B5961 - International History (LM)

Learning outcomes

The course aims to provide the tools and knowledge to understand the evolution of the international relations in the period between the Congress of Vienna and the end of the Cold War. Through the reconstruction of the events, protagonists and crises that marked international relations in the 19th and 20th centuries, students will acquire the skills and analytical tools to grasp the complex issues underlying the international dimension of political systems and to frame, with autonomous and critical reflection, the multiple scenarios of contemporary geopolitics. The course aims to provide the historical and conceptual foundations that will enable students to develop an original and critical approach to the study of international relations within the broader context of international and diplomatic sciences. By the end of the course, students will be familiar with the protagonists and the main developments of international relations in their bilateral and global dynamics and will be able to interpret the major political and geopolitical transformations that occurred in the European and non-European spheres during the contemporary age.

Course contents

1. The history of international relations: origin, method and definitions.
2. End of the Napoleonic Wars, Holy Alliance, the creation and crisis of the Vienna System.
3. The formation of new states on the map of Europe: Germany and Italy.
4. From the pacifist movement to the formation of political-military blocs.
5. World War I and the formation of the Versailles system.
6. The Russian Revolution and its global consequences.
7. Post-Locarno period in Europe.
8. The crisis of the Versailles system and the growing military threat.
9. The Second World War and the emergence of the Yalta-Potsdam system.
10. Beginning of the Cold War: formation of economic and military-political blocs.
11. The bipolar world: from de-Stalinisation to the Cuban Missile Crisis.
12. Détente and its limits.
13. The Last Stage of the Cold War: From SDI to the Common House of Europe.
14. China in the system of international relations of the twentieth century.
15. Korea in the reflection of bloc confrontation.
16. Decolonisation process and Non-alignment movement.
17. The Space Age and the Cold War.
18. Science diplomacy in the Cold War period.
19. The Fall of the Wall and the End of Communism.
20. The Post-bipolar World: from unilateralism to multilateralism.

Readings/Bibliography

Textbook

International History of the Twentieth Century and Beyond, Antony Best, Jussi M. Hanhimäki, Joseph A. Maiolo and Kirsten E. Schulze, Routledge, 4° edizione (3 settembre 2024).

Recommended readings

1. HENRY KISSINGER, DIPLOMACY, SIMON AND SCHUSTER, NEW YORK 1994
2. WALTER L. HIXSON, AMERICAN FOREIGN RELATIONS: A NEW DIPLOMATIC HISTORY, ROUTLEDGE, LONDON, NEW YORK, 2016
3. ODD ARNE WESTAD, THE GLOBAL COLD WAR, THIRD WORLD INTERVENTIONS AND THE MAKING OF OUR TIMES, CAMBRIDGE UNIVERSITY PRESS, 2007
4. GORDON H. CHANG, FRIENDS AND ENEMIES: THE UNITED STATES, CHINA, AND THE SOVIET UNION, 1948-1972,STANFORD UNIVERSITY PRESS, 1990.
5. EUROPE BETWEEN MIGRATIONS, DECOLONIZATION AND INTEGRATION (1945-1992), ED. G. LASCHI, V. DEPLANO, A. PES, ROUTLEDGE; 2021.
6. V. ZUBOK, A FAILED EMPIRE. THE SOVIET UNION IN THE COLD WAR FROM STALIN TO GOBACHEV, CHAPEL HILL, 2007.
7. L. MONZALI, P. SOAVE, ITALY AND THE MIDDLE EAST. GEOPOLITICS, DIALOGUE AND POWER DURING THE COLD WAR, LONDON, 2020.
8. H. BRANDS, MAKING THE UNIPOLAR MOMENT. U.S. FOREIGN POLICY AND THE RISE OF THE POST-COLD WAR ORDER, ITHACA, 2016.
9. M. WHYTE (ED.), CHINA S REVOLUTIONS AND INTERGENERATIONAL RELATIONS, UNIV OF MICHIGAN CENTER FOR CHINESE,2021.

Teaching methods

The course will consist of lectures aimed at introducing students to the key issues in international relations and their historical interpretation. The focus will be on the evolution of the international order over the past two centuries. Emphasis will be placed on analyzing the foreign policies of various geographical regions within the context of the dynamic nature of international relations. Additionally, several cross-cutting themes will be addressed to explore and deepen understanding of current issues.

Assessment methods

Students who regularly attend lectures (with attendance potentially verified by the lecturers) will be required to take two written assessments. These assessments will be conducted at the conclusion of the first and second halves of the course, covering the first and last ten lectures, respectively. Each assessment will consist of four or five open-ended questions on topics discussed in the corresponding portion of the course.

In the event of an absence from one of the assessments, which must be justified, the relevant part of the syllabus will be evaluated during the examination through an oral interview. Should a student receive a negative result in one or both written assessments, or choose to reject the final grade obtained, they will need to retake the examination for the respective part(s) of the syllabus through an oral interview.

For students who have successfully passed both written assessments, the oral examination will include a couple of general questions on the textbook content, with a primary focus on a monograph selected from the list provided in point 2 of the Bibliography. The discussion on the monograph aims to evaluate the student’s analytical skills and critical reflection on the issues presented in the selected text.

Non-attending students must independently prepare for the examination by studying the textbook and selecting two volumes from the provided list. Their preparedness will be assessed during the oral examination, where students are expected to demonstrate an understanding of the dynamics that characterized the history of international relations in the 19th and 20th centuries and to engage critically with the themes and problems addressed in the two selected texts from the list of monographs.

Teaching tools

After each lesson, the lecturer will provide students with slides pertaining to the material covered.

Office hours

See the website of Olga Dubrovina