OVERVIEW

The classes address the main events and the leading transformations in world history in politics, economy, society, and culture during the 19th and 20th centuries. Specific attention is paid to the possible periodizations of contemporary history and to three diverse eras in the structure of the global system: the rise of the European primacy in the 19th century, the centrality of the United States in the 20th century and the coming of a post-American world at the dawn of the Third millennium.

AIMS AND CONTENT

LEARNING OUTCOMES

The classes are intended as an introduction to the history of the Nineteenth and Twentieth centuries with the purpose of offering students an overview of the main transformations in the fields of economy, politics, society, culture, and customs from the Industrial Revolution to the Twin Towers within a global perspective, focusing on a few highly remarkable processes in some European, American, Asian, and African areas.

AIMS AND LEARNING OUTCOMES

The classes aim at addressing the main events and the leading transformations in world history in the fields of politics, economy, society, and culture during the Nineteenth and Twentieth centuries from a comparative perspective. Specific attention will be paid to the possible periodizations of contemporary history, along with its turning points, from the Industrial Revolution to the terrorist attacks of 11 September 2001, and to three diverse eras in the structure of the global system: the rise and consolidation of the European primacy in the Nineteenth century, the centrality of the United States in the Twentieth century and the coming of a post-American world at the dawn of the Third millennium. By the end of the classes the students will have the knowledge of the main events and the leading transformations in world history in the fields of politics, economy, society, and culture during the Nineteenth and Twentieth centuries from a comparative perspective. Moreover, they will be able to define the possible periodizations of contemporary history, along with its turning points, from the Industrial Revolution to the terrorist attacks of 11 September 2001. They will also develop adequate skills to elaborate critical assessments and to make evaluations of their own about the most relevant issues and problems related to this era. Finally, they will acquire an appropriate vocabulary and the proper analytical tools to discuss and to examine such matters.

PREREQUISITES

None.

TEACHING METHODS

Frontal teaching with the support of audio/visual equipment.

SYLLABUS/CONTENT

From a European-centered to a post-American world. Conventional scholarly wisdom has it that contemporary history hinges on the Nineteenth and Twentieth centuries. Indian statesman and historian Kavalam Madhava Panikkar has contrasted the modern epoch, marked by European dominance over the world, to the contemporary era, characterized by the ascent of other-than-European societies, with India’s 1947 independence from the British rule as the turning point between these two periods. Sociologist Giovanni Arrighi has pointed to the Twentieth century as the age of U.S. hegemony within the capitalistic system as opposed to the Nineteenth century as the time of British primacy, a pre-eminence that undertook a decline in the last quarter of the century in the wake of the rise of both the United States and Germany as new economic powers. Such an interpretation fits the traditional vision of the Twentieth century as the American century, to quote publisher Henry Luce’s well-known definition. Following Washington’s success in the Cold War, in political analyst Charles Krauthammer’s opinion, the U.S. leadership in the world arena strengthened in the last decade of the century with the establishment of a ten-year-long unipolar moment, but it came to an end in the aftermath of the terrorist attacks of 11 September 2001 and the beginning of what journalist and author Fareed Zakaria has called a “post-American world”. Those just summarized are only some of the possible periodizations of contemporary history. After reviewing the most relevant ones, the classes intend to address the main events and the leading transformations in world history in the fields of politics, economy, society, and culture during the Nineteenth and Twentieth centuries from a comparative perspective, along the lines of the division of  the structure of the global system into three spans of time: the rise and consolidation of the European primacy in the Nineteenth century, the centrality of the United States in the Twentieth century, and the coming of a post-American world at the dawn of the Third millennium. The issues and topics discussed at classes will include, but will not be confined to, industrialization, the Congress of Vienna and the restoration of the ancient regime, the European revolutions, imperialism and colonialism, World War I, the Bolshevik revolution, the totalitarian regimes in the interwar years, World War II, the origins of the Cold War and the establishment of the Western bloc, peaceful coexistence and détente, the Chinese revolution, decolonization and the Non-Aligned Movement, the Middle East crises, the end of the cold war and the collapse of the Soviet Union, the unipolar moment, the process of European integration, the terrorist attacks of 11 September 2001 and the post-American world.

RECOMMENDED READING/BIBLIOGRAPHY

Lucio Caracciolo e Adriano Roccucci, Storia contemporanea. Dal mondo europeo al mondo senza centro, Milan, Mondadori Education, 2017, ISBN 978-88-00-74473-7;

Claudio Pavone, Prima lezione di storia contemporanea, Rome-Bari, Laterza, 2007, pp. 142-222, ISBN 978-88-420-7991-0.

TEACHERS AND EXAM BOARD

Exam Board

STEFANO LUCONI (President)

ROBERTO MACCARINI

LESSONS

LESSONS START

The lessons will start on Tuesday, October 2, and will take place on Tuesdays from 2:00 PM to 3:00 PM (room 4 Albergo dei Poveri) and Wednesdays fro 3:00 PM to 5:00 PM (room 17 Albergo dei Poveri).

Class schedule

The timetable for this course is available here: Portale EasyAcademy

EXAMS

EXAM DESCRIPTION

For both students attending classes and students who do not plan to attend classes: oral exam and written test, both rigorously individual and without any aid (except for students who are entitled to such support as, for instance, conceptual diagrams on the basis of specific prescription). Students will have the opportunity to take a written test on the topics examined during classes, if they want to. The written test will be scheduled between the end of the classes and the date of the first oral exam session. Students taking the written test will have the opportunity to supplement its outcome by means of an oral exam during the scheduled oral exam sessions. The outcome of the written test will be valid until the last exam session of the academic year 2018-2019. The oral exam will be on the whole contents of the readings listed in the “recommended reading/bibliography” section.

ASSESSMENT METHODS

The written test – which will last no longer than two hours – will comprise twelve open-ended questions, three requiring a long answer (20-28 lines) and nine necessitating a short one (1-3 lines). The length of each oral exam will be inversely proportional to the student’s knowledge. The questions – for both the written test and the oral exam – will aim at assessing students’ familiarity with the possible periodizations of contemporary history as well as the knowledge and understanding of the leading transformations in world history in the fields of politics, economy, society, and culture during the Nineteenth and Twentieth centuries. Clarity in expressing one’s ideas and arguments will be a further element of evaluation. The final grade will result from the combination of the assessment of all these factors. Students are advised not to prepare the exam by learning names and dates by heart.

Exam schedule