B5861 - The US in World Politics

Course contents

The course is divided into two parts: lectures and seminars.

The first part of the course is organized in lectures (16 hours) and aims to introduce students to the acquisition of the historical and conceptual tools underlying the international relations of the United States, with a particular focus on the national and transnational racial question and the impact of black movements on US politics in the world.

The second part is organized in seminars: the class will be divided in two groups (12 hours each one) to explore specific themes that mark the history of the United States in the world: democracy and expansionism, nationalism and empire, internationalism and war.

Students are required to start the course having read the book: Warren I. Cohen, Nation Like All Others: A Brief History of American Foreign Relations, New York, Columbia University Press, 2018.

Building on the knowledge acquired during the first part of the course, active participation will be required in the second part of the course: students will be asked to present and discuss books on the specific topics listed above.

The schedule of lectures and seminars with the bibliography will be presented at the beginning of the course and made available on the platform virtuale.unibo.it

Only students who consistently attend the lectures and seminars (at least 80%) and actively participate with presentations will be able to take the oral examination as attending students.

Readings/Bibliography

Attending Students:

The oral examination will focus on Warren I. Cohen, Nation Like All Others: A Brief History of American Foreign Relations (New York, Columbia University Press, 2018), the lectures of the first part of the course, and the book chosen for the seminar part of the course.

Non-attending students:

- Warren I. Cohen, Nation Like All Others: A Brief History of American Foreign Relations, New York, Columbia University Press, 2018.

- Andrew J. Bacevich, The Short American Century. A Postmortem, Cambridge (Mass.), Harvard University Press, 2012.

And a book chosen from the following:

- Michael Latham, The Right Kind of Revolution: Modernization, Development, and U.S. Foreign Policy from the Cold War to the Present, Ithaca, Cornell University Press, 2011.

- Thomas Borstelmann, The Cold War and the Color Line: American Race Relations in the Global Arena. Cambridge, Mass., Harvard University Press, 2001.

- Anders Stephanson, Destino Manifesto. L'espansionismo americano e l'Impero del Bene, Milano, Feltrinelli, 2004.

Teaching methods

Lectures and seminars

Assessment methods

Oral Exam

Teaching tools

Books, Essays, Documents.

Office hours

See the website of Matteo Battistini