Administrative, Political and Economic Sciences

DONATELLO ARAMINI

The course aims to provide students with an articulate and critical knowledge of the events of the contemporary world,
It intends to favor the understanding of the roots of contemporaneity, the ability to contextualize historical events in time and space.
The knowledge of the methodology, the sources, the periodization and the main themes of the contemporary historiographical debate must allow the student to reach a sufficient competence to develop autonomy of judgment.
The student must acquire the ability to reasonably display the moments and the training processes of contemporary reality.
Through the course, students must acquire the essential knowledge and tools necessary for the development of a critical reading of the events of the contemporary age.

Through the course, students must acquire the essential knowledge and tools necessary for the development of a critical reading of the events of the contemporary age.

Not needed. A minimum knowledge of the last high school year history curriculum would be desirable.

The course is structured into three parts.
The first part will be dedicated to show the basic aspects of historical research (sources, periodization, methodology) and the historical processes that characterize the late modern age, starting from the processes of nation-building, nationalization, industrialization and the growth of transnational economic-cultural relations on a global scale. Special attention will be given to the formation of political cultures (liberalism, conservatism, reactionism, democracy, socialism, nationalism, intellectual avant-gardism) and mass society.
The second part will illustrate the main topics and issues of nineteenth-century history, starting with the insurrectionary movements that gave shape to the liberal states, the Italian and German unification processes, imperialism, the emergence of extra-European powerful countries such as the US and Japan, and the political, economic, social, and cultural transformations that characterized the last thirty years of the nineteenth century.
The third part of the course will focus on the history of the 20th century and its social, cultural, and institutional processes: world wars, crises of democracies, totalitarianisms and authoritarianisms, the Cold War, the birth of a democratic Europe, decolonization, the welfare society, and the transformations that took place in the last thirty years of the 20th century (the general trend towards an increasing globalization of historical processes, the end of the bipolar world, and the formation of a multipolar international political system).
In each part, attention will also be given to Italian history and how Italy fits into contemporary historical processes.

- G. Sabbatucci, V. Vidotto, Storia contemporanea. L'Ottocento, Laterza, Roma-Bari, 2018;
- G. Sabbatucci, V. Vidotto, Storia contemporanea. Dalla Grande Guerra a oggi, Laterza, Roma-Bari, 2019;
- S. Cavazza, P. Pombeni (a cura di), Introduzione alla storia contemporanea, Il Mulino, Bologna, 2020, terza edizione.

The course will consist of lectures that incorporate original documents, images, and videos.

Attendance is not mandatory but it is strongly recommended.

The exam will be held at the end of the course in an oral form. The exam will cover the texts listed in the syllabus. A sufficient number of questions will be asked to assess the student’s level of preparation (approximately 3–4) and to verify that the learning objectives have been met. In addition to specific knowledge of the exam texts, active participation in class activities and the ability to independently reason, study, and explore topics in depth may contribute to the evaluation.
In agreement with the students, the possibility of holding a preliminary test in preparation for the final exam will be considered.

Some examples of questions:
- the springtime of Nations and peoples
- imperialism
- Giolitti and the Italian modernization
- the roots of the cold war
- the events of 1968
- the end of Ussr

• The first part will be dedicated to show the basic aspects of historical research (sources, periodization, methodology) and the historical processes that characterize the late modern age, starting from the processes of nation-building, nationalization, industrialization and the growth of transnational economic-cultural relations on a global scale. Special attention will be given to the formation of political cultures (liberalism, conservatism, reactionism, democracy, socialism, nationalism, intellectual avant-gardism) and mass society. This part will correspond to a third of the lessons
  • Books: S. Cavazza, P. Pombeni (a cura di), Introduzione alla storia contemporanea, Il Mulino, Bologna, 2020, terza edizione, chapters from 1 to 11) Teaching materials and PDF files provided by the teacher


• The second
  part will illustrate the main topics and issues of nineteenth-century history,
  starting with the insurrectionary movements that gave shape to the liberal
  states, the Italian and German unification processes, imperialism, the
  emergence of extra-European powerful countries such as the US and Japan, and
  the political, economic, social, and cultural transformations that
  characterized the last thirty years of the nineteenth century.This part will
  correspond to the second third of the lessons.
  • Books: S. Cavazza, P. Pombeni (a cura di), Introduzione alla storia contemporanea, Il Mulino, Bologna, 2020, terza edizione, chapters from 12 to 17); G. Sabbatucci, V. Vidotto, Storia contemporanea. L'Ottocento, Laterza, Roma-Bari, 2018


• The third
  part of the course will focus on the history of the 20th century and its
  social, cultural, and institutional processes: world wars, crises of
  democracies, totalitarianisms and authoritarianisms, the Cold War, the birth of
  a democratic Europe, decolonization, the welfare society, and the
  transformations that took place in the last thirty years of the 20th century
  (the general trend towards an increasing globalization of historical processes,
  the end of the bipolar world, and the formation of a multipolar international
  political system).This part will correspond to the last third of the lessons.
  • Books: S. Cavazza, P. Pombeni (a cura di), Introduzione alla storia contemporanea, Il Mulino, Bologna, 2020, terza edizione, capitoli 18-37); G. Sabbatucci, V. Vidotto, Storia contemporanea. Dalla Grande Guerra a oggi, Laterza, Roma-Bari, 2019