98941 - History of Political Parties and Social Movements (1)

Learning outcomes

By the end of the course the student will have learned about the main events regarding the Italian and European formations of the contemporary age, both the one having a rigid party and trade union organisation, and those classifiable as movements. The student will be able to assess their discourses and practices, as well as their role within general history from the 19th to the 21st century.

Course contents

Representation is a core concept in the political lexicon, the keystone of modern democratic societies. Tracing its historical and juridical framework and performing a historical retrospective provides the necessary concepts for the discussion on the present. Working between local, national and transnational dimensions, the course will trace the history of political and social forms of representation with a focus on the contemporary age. Moreover, the course will start from the questions that emerge nowadays due to the collapse of political participation and the increasing complexity of society, which is not always answered by traditional party and trade union forms.

 

The course is structured into 15 sessions, each focusing on a key theme related to the historical and political evolution of parties, political participation, and labor movements in Italy, Europe, and beyond. The sessions will address the following topics:

1. Political parties and democracy: Introductory considerations.
2. Pluralism: value or threat? The long path toward the legitimation of political parties.
3. The 19th century as a political laboratory: developments in Italy and Europe.
4. The expansion of political participation: representation systems between the 19th and 20th centuries.
5. From mass parties to totalitarian parties.
6. After World War II: European reconstruction and decolonization processes.
7. The 1968 turning point: criticism of political parties and transformations in political culture.
8. Society and politics in the 1980s: continuity and change.
9. Political parties between the late 20th and early 21st centuries: internal reforms and attempts at renewal.
10. Trade Unions in Italy and Europe – Part I: origins and development in the 19th century.
11. Trade Unions in Italy and Europe – Part II: from the 20th century to the present.
12. Case studies – Political parties in contemporary Russia: from the Tsarist empire to Putin.
13. The Chinese Communist party and contemporary China.
14. The Italian Communist party and the biography of Renato Zangheri: Between regional and national history.
15. The "Bologna Metalmeccanica" project: Places and memories of labor between union struggles, deindustrialization, and urban transformations (1968-2024).

 

Readings/Bibliography

Readings for students who will attend the lectures

Students must study 3 books according to the following guidelines:

Textbooks (both):

• Piero Ignazi, Partito e democrazia. L’incerto percorso della legittimazione dei partiti, Bologna, il Mulino, 2019
• Mimmo Carrieri, I sindacati. Tra le conquiste del passato e il futuro da costruire, Bologna, il Mulino, 2012

Researches into the history of politics and trade unions (1 book at the choice of the student):

• Maurizio Antonioli (a cura di), Per una storia del sindacato in Europa, Milano, Bruno Mondadori, 2012
• Eloisa Betti, Precari e precarie. Una storia dell'Italia repubblicana, Roma, Carocci, 2019
• Marco Bresciani (a cura di), Le destre europee. Conservatori e radicali tra le due guerre, Roma, Carocci, 2021
• Maria Paola Del Rossi, Debora Migliucci, Ilaria Romeo (a cura di), Sindacaliste. La storia della CGIL e delle sue protagoniste, Bologna, Bologna University Press, 2022 - PDF open access
  
• Carlo De Maria, Una famiglia anarchica. La vita dei Berneri tra affetti, impegno ed esilio nell'Europa del Novecento, Roma, Viella, 2019
• Carlo De Maria, Andrea Costa e l'Italia liberale. Società, politica e istituzioni tra dimensione locale ed europea, Bologna, Bologna University Press, 2021 - PDF open access
• Carlo De Maria (a cura di), Storia del PCI in Emilia-Romagna: welfare, lavoro, cultura, autonomie (1945-1991), Bologna, Bologna University Press, 2022 - PDF open access
• Larry Diamond, Richard Gunther (ed.), Political Parties and Democracy, Johns Hopkins University Press, 2001
• Piero Ignazi, Il polo escluso. La fiamma che non si spegne: da Almirante a Meloni, seconda edizione, Bologna, il Mulino, 2023
  
• Laura Orlandini, La democrazia delle donne. I Gruppi di Difesa della Donna nella costruzione della Repubblica (1943-1945), Bologna, Bologna University Press, 2025 - PDF open access
• Guido Samarani, Sofia Graziani, La Cina rossa. Storia del Partito comunista cinese, Roma-Bari, Laterza, 2023
• Gianluca Scroccu, Anna Tonelli, La sinistra nell'Italia repubblicana. Dalla Resistenza al campo largo, Roma, Carocci, 2023

 

Readings for non-attending students

Students must study 4 books according to the following guidelines:

Textbooks (both):

• Piero Ignazi, Partito e democrazia. L’incerto percorso della legittimazione dei partiti, Bologna, il Mulino, 2019
• Mimmo Carrieri, I sindacati. Tra le conquiste del passato e il futuro da costruire, Bologna, il Mulino, 2012

Researches into the history of politics and trade unions (2 books at the choice of the student):

• Maurizio Antonioli (a cura di), Per una storia del sindacato in Europa, Milano, Bruno Mondadori, 2012
• Eloisa Betti, Precari e precarie. Una storia dell'Italia repubblicana, Roma, Carocci, 2019
• Marco Bresciani (a cura di), Le destre europee. Conservatori e radicali tra le due guerre, Roma, Carocci, 2021
• Maria Paola Del Rossi, Debora Migliucci, Ilaria Romeo (a cura di), Sindacaliste. La storia della CGIL e delle sue protagoniste, Bologna, Bologna University Press, 2022 - PDF open access
  
• Carlo De Maria, Una famiglia anarchica. La vita dei Berneri tra affetti, impegno ed esilio nell'Europa del Novecento, Roma, Viella, 2019
• Carlo De Maria, Andrea Costa e l'Italia liberale. Società, politica e istituzioni tra dimensione locale ed europea, Bologna, Bologna University Press, 2021 - PDF open access
  
• Carlo De Maria (a cura di), Storia del PCI in Emilia-Romagna: welfare, lavoro, cultura, autonomie (1945-1991), Bologna, Bologna University Press, 2022 - PDF open access
  
• Larry Diamond, Richard Gunther (ed.), Political Parties and Democracy, Johns Hopkins University Press, 2001
• Piero Ignazi, Il polo escluso. La fiamma che non si spegne: da Almirante a Meloni, seconda edizione, Bologna, il Mulino, 2023
  
• Laura Orlandini, La democrazia delle donne. I Gruppi di Difesa della Donna nella costruzione della Repubblica (1943-1945), Bologna, Bologna University Press, 2025 - PDF open access
• Guido Samarani, Sofia Graziani, La Cina rossa. Storia del Partito comunista cinese, Roma-Bari, Laterza, 2023
• Gianluca Scroccu, Anna Tonelli, La sinistra nell'Italia repubblicana. Dalla Resistenza al campo largo, Roma, Carocci, 2023

 

Teaching methods

Frontal and multimedia lessons.

Assessment methods

Students who attend at least 75% of the lessons are considered to be attending.

Assessment method: oral interview.

The evaluation criteria are as follows: relevance of the answers; ability to argue; adequacy of the disciplinary language used; ability to apply the acquired knowledges to a critical interpretation of contemporaneity.

In particular, answers that will be given with a proper language and with exactitude are going to be evaluated with the top marks (29-30L).

Answers that will be given without precision or property are going to be evaluated with intermediate marks (25-28).

Vagueness in the content of the answer, one or two questions left unanswered will result in marks not higher than sufficient (18-24). Substantial errors and unanswered questions will result in a grade of Insufficient.

Attending students have the possibility, by writing a short paper (book critical review) on a book of their choice during the lectures, to bring only the 2 textbooks to the oral exam.

 

Exam sessions are scheduled for the following months of the academic year:

- January, for all students

- February, for all students

- March, for all students

- May, for all students

- June, for all students

- September, for students in debt of exam

- November, for students in debt of exam 

 

Teaching tools

To support easier access to course materials, the professor uploads on Virtuale platform, before each class, the slides that will be used and, after the class, the video recording of the class made with Panopto.

During the lessons, we will explore online resources related to the methodologies of historical communication and public history.

Students with learning disorders and/or temporary or permanent disabilities: please, contact the office responsible (https://site.unibo.it/studenti-con-disabilita-e-dsa/en/for-students) as soon as possible so that they can propose acceptable adjustments. The request for adaptation must be submitted in advance (15 days before the exam date) to the lecturer, who will assess the appropriateness of the adjustments, taking into account the teaching objectives.

 

Office hours

See the website of Carlo De Maria