Social policies for cooperation

Course objectives

General objectives The Course aims to set and analyse the theoretical models and the methodological tools for the comprehension and the application of the social policies to the international cooperation politics for the development. Specific objectives Some specific analysis will pertain the evolution and the dynamic processes of the social policies for their application to the similar settings of the cooperation politics. In order to analyse the social policies through the main goals of the cooperation will be supplied multidisciplinary cognitive tools (sociological, economical historical political etc.) to allow students to develop specific skills for their application. The first goal of the Course (Dublin Descriptor 1) is to train students to keep active roles and responsibilities in the field of the cooperation. They can acquire basic and advanced knowledges and strategical competencies for operating in international contexts, especially for the protection of the rights and social planning policies. For the second goal (Dublin Descriptor 2), attention will be paid for the development of skills in the application of the social policies objectives in different social and cultural contexts, in projects and arrangements thanks to the knowledge of concepts and methods to analyse the cultural diversity. To achieve the third goal (Dublin Descriptor 3), the written, practical and oral tests will allow to verify the level of theoretical and methodological knowledge of the students and their skill to apply them in decision making and planning roles for the social policies in the cooperation. The practical and oral tests – made during the classes in favor of the mates, will allow also to verify the ability to communicate what the students know about the previous object of the Course, as the fourth goal sets (Dublin Descriptor 4). For the fifth last goal (Dublin Descriptor 5), the supply of a wide range of document sources and the knowledge of analytical and applicative methodologies permit students to lead detailed and up-to-date studies autonomously after the end of the training.

Channel 1
LUCA ALTERI Lecturers' profile

Program - Frequency - Exams

Course program
The analysis of international cooperation cannot avoid the study of the dynamics that lead State and supranational actors, and socio-economics players to interact with each other. Specifically, the origin and dynamics of the system of inequalities developed on a global level will be explained, as well as the international division of labor underlying it and, finally, the articulated response at the level of both institutions and civil society. A response – it should be noted – often characterized by failure. Behind an apparently simple concept, there are some assumptions that deserve to be analyzed: the dialectic between development and underdevelopment, for example; the relationship between the North and the South of the world; the transition from colonialism to neo-colonialism; imperialism and national liberation movements; financialization and the debt economy. The aforementioned prerequisites, i.e. the multidisciplinary cognitive tools necessary for the analysis of social policies for cooperation, constitute the “knowledge and understanding” indicated as necessary by Dublin Descriptor 1 and allow the development of specific skills by young scholars. The latter, in coherence with Dublin Descriptor 2, will acquire strategic skills to operate in contexts of international crisis and plan social protection policies. The Course is inner to the Weberian framework of the Nation-State and emphasizes the new protagonists of international cooperation: supranational actors, corporations, global civil society, international migration flows. There will be a diachronic comparison with some official documents drawn up in previous decades_ for example, the Meadows Report on the Limits to Development (produced by the so-called “Club of Rome” in 1972) and the Brandt Report (“North-South. A programme for Survival”) dating from 1980 and never implemented. It will also explain the failure of international cooperation, specifically in the most complex quarter century for peacebuilding: as a 25-year war that began with the dissolution of Yugoslavia and ideally ended with the resounding defeat of the United States in Afghanistan.
Prerequisites
Curiosity about the peaceful and conflictual ways that govern collective life.
Books
Young scholars who will have to face the Social Policies for Cooperation exam for the academic year 2024.2025, after attending lessons, will have to critically discuss their lectures notes and present a reflection on the following texts: the issue 2-2024 of "la Rivista delle Politiche Sociali" about the empowerment of the inner areas and the volume edited by Carlo Catapano, Antonella Ercolani and Lorenzo Termine ("Periferia contesa? La competizione tra Stati Uniti e Cina in America Latina", il Mulino, 2023). The non-attending scholars will have to add another volume: "Cina. L'irresistibile ascesa", by Alberto Bradanini (Sandro Teti Editore, 2022).
Teaching mode
The exam will be in oral form and will allow the capacity to learn (Dublin Descriptor 5) by the evaluation of different levels of use of sources, analysis of case studies and critical revision.
Exam mode
Godard argued that it is the margin that draws the page: to understand both conflicts and attempts to limit inequalities, it will be necessary to study the structural context of International Cooperation
Lesson mode
The exam will be in oral form and will allow the capacity to learn (Dublin Descriptor 5) by the evaluation of different levels of use of sources, analysis of case studies and critical revision.
LUCA ALTERI Lecturers' profile

Program - Frequency - Exams

Course program
The analysis of international cooperation cannot avoid the study of the dynamics that lead State and supranational actors, and socio-economics players to interact with each other. Specifically, the origin and dynamics of the system of inequalities developed on a global level will be explained, as well as the international division of labor underlying it and, finally, the articulated response at the level of both institutions and civil society. A response – it should be noted – often characterized by failure. Behind an apparently simple concept, there are some assumptions that deserve to be analyzed: the dialectic between development and underdevelopment, for example; the relationship between the North and the South of the world; the transition from colonialism to neo-colonialism; imperialism and national liberation movements; financialization and the debt economy. The aforementioned prerequisites, i.e. the multidisciplinary cognitive tools necessary for the analysis of social policies for cooperation, constitute the “knowledge and understanding” indicated as necessary by Dublin Descriptor 1 and allow the development of specific skills by young scholars. The latter, in coherence with Dublin Descriptor 2, will acquire strategic skills to operate in contexts of international crisis and plan social protection policies. The Course is inner to the Weberian framework of the Nation-State and emphasizes the new protagonists of international cooperation: supranational actors, corporations, global civil society, international migration flows. There will be a diachronic comparison with some official documents drawn up in previous decades_ for example, the Meadows Report on the Limits to Development (produced by the so-called “Club of Rome” in 1972) and the Brandt Report (“North-South. A programme for Survival”) dating from 1980 and never implemented. It will also explain the failure of international cooperation, specifically in the most complex quarter century for peacebuilding: as a 25-year war that began with the dissolution of Yugoslavia and ideally ended with the resounding defeat of the United States in Afghanistan.
Prerequisites
Curiosity about the peaceful and conflictual ways that govern collective life.
Books
Young scholars who will have to face the Social Policies for Cooperation exam for the academic year 2024.2025, after attending lessons, will have to critically discuss their lectures notes and present a reflection on the following texts: the issue 2-2024 of "la Rivista delle Politiche Sociali" about the empowerment of the inner areas and the volume edited by Carlo Catapano, Antonella Ercolani and Lorenzo Termine ("Periferia contesa? La competizione tra Stati Uniti e Cina in America Latina", il Mulino, 2023). The non-attending scholars will have to add another volume: "Cina. L'irresistibile ascesa", by Alberto Bradanini (Sandro Teti Editore, 2022).
Teaching mode
The exam will be in oral form and will allow the capacity to learn (Dublin Descriptor 5) by the evaluation of different levels of use of sources, analysis of case studies and critical revision.
Exam mode
Godard argued that it is the margin that draws the page: to understand both conflicts and attempts to limit inequalities, it will be necessary to study the structural context of International Cooperation
Lesson mode
The exam will be in oral form and will allow the capacity to learn (Dublin Descriptor 5) by the evaluation of different levels of use of sources, analysis of case studies and critical revision.
  • Lesson code1048064
  • Academic year2025/2026
  • CourseDevelopment and International Cooperation Studies
  • CurriculumSocio-politico-economico
  • Year2nd year
  • Semester1st semester
  • SSDSPS/07
  • CFU6