Learning objectives
The course aims at providing the student with theoretical tools to understand the development of the main political and institutional representations that characterized the European history and the state-building process in Europe.
At the end of the course, the student will be able to use the specific English-language vocabulary inherent the subject of Political Thought, as well as the special language of complex institutional organizations such as the European Union.
Prerequisites
None
Course unit content
The course will tackle the theories of the State through a comparative approach. Starting from the lesson by Carl Schmitt, the State will be described as a concrete juridical order, as well as, the product of the conflictual dynamics inherent the Political dimension. The course will consider the origin and the evolution of the jus publicum europaeum (1648-1945) and the state-building processes in France, Germany and Italy. Critical theories of the State will be also taken into consideration, from a Gramscian point of view, as well as post-marxist interpretation of the State as a consolidation of power relations. Finally, the course will tackle the evolution from the Fiscal State and the birth of postwar Keynesian welfare state, to the nowadays neoliberal State. The second part of the course will be devoted, in particular, to the EU integration process and the transformation of the State, making a comparison between the classical Westphalian model and the multilevel and functional governance of the EU, taking into account the first European communities, the origin of the Internal Market, the idea of “shared sovereignty” (1951-1957) and the social market economy as the key-doctrine of the European construction.
Full programme
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Bibliography
First part:
Brian Nelson, The Making of the Modern State. A theoretical Evolution, Palgrave, 2006.
Bob Jessop, The State. Past, Present, Future, Wiley, 2013.
Excerpts from Carl Schmitt, The Nomos of the Earth in the International Law of the Jus Publicum europaeum, (1950) Telos Press Publishing 2006 and The Concept of the Political (1932) University of Chicago Press, 1996.
A reading of a classical masterpiece: I. Kant, Toward Perpetual Peace A Philosophical Sketch (1795)
Second part:
G. Majone, Rethinking the Union of Europe Post-Crisis, Cambridge University Press 2014.
P. Dardot, C. Laval, The New Way of the World: On Neoliberal Society, Verso 2013. (selected chapters to be defined).
Teaching methods
Frontal lectures, ppt presentations, active involvement of participants, working groups.
Assessment methods and criteria
Oral exam regarding a book to be selected within the suggested reading list. For those who attend at least 70% of the classes: Study of one of the topics dealt with during the course and submission of a paper and ppt to the class.
Other information
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