Development and International Cooperation Studies

The course will provide a wide and multidisciplinary vision of the relationships between international institutions and States in the contemporary age. During a first phase, particular attention will be devoted to the impact of the Enlightenment and the development of the idea of the nation, which would soon lead to the gradual decline of multinational empires and the consolidation of national states. In a second section, the course will focus on East-Central Europe analyzing the international dimension of the relationships between States and minorities, with the aim of understanding how the inter-ethnic complexity of this region has influenced the system of international relations during the twentieth century. The East/West division, in fact, could contribute to describe an interesting unified framework within which each country and each area, while following the path of the entire continent, expresses its own particular identity. The goal is to provide the basic knowledge in order to continue and deepen the study of history of international relations and of the multilevel governance dynamics among international and sovranational institutions, States and local and regional dimensions.