05515 - 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

History of International Relations focuses on the evolution of international scenarios and actors, mainly through diplomatic practice and agreements as first tool of behaviour in foreign affairs and crisis resolution.

 Part : Subject

Scientific nature of History of International Relations

From Diplomatic History to History of International Relations

Diplomacy and diplomats: tasks and historical evolution

Geopolitics, Idealism, Realism

Sources: treaties and other documents

Research methodology of History of International Relations

 

 II Part: Concert of Europe and German rise 

Congress of Vienna

Diplomacy by Conferences and Crimean War

Italian international position

Bismarck and his power system

 

 III Part: Europe towards disaster

 Power policy and colonial struggles

Birth of defensive alliances

Italy and the Alliance

First World War

Italy from neutrality to Entente

Internationationalism against war: United States, Russia, Holy See

 

 IV Part: Birth and failure of collective security

Heritage of First World War

Peace treaties and League of Nations

Debts and war reparations

German and Soviet isolation

Fascism and foreign policy

Locarno treaties

Economic crisis of  1929 and international consequences

Weimar and Nazism rise

Manchuran crisis

Ethiopian war

Spanish civil war

Mussolini and Hitler

Appeasement

Anschluss

Munich conference

Pact of Steel

Ribbentrop-Molotov Pact

Second World War

Allied War conferences

Yalta and Potsdam

End of European power and beginning of atomic power

  

V Part: Bipolar World

 United Nations

Bretton Woods

Peace treaties

Superpowers

Great Western alliance: Containment, Marshall Plan, North Atlantic Treaty

European integration process and Cold War

Italy: from defeat to Western community

Birth of Israel and Palestinian question

Corean War

German question and Warsaw Pact

Destalinization

Hungarian crisis

Suez crisis

Bandung conference and the beginning of decolonization process

Decolonization of Congo

Decolonization of Algeria

Cuban crisis

Six Days War

Czech crisis

Nuclear Non Proliferation Treaty

Vietnam War

Triangular Diplomacy

Yom Kippur war and oil shock

Strategic Agreements between Superpowers

Detente, Ostpolitk, CSCE

Second Cold War: Iran, Afghanistan, Euromissiles

Slow Soviet decline

Gorbachev's reforms and Soviet breakdown

German reunification and the Birth of European Monetary Union

 

 VI Part: Multipolarism and Globalization

 After Bipolarism: American Unilateralism

Postbipolar crisis: Somalia, breakdown of Jugoslavia, Kosovo

Larger West: European Union and NATO Enlargment

Crisis and Rise of Russia

Rise of China

September 11 and International Terrorism

American Reaction: Afghanistan and Iraq

Obama and the End of American Unilateralism

"Arab Springs" and Destabilization of Middle East

Globalization: End of World Order?

 

Readings/Bibliography

I Part:

 Ennio Di Nolfo, Prima lezione di Storia delle Relazioni Internazionali, Laterza, Roma-Bari 2006, or Massimo De Leonardis, Storia dei Trattati e Politica Internazionale, EduCatt, Milano 2011

 

 II and III Part:

 Guido Formigoni, Storia della politica internazionale nell'eta' contemporanea, il Mulino, Bologna 2006 (chapters 2, 3, 4)

  

IV, V and VI Part:

Antonio Varsori, Storia Internazionale. Dal 1919 a oggi, il Mulino, Bologna 2013

 

  Readings: One of the following books:

Stefano Baldi, Giuseppe Nesi (a cura di), Diplomatici in azione. Aspetti giuridici e politici della prassi diplomatica nel mondo contemporaneo, Editoriale Scientifica, Napoli 2015

 Ottavio Barie', Dalla guerra fredda alla grande crisi. Il nuovo mondo delle relazioni internazionali, il Mulino, Bologna 2013

Fabio Bettanin, Michail Prozumenscikov, Adriano Roccucci, Alessandro Salacone, L'Italia vista dal Cremlino. Gli anni della distensione negli archivi del Comitato centrale del Pcus 1953-1970, Viella, Roma 2015

 Massimo De Leonardis, Guerra fredda e interessi nazionali. L'Italia nella politica internazionale del secondo dopoguerra, Rubbettino, Soveria Mannelli 2014

 Mario Del Pero, Liberta' e Impero. Gli Stati Uniti e il mondo 1776-2011, Laterza, Roma-Bari 2011

  Jussi Hanhimaki, United Nations, A Very Short Introduction, Oxford University Press 2008

Henry Kissinger, Ordine mondiale, Mondadori, Milano 2015 

Henry Kissinger, L'arte della diplomazia, Sperling & Kupfer, Milano 2014

 Piers Ludlow, Europe and the End of Cold War, Routledge, London-New York 2008

Lorenzo Medici, Dalla propaganda alla cooperazione. La diplomazia culturale italiana nel secondo dopoguerra (1944-1950), Cedam, Padova 2009

Carla Meneguzzi Rostagni, Guido Samarani (a cura di), La Cina di Mao, l'Italia e l'Europa negli anni della Guerra fredda, il Mulino, Bologna 2014

Luciano Monzali, Il sogno dell'egemonia. L'Italia,, la questione jugoslava e l'Europa centrale, Le Lettere, Firenze 2010

Leopoldo Nuti, La sfida nucleare. La politica estera italiana e le armi atomiche 1945-1991, il Mulino, Bologna 2007

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

 Paolo Soave, La democrazia allo specchio. L'Italia e il regime militare ellenico (1967-1974), Rubbettino, Soveria Mannelli 2014

Antonio Varsori, Radioso Maggio. Come l'Italia entro' in guerra, il Mulino, Bologna 2015

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

 Odd Arne Westad, Global Cold War, Cambridge University Press 2005

 

Teaching methods

Two hours lectures.

Assessment methods

During the course and before oral examination regularly attending students (the presence will be verified) will take two progressive written tests. Each test lasts 45 minutes and includes open questions. It will be evaluated  up to 30, contributing to the average of written tests. In case of absence (to justify) to a test, or negative evaluation, the part of program will be brought to the final oral examination. For those who have passed all tests, oral examination will permit to evaluate analytical capacity, general understanding of the course and of the reading. Final grade will be the average between written tests average and oral grade. Not attending students must take the exam orally, reading included.

Teaching tools

Text of main international treaties, historical documentaries, other online sources and some lectures of highly qualified scholars.

Office hours

See the website of Paolo Soave