Learning objectives
At the end of the course the student should have acquired the following skills:
a) knowledge of the scientific nature of History of International Relations compared to other disciplines;
b) understanding of History of International Relations' research methodology;
c) interpretation of international historical processes and of international order's evolution from the Eurocentric phase, to superpowers' era, till uncertain present globalized scenario.
Course unit content
The origin and the development of the discipline, from Diplomatic History to History of International Relations, the scientific sources, the treaties, the research methodology. The Congress of Vienna and the Concert of Europe, the Crimean war, Bismarck's power system, Imperialism, Colonialism, Power policy, the rise of Extra-European powers, crisis and alliances, the First World War and the breakdown of the empires, Paris peace treaties and the League of Nations, War reparations and War debts between USA and Europe, Locarno agreements, 1929 economic crisis and the international consequences, Hitler and the rise of Nazism in Germany, the Manchurian crisis, the Ethiopian war, Spanish civil war, Appeasement, Anschluss, Munich conference, Pact of steel, Ribbentrop-Molotov agreements, the Second World War, allied conferences (Terranova, Arcadia, Casablanca, Teheran, Moscow, Yalta, Potsdam), the United Nations, Bretton Woods agreements, the rise of the superpowers and bipolarism, the rebuilding of Europe, the Cold war, the North Atlantic Treaty, the European integrartion process, the birth of the State of Israel and the Palestinian question, Corean war, Warsaw Pact, the Destalinization process, Hungarian revolution, Suez crisis, the end of colonial empires and the process of decolonization, Bandung conference, Congo, Algeria, Cuban crisis, Six days war, Prague Spring, the Nuclear non-proliferation treaty, Vietnam war, the triangular diplomacy, Yom Kippur war and the oil crisis, the strategic agreements between superpowers, CSCE process, Iranian revolution, Invasion of Afghanistan, the Euromissiles and the second cold war, the decline of USSR, Gorbachev's reforms, the breakdown of Soviet bloc, American unilateralism, postbipolar crisis, international terrorism, the European Union, the rise of China, the “Arab spring”, the search for a new world order in global era.
Bibliography
Parte generale:
Carla Meneguzzi Rostagni, Politica di potenza e cooperazione. L'organizzazione internazionale dal Congresso di Vienna alla globalizzazione, Cedam, Padova 2013
Approfondimento. Un testo a scelta fra:
Jussi Hanhimaki, The United States. A Very Short Introduction, Oxford University Press, New York 2008
Paul Kennedy, Il parlamento dell'uomo: le Nazioni Unite e la ricerca di un governo mondiale, Garzanti, Milano 2007
Alessandro Polsi, Storia dell'ONU, Editori Laterza, Roma-Bari 2006
Alessandro Duce, Storia della politica internazionale. Il tramonto degli imperi coloniali (1945-2013) Edizioni Studium Roma 2013
Teaching methods
Lectures with reading of main international treaties, historiographical theories and vision of some historical documentaries.
Assessment methods and criteria
The oral examination is aimed at evaluating the knowledge and the understanding of the program through some questions on specific subjects, the capacity of autonomous interpretation of main historical processes, the capacity to understand the concepts of History of International Relations and to speak its “language”.
Other information
Students are invited to prepare the examination using an atlas.
