook offers some interactive sources (https://www.routledge.com/International-History-of-the-Twentieth-Century-and-Beyond/Best-Hanhimaki-Maiolo-Schulze/p/book/9780415656429). The teacher will deliver some sources and slides, available on Virtuale.unibo.it, in order to integrate and summarize the programme.

Office hours

See the website of Paolo Soave

See the website of Bruno Pierri