23440 - International History (M-Z)

Learning outcomes

At the end of the class, the student understands the methods of analysis and interpretation of the main processes in the evolution of international politics; he/she knows how to critically apply these methods to some of the main topics and issues in international history over the last 140 years; he/she holds basic knowledge of the use of primary sources in the reconstruction of international history, and what these source consist of; he/she has basic knowledge of the most significant historiographical debates around the main issues of the course; he/she knows how to present and discuss a case study in international history.

Course contents

The aim of the class is to offer a critical reconstruction of the main political-economic dynamics that characterised the international system between the second half of the 19th century and the emergence of the post-bipolar world. Particular attention will be paid to the hegemonic cycles of modern and contemporary capitalism, as well as to the evolutions of the European political framework during the 'long' 20th century.
Lectures will be attended by the lecturer and students in a number corresponding to the limits indicated by security protocols. In the event that student attendance requests should exceed the classroom capacity limits, attendance will be arranged on a rota basis.

The course is divided into two sections (A and B), which last - respectively - 24 and 36 hours. The two sections will be organised as follows:

Section A examines the roots of the modern and contemporary international system, starting with a short analysis of the transformations that marked the global economic and political relations between the 16th and 18th centuries. It will then analyse the establishment of the so-called British hegemony; European powers’ colonial expansion in the second half of the 19th century; the first globalisation; the Belle Époque period; the First World War; Bolshevism; the 1920s and the establishment of European fascism (Fascism and Nazism); the Great Depression of 1929 and the New Deal; the demise of the inter-war international order and the Second World War.

Section B focuses on the international system as it emerged after the Second World War and considers the following topics and phenomena: the start of the Cold War; the onset and development of European integration; decolonisation; détente; the fracture of the 1970s and the end of the so-called golden age; the establishment of a new international monetary system and the emergence of the neo-liberal paradigm; the second Cold War; the dissolution of the Soviet bloc; the end of the Cold War and its impact on Europe; the “unipolar moment” and the international relations in the post-bipolar world; globalisation and its critics; 9/11 and the war on global terror; the economic and financial crisis of 2007-2008 and the evolutions of the EU policies; the uncertain articulation of the international system in the Twenty-first century.

 

Structure of the class (the organisation of the lectures may vary on the basis of the lecturer's teaching requirements):

Section A:

Week I: Introduction to the class and the discipline of international history; transformations of the capitalist system in the modern and contemporary ages; the British Empire’s hegemonic cycle.

Week II: The age of empires and the "first globalisation"; the Belle Époque; the roots of WWI from an international perspective (Europe, USA, Russia, China); the causes of WWI and its effects.

Week III: The post-WWI period and the collapse of the pre-war order; the 1920s in the international relations: the crisis of colonialism; the Bolshevik revolution and communist internationalism; European fascisms: Italian fascism and German Nazism.

Week IV: the 1929 crisis and its international impact; Roosevelt and the New Deal; the roots of WWII and its aftermath.

Section B

Week I: Post-WWII period: Bretton Woods, the Marshall Plan and the international economic reconstruction; the outset of the Cold War and the US-USSR confrontation; the process of European integration.

Week II: decolonisation; economic boom and 'affluent society'; bipolar détente.

Week III: the new international order: between post-Keynesianism and neo-liberalism; the international monetary system after the end of Bretton Woods; European and US responses to the 'disorder' of the 1970s.

Week IV: the 1980s between Reaganomics, Thatcherism and the 'conservative revolution'; European integration in the 1980s (Delors; Single Act; Maastricht); the international debt crisis.

Week V: the collapse of the USSR and the end of the Cold War in Europe; globalisation: premises, contradictions, crisis; unipolar moment? The US from 1990 to 9/11.

Week VI: The economic and financial crisis of 2007-2008 between the US and Europe; the Arab revolts; fractures and re-articulations in the 21^st century international order.

 

 

 

Readings/Bibliography

Handbooks (mandatory for both attending and non attending students):

1. Guido Formigoni, Storia della politica internazionale nell'età contemporanea, Bologna, il Mulino, 2006 e successive edizioni: chapters 1-5.

2. Antonio Varsori, Storia internazionale. Dal 1919 a oggi, Bologna, il Mulino, 2020: chapters 4 – 10.

Monografie (one for attending students; two for non attending students):

* Karl Polanyi, La grande trasformazione. Le origini economiche e politiche della nostra epoca, Torino, Einaudi, 2010 o altre edizioni [1944].

* Giovanni Arrighi e Beverly Silver (a cura di), Caos e governo del mondo. Come cambiano le egemonie e gli equilibri planetari, Milano, Mondadori, 2006 [1999].

* Odd Arne Westad, La guerra fredda globale. Gli Stati Uniti, l’Unione Sovietica e il mondo. Le relazioni internazionali del XX secolo, Milano, il Saggiatore, 2022 [2005].

* Barry Eichengreen, La globalizzazione del capitale. Storia del sistema monetario internazionale, Milano, Baldini&Castoldi, 1998 [1996].

* James L. Gelvin, Storia del Medio Oriente moderno, Torino, Einaudi, 2021 [2005].

* Giuliano Garavini, Dopo gli imperi. L’integrazione europea nello scontro Nord-Sud, Firenze, Le Monnier, 2009.

* Silvio Pons, La rivoluzione globale. Storia del comunismo internazionale, 1917-1991, Torino, Einaudi, 2012.

* Sara Lorenzini, Una strana guerra fredda. Lo sviluppo e le relazioni Nord-Sud, Bologna, il Mulino, 2017.

* Mario Del Pero, Era Obama. Dalla speranza del cambiamento all’elezione di Trump, Milano, Feltrinelli, 2017.

* Kiran Klaus Patel, Project Europe. A History, Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, 2020 [2018].

* Quinn Slobodian, Globalists. The End of Empire and the Birth of Neoliberalism, Cambridge (MA), Harvard University Press, 2018.

* Marco Mugnaini, L'ONU. Una storia globale, Milano, FrancoAngeli, 2021.

* Alessandra Bitumi, La comunità atlantica. Europa e Stati Uniti in età contemporanea, Roma, Carocci, 2023

* Antonio Varsori, Storia della costruzione europea. Dal 1947 a oggi, Bologna, Il Mulino, 2023

Teaching methods

Standard lectures (30 lectures of two hours each).

Some classes may be given by invited scholars. These lectures would be held in Italian or English.

 

Assessment methods

Attending students

Attending students must take three written tests.

The first intermediate test, which takes place in class, consists of a short answer to two open questions concerning the topics of section A and the first handbook (Formigoni).

The second intermediate test, which takes place in class, consists of a short answer to two open questions concerning the topics of section B and the second handbook (Varsori).

The third test (or final test) is a written review (max. 4 pages, font 12, line spacing 1.5; to be delivered in pdf format) based on the monograph. Suggestions and details on how to draft the review will be given during the class. The second intermediate exam (or final exam) takes place in a take-home mode through the Unibo's EOL platform.

Each written review will be checked via the anti-plagiarism program "Compilatio".

Those who for any reasons are not able to participate in the intermediate tests will take the exam according to non-attending students' instructions (see below).

The final grade results from the synthesis of the assessments of students' first, second and third midterm tests.

The evaluation of the first and second tests is valid until the end of the academic year (September 2025)

Non-attending students

Non-attending students take two written tests.

The tests for non-attending students work as follows:

First test: answering – in the form of a short essay (max. 2 pages, font 12, spacing 1.5, to be handed in as a pdf file) – to four open questions concerning the topics of section A and section B (and related handbooks: Formigoni and Varsori). This exam takes place in class.

Second test: reviews of two monographs: max. 3 pages each, font 12, spacing 1.5, to be delivered in pdf format. The reviews must be uploaded on the Unibo's EOL platform in correspondence with the exam sessions.

Students have two options to complete the reviews' submission: a) on the same day of the first text; b) during the following exam session.

Suggestions and details on how to draft the review will be made available on the “Virtuale” platform.

Each written review will be checked via the anti-plagiarism program "Compilatio".

The final grade results from the synthesis of the two parts' evaluations.

The evaluation of the first test is valid until the end of the academic year (September 2025)

 

 

Teaching tools

ppt; further readings will be made available on the "Virtuale" platform

Office hours

See the website of Roberto Ventresca