OVERVIEW

The course is aimed at analyzing the genesis, the advancement and the evolution of the ideas of peace and war in the History of Political Thought. It will especially focus on authors, analyses and theories that, in reason of their significances and legacies, have marked the most relevant steps of the path which, from the ancient centuries till today, have developed around the political problem of the construction of peace.

AIMS AND CONTENT

LEARNING OUTCOMES

The course aims at allowing students to know and to comprehend the evolutionary paths of the ideas of peace and war in the History of Political Thought, through the contextualization and the analysis of the most significant theories.

AIMS AND LEARNING OUTCOMES

The course aims to enable an understanding of the evolutionary paths of the ideas of peace and war in the History of Political Thought, in order to foster

1) the knowledge of the most significant analytical contributions

2) their contextualisation

3) their abstraction in function of the understanding of contemporary issues

TEACHING METHODS

The teaching involves 36 hours (equivalent to 6 CFUs).

SYLLABUS/CONTENT

Analysis of the ideas of peace and war in:

1) Classical antiquity

2) Late antiquity

3) Middle Ages

4) Modern Age

5) Contemporary Age

RECOMMENDED READING/BIBLIOGRAPHY

Compulsory readings:

C. Brown, T. Nardin and N.Rengger (eds.), International Relations in Political Thought, Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, 2002. - In detail: Cap. I, Cap. II, Cap. III, Cap. IV, Cap. V (pp. 243-256 and texts by Niccolò Machiavelli, Jean Bodin, Alexander Hamilton, Edmund Burke), Cap. VI (pp. 311-324 and texts by Hugo Grotius, Thomas Hobbes), Cap. VII (pp. 379-394 and texts by Immanuel Kant), Cap. VIII (pp. 457-469 and texts by Giuseppe Mazzini), Cap. IX (pp. 519-531 and texts by Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels)

At students' choice (one book for those who attend the course, two for those who do not):

- Aeschylus, The Persians.

- Hannah Arendt, The Origins of Totalitarianism.

- Hannah Arendt, Eichmann in Jerusalem: A Report on the Banality of Evil.

- Aristophanes, Lysistrata.

- Aristophanes, Ecclesiazusae.

- Dante Alighieri, De Monarchia.

- Desiderius Erasmus, The Complaint of Peace.

- Thomas Hobbes, Leviathan, chapters XIII, XIV, XV, XVII, XVIII.

- Immanuel Kant, Perpetual Peace.

- John Mainard Keynes, The Economic Consequences of Peace.

- Niccolò Machiavelli, Art of War.

- Angelo Roncalli, Pacem in terris.

- Sophocles, Antigone.

- Henry D. Thoreau, Civil Disobedience.

- Thucydides, History of the Peloponnesian War, book V.

TEACHERS AND EXAM BOARD

LESSONS

LESSONS START

Second semester

Class schedule

The timetable for this course is available here: Portale EasyAcademy

EXAMS

EXAM DESCRIPTION

The exam is oral and aims to assess the skills acquired in analysing political ideas and theories dealing with peace and war from a critical perspective and in using them to understand contemporary politics.

ASSESSMENT METHODS

In particular, the following will be assessed:

1) the critical analysis of political theories

2) the ability to relate them to contemporary issues 

FURTHER INFORMATION

Students with certification of DSA (Special educational needs), disability or other special educational needs are advised to contact both the contact person Prof. Aristide Canepa (aristide.canepa@unige.it) and the lecturer at the beginning of the course to agree on teaching and examination modalities that, while respecting the teaching objectives, take into account individual learning patterns and provide suitable compensatory tools.