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CODE 117789
ACADEMIC YEAR 2026/2027
CREDITS
SCIENTIFIC DISCIPLINARY SECTOR M-STO/04
LANGUAGE Italian
TEACHING LOCATION
  • GENOVA
SEMESTER 1° Semester
MODULES Questo insegnamento è un modulo di:

AIMS AND CONTENT

LEARNING OUTCOMES

At the end of the course the student is able to: - know the historical processes that led to the first attempts at European unification, the theoretical principles underlying them, the initiatives of movements, parties, political, economic and social forces in favor of continental unity from the second post-war period to the present day; - be aware of the historical dimension of the reality of the European Union and its possible evolutions; - understand the historiography and sources of European integration; - develop in-depth papers on specific topics.

AIMS AND LEARNING OUTCOMES

The teaching aims to provide the student with:
- historical knowledge of the history of European integration from 1945 to the present;
- master information on the history of the European idea;
- know the main stages of the European integration process from a historical, economic, social, and environmental policy perspective;
- firsthand knowledge of documentary and oral sources on the history of European integration;
- critically develop an understanding of the various historiographical trends on the topic;
- apply a methodology that allows for the preparation and presentation of specific papers, based on individual research on historical sources;
- analyze and understand the complexity of the European Union, between national pressures and supranational integration, which can be used to prepare dossiers with innovative proposals on current issues.

SDGs

Teaching contributes to the pursuit of the Sustainable Development Goals of the UN 2030 Agenda.

5. Gender Equality

8. Decent Work and Economic Growth

10. Reducing Inequalities

13. Climate Action

16. Peace, Justice, and Strong Institutions

17. Partnerships for the Goals

TEACHING METHODS

The course consists of lectures, for a total of 36 hours, and attendance is recommended.

Attendance is considered to be 70% of the time.

Attending students may participate in a simulated meeting of an EU institution or a European supranational body, or in a debate on one of the most current issues addressed by the EU's main political and/or institutional actors.

Thematic seminars on current issues in the European integration process will be organized and recommended during the course.

SYLLABUS/CONTENT

The following topics will be addressed:

Roots of Europe. A Europe in Motion
The Idea of ​​Europe in History
The Turning Point of the Late 18th Century
Characteristics and Key Figures of 19th-Century Europeanism
The First World War and the League of Nations Einaudi's Critique of the League of Nations
Projects, Movements, and Ideas for European Unification in Interwar Europe
The Briand Plan
The Monnet Project for Franco-British Union
The Idea of ​​Europe and Projects for a European Constitution in the Second World War and the Immediate Postwar Period
Movements for European Unity
Europe at the Start of the Cold War
Strategies for European Unification
Jean Monnet and Altiero Spinelli
The American Attitude Toward European Unification: From the Interwar Period to the Marshall Plan
The OECE
The Brussels Pact
The Congress of Europe in The Hague
The Council of Europe
The Schuman Plan
The CECA
The CED
The Founding Fathers of Europe: Alcide De Gasperi, Konrad Adenauer, Robert Schuman, Paul-Henri Spaak
Art. Article 38 of the EDC and the Project for a European Political Community
The Ad Hoc Assembly
From the Fall of the EDC to the WEU
The Treaties of Rome
The PAC
Italy in the CEE and its Entry into the SME: 1958-1978
De Gaulle's European Policy. The Fouchet Plans and the Empty Chair Crisis
Kennedy's Equal Partnership Proposal of July 1962
Europe in the Late 1960s and Early 1970s and the International Context
The Enlargements of the CED/EUO
The Crisis of the Bretton Woods System
The Hague Conference and the Relaunch of the Integration Process: Completion, Broadening, and Deepening
The First Projects for Monetary Unification The Werner Plan
The Monetary Snake
The SME
From direct elections to the EP to the Spinelli Project
The Single European Act
The Maastricht Treaty and the twenty-year constitutional period
Italy's entry into the Monetary Union
The Treaty of Nice
The Laeken Declaration and the Constitutional Treaty
The Lisbon Treaty
Euroscepticism

RECOMMENDED READING/BIBLIOGRAPHY

The slides used during the lectures and other teaching materials will be available on Aulaweb.

 

Recommended books:

 

- U. MORELLI, Storia dell’integrazione europea, Milano, Guerini, 2011

- D. PREDA, Alcide De Gasperi: European Founding Father, Brussels, Peter Lang, 2017

 

Non-attending students will also refer to one of the following volumes:

 

  • Luigi Vittorio Majocchi, Una comunità di destino: dal quartiere alla “città invisibile”. Un modello federalista, Bologna, Il Mulino, 2026
  • Paolo Caraffini e Lara Piccardo (a cura di), I movimenti per l'unità europea, 1987-2007, Bologna, Il Mulino, 2026
  • L’Europa in costruzione (1945-1950), numero monografico degli «Annali della Fondazione Ugo La Malfa. Storia Politica Economia», XL, Roma, Unicopli, 2025
  • Andrea Becherucci e Guido Levi (a cura di), Europeismo e federalismo in Toscana: dal secondo dopoguerra alla svolta del XXI secolo, Bologna, Il Mulino, 2025
  • Emanuele Bernardi, Fabrizio Nunnari, Costruire l’Europa. Giovanni Marcora ministro dell’Agricoltura a Bruxelles (1974-1980), 2023
  • Alessandro Cavalli, Alberto Martinelli, La società europea, Bologna Il Mulino, 2015
  • Pier Virgilio Dastoli e Nicoletta Parisi (a cura di), Giorgio Napolitano e il Parlamento Europeo, Napoli, Editoriale Scientifica, 2024
  • Lorenzo Meli, Lorenzo Natali e la politica comunitaria (1977-1988). L’“altra” Italia in Europa, Milano, Milano University Press, 2024
  • Serena Casu (a cura di), The European Parliament Elections. May 2019: 40 Years After the First Direct Election of the EP, Bari, Cacucci Editore, 2024
  • Elena Calandri, Giuliana Laschi, Simone Paoli (a cura di), L'Europa si fa nelle crisi. Integrazione europea e crisi esterne prima e dopo Maastricht, Bologna, Il Mulino, 2023
  • Matteo  Antonio  Napolitano, Il  Gruppo  Liberale  e  Democratico  al Parlamento  Europeo.  Un  profilo  politico  (1976-1985), Soveria  Mannelli, Rubbettino, 2023
  • Nancy De Leo, Choisir l’Europe. Le relazioni tra la Tunisia e la Cee (1969-1987), Milano, Franco Angeli, 2023
  • Raffaella Cinquanta, Fabio Zucca (a cura di), La paura del «Leviatano» europeo. Globalizzazione, euroscetticismo e crisi della democrazia, Milano, Ledizioni, 2022
  • Robert Belot, La Resistenza e la rinascita dell'idea europea (1942-1947), Bologna, Il Mulino, 2022
  • Giuliana Laschi, L'Europa agricola, dalla fame agli sprechi. Storia della PAC (1945-2004), Bologna, Il Mulino, 2022
  • Daniele Pasquinucci, Il frutto avvelenato. Il vincolo europeo e la critica all'Europa, Milano, Mondadori Education, 2022
  • Stefano Quirico, L'Europa di Wilhelm Röpke. Liberalismo, federalismo, nazione, Bologna, Il Mulino, 2022
  • Sante Cruciani, Maria Paola Del Rossi (a cura di), Diritti, Europa, federalismo. Bruno Trentin in prospettiva transnazionale (1988-2007), Firenze , Firenze University Press; Roma, Liberetà, 2023
  • Francesca Tortorella, Un antifascisme européiste. Giustizia e libertà et Partito d'azione (1929-1947), Bologna, Il Mulino, 2022
  • Ernesto Rossi, L’Europa di domani, ovvero gli Stati Uniti d’Europa, a cura di Antonella Braga, Aragno 2021
  • Matteo Antonio Napolitano, Verso l’Europa unita. Il percorso politico-istituzionale di Giulio Bergmann, Roma, Aracne, 2020.
  • Francesco Bonini, Sandro Guerrieri (a cura di), La scrittura delle Costituzioni. Il secondo dopoguerra in un quadro mondialeBologna, Il Mulino, 2020
  • Lara Piccardo, Dalla Patria all’Umanità. L’Europa di Giuseppe Mazzini, Bologna, Il Mulino, 2020
  • Giorgio Grimaldi, I Verdi italiani e l’Europa. Il Sole che ride dagli albori all’azione nel Parlamento europeo (1978-2009), Bologna, Il Mulino, 2020
  • Giorgio Grimaldi, I Verdi in Germania. L’ecologia in politica dai movimenti all’Europa, Pavia, Collana del Jean Monnet Interregional Centre of Excellence, 2020
  • Raffaella Cinquanta, Partigiani di tutta Europa, unitevi!”. L’ideale dell’Europa unita nelle riviste clandestine della Resistenza italiana, Bologna, Il Mulino, 2020
  • Euroscepticisms. Resistance and Opposition to the European Community/European Union, a cura di Guido Levi e Daniela Preda, Bologna, Il Mulino, 2018
  • Daniela Preda, Alcide De Gasperi: European Founding Father, Brussels, Peter Lang, 2017
  • Guido Levi, L’europeismo ai tempi della Costituente, Padova, Cedam, 2020

Erasmus students will present an in-depth report on a topic of their choice and report on one of the following volumes:

 

  • U. MORELLI, L’Unione europea. Storia, istituzioni, politiche, Loescher 2007
  • W. LOTH, Building Europe, a history of European integration, Berlin, de Gruyter, 2015
  • M. T. BITSCH, Histoire de la construction européenne, Ed. Complexe, 1999

TEACHERS AND EXAM BOARD

Exam Board

GUIDO LEVI (President)

DANIELA PREDA (President)

LESSONS

LESSONS START

Classes begin: second semester

Class schedule

The timetable for this course is available here: Portale EasyAcademy

EXAMS

EXAM DESCRIPTION

The exam consists of an oral examination (approximately 15-20 minutes) and includes questions on both the institutional and specialized sections. The examination will aim to assess adequate knowledge of the course topics, adapting to individual cases to ensure this assessment.

During the course, those attending will be required to prepare dossiers and submit oral reports, which will be included in the overall assessment. Non-attending students will be required to explore a topic of their choice by reading a book from those published on this course information sheet and on aulaweb.

ASSESSMENT METHODS

The examination committee is appointed by the Department Council and chaired by the course instructor. The exam primarily assesses subject knowledge, but also the quality of the presentation, the correct use of specialized vocabulary, and the ability to critically reason about the study completed.