GLOBAL FINANCE AND GEOPOLITICS
cod. 1007206

Academic year 2024/25
1° year of course - First semester
Professor
Gian Luca PODESTA'
Academic discipline
Storia economica (SECS-P/12)
Field
Economico
Type of training activity
Characterising
48 hours
of face-to-face activities
6 credits
hub: PARMA
course unit
in ITALIAN

Learning objectives

Skills to improve and learning outcomes

a) Knowledge and comprehension abilities
The student will get the ability to analyze how the financial markets growth
represents the principal shape of the capitalistic system. He will explain the financial
tools evolution in connection with cultural, political and social changes. He will get
how the financial crisis represent a stable situation of capitalism and will make
sense both of its mechanisms and structural and cyclical crisis.
b) Ability to use knowledge and comprehension
The student will use the studied issues to understand the complexity of the current
financial dynamics in the globalized markets.
c) Judgment autonomy
The student will be able to evaluate critically the economic and financial processes
of the current globalized capitalism.
d) Communicative skills
The student will get a conceptual property on market organization indispensable for
the education and the communication of a future financial markets operator.
Prerequisiti

Prerequisites

Prerequisites

None

Course unit content

Description of contents

The course retraces the evolution of the international financial system since its
origins to present, compared to capitalistic systems development. Between the
issues of the course: financial crisis, market economy, corporative economy and
communist economy. The world-economy, globalization myth, Euro-Atlantic area
and Far East-Pacific area. Globalization and decline of national States, empires and
international balance. Global finance and geopolitics.

Full programme

GLOBAL FINANCE AND GEOPOLITICS

SSD: SECS-P/12 – CFU: 6 – Teacher: Gian Luca Podestà

Description of contents

The course retraces the evolution of the international financial system since its
origins to present, compared to capitalistic systems development. Between the
issues of the course: financial crisis, market economy, corporative economy and
communist economy. The world-economy, globalization myth, Euro-Atlantic area
and Far East-Pacific area. Globalization and decline of national States, empires and
international balance. Global finance and geopolitics.

Reference books

1) F. M. Parenti- U. Rosati, "Geofinanza e geopolitica", EGEA, Milano 2016;

2) G. Ingham, Capitalism, Polity Press, Cambridge, UK, 2011.


Skills to improve and learning outcomes

a) Knowledge and comprehension abilities
The student will get the ability to analyze how the financial markets growth
represents the principal shape of the capitalistic system. He will explain the financial
tools evolution in connection with cultural, political and social changes. He will get
how the financial crisis represent a stable situation of capitalism and will make
sense both of its mechanisms and structural and cyclical crisis.
b) Ability to use knowledge and comprehension
The student will use the studied issues to understand the complexity of the current
financial dynamics in the globalized markets.
c) Judgment autonomy
The student will be able to evaluate critically the economic and financial processes
of the current globalized capitalism.
d) Communicative skills
The student will get a conceptual property on market organization indispensable for
the education and the communication of a future financial markets operator.

Prerequisites
None

Teaching methods

the lessons will be in attendance during normal hours.

Traditional lessons. Students will be able the lessons will be in attendance during normal hoursto attend the second part of the course;
they will be divided into groups, for further investigation of some of the topics in
thematic workshops, group activities which will allow to deepen other topics defined by groups together with teacher using a cooperative learning methodology. Students will form small teams of 4-5 individuals who, on the
basis of bibliographic and documentary indications provided by the lecturers, will
prepare and give a short presentation (about 15 minutes) to the rest of the class,
complete with a brief abstract in English. The lesson slides will be uploaded to ELLY at the beginning of the course. The teaching material used in the in-presence lessons, as well as the video recordings of the lessons or other equivalent audio-video material, will be published on the Elly platform.

Other information

Any additional lectures will be communicated at the start of the course and will be
posted on the teacher's home-page.

Procedures to verify learning

Written test
a) The knowledge and comprehension abilities will be check by 2 open-ended
questions. These questions will be organized in: (i) a general part of 15 points worth
and (ii) a part relating to the case-studies of 15 points worth.
b) The ability to implement knowledge will be check by the analysis of the answers
concerning the case-studies of the 2 open-ended questions.
c) The judgment autonomy and the learning ability will be check by the analysis of
the general part of the 2 open-ended questions.
d) The ability to communicate with a technical and right language will be check
verifying the vocabulary used in the written answers and the tendency to clarify the
meaning of the technical words used.
Classroom presentation
The classroom presentation will be checked by the following elements:
a) originality and innovativeness of work (ability to carry on the proposed topic with
originality compared to the literature and documentation used).
b) precision and effectiveness of the slides (style, language).
c) quality and precision of the abstract (to present the aims, the sources, the
results).
c) coherence between sources, analysis and synthesis.
d) coherence between investigation questions and proposed analysis (i.e.: if I want
to study the skin quality of the shoes that I’m using I can’t analyse the cotton of my
shirt).
The marks will be merged in a weighted mark. The final mark will be 30 cum laude when all the parts of the exam (written text or oral exposition; teamwork or other forms of cooperative work) are excellent for completeness, clarity, brightness, vividness and organization of the answers, capacity of multidisciplinary connections. The vote will be published as soon as possible. Devices such as smartphones, smartwatches, tablets, etc. are forbidden.

Bibliography

Reference books

1) F. M. Parenti- U. Rosati, "Geofinanza e geopolitica", EGEA, Milano 2016;

2) G. Ingham, "Capitalism", Polity Press, Cambridge, UK, 2011.

Teaching methods

Teaching methods

the lessons will be in attendance during normal hours. Students will be able to attend the second part of the course;
they will be divided into groups, for further investigation of some of the topics in
thematic workshops, group activities which will allow to deepen other topics defined by groups together with teacher using a cooperative learning methodology. Students will form small teams of 4-5 individuals who, on the
basis of bibliographic and documentary indications provided by the lecturers, will
prepare and give a short presentation (about 15 minutes) to the rest of the class,
complete with a brief abstract in English. The lesson slides will be uploaded to ELLY at the beginning of the course. The teaching material used in the in-presence lessons, as well as the video recordings of the lessons or other equivalent audio-video material, will be published on the Elly platform.

Assessment methods and criteria

Procedures to verify learning

Written test
a) The knowledge and comprehension abilities will be check by 2 open-ended
questions. These questions will be organized in: (i) a general part of 15 points worth
and (ii) a part relating to the case-studies of 15 points worth.
b) The ability to implement knowledge will be check by the analysis of the answers
concerning the case-studies of the 2 open-ended questions.
c) The judgment autonomy and the learning ability will be check by the analysis of
the general part of the 2 open-ended questions.
d) The ability to communicate with a technical and right language will be check
verifying the vocabulary used in the written answers and the tendency to clarify the
meaning of the technical words used.
Classroom presentation
The classroom presentation will be checked by the following elements:
a) originality and innovativeness of work (ability to carry on the proposed topic with
originality compared to the literature and documentation used).
b) precision and effectiveness of the slides (style, language).
c) quality and precision of the abstract (to present the aims, the sources, the
results).
c) coherence between sources, analysis and synthesis.
d) coherence between investigation questions and proposed analysis (i.e.: if I want
to study the skin quality of the shoes that I’m using I can’t analyse the cotton of my
shirt).
The marks will be merged in a weighted mark. The final mark will be 30 cum laude when all the parts of the exam (written text or oral exposition; teamwork or other forms of cooperative work) are excellent for completeness, clarity, brightness, vividness and organization of the answers, capacity of multidisciplinary connections. The vote will be published as soon as possible. Devices such as smartphones, smartwatches, tablets, etc. are forbidden.

Other information

Any extra readings and activities will be communicated at the beginning of the course and published on Elly site.

2030 agenda goals for sustainable development

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