The course covers the main socio-political issues featuring contemporary history at European and global level. Focus is on the genesis of modernization processes in the second half of the 18th century, the development of major areas of the world between the 19th and 20th centuries, with particular attention to the establishment of European hegemony and the construction of nation States, and the dynamics of globalization till the early 21th century.
Course Content - Last names J-Z
The course is divided into three modules, describing the great transformations of European and international society from the end of the nineteenth century to the present. Particular attention is reserved to Italian history. A part of the course will have a monographic character and will be dedicated to illustrating new areas of study and new trends in contemporary political history.
Final examination requires knowledge of both the following handbooks: G. Turi, Il nostro mondo. Dalle grandi rivoluzioni all’11 settembre, Laterza; T. Detti, G. Gozzini, L’età del disordine. Storia del mondo attuale, 1968-2017, Laterza.
For the final exam is required to study the following two volumes:
S. Rogari, L'età della globalizzazione. Storia del mondo contemporaneo dalla Restaurazione ai giorni nostri, terza edizione, Utet Università, 2018; M. Baioni, F. Conti (a cura di), La politica nell’età contemporanea. I nuovi indirizzi della ricerca storica, Carocci, 2017;
Learning Objectives - Last names A-I
Fundamental knowledge of main events and political and social transformations in European and world history since late 18th century to present days. Introductory use of the main analytical tools and interpretations of contemporary history, supported by some elementary demographic and economic knowledge. Basic skills in evaluating a historical source, in explaining and connecting main historical process, in proposing some elementary interpretations.
Learning Objectives - Last names J-Z
At the end of the course students will have acquired a good knowledge of Italian and international history of the late nineteenth and twentieth centuries. They will also have acquired a good knowledge of new fields of study and new trends in contemporary political history. Students will therefore be able to deal with more specific subjects of study for the degree course with a more appropriate skill set.
Prerequisites - Last names A-I
Basic knowledge of events and main issues of modern and contemporary history, as learned in high school.
Teaching Methods - Last names A-I
Front lessons by the teacher, participation in class, individual study of notes from lessons and of the suggested books.
Teaching Methods - Last names J-Z
Lectures: total hours 63
Further information - Last names A-I
Attendance to lessons is not compulsory, but it's strongly recommended and it will be checked. Students attending classes should study suggested texts according to the scheduled published on the Moodle platform. Intermediate test is reserved to students attending classes. Students attending the lessons have to register for the class on the Moodle platform (http://e-l.unifi.it/) not later than 15th October 2019.
Further information - Last names J-Z
Attendance is not mandatory, but highly recommended.
Type of Assessment - Last names A-I
The final examination is intended to verify the acquisition of learning outcomes through the holding of a three-hour written test, without any notes, books or other tools. The written examination consists of a series of short answer questions designed to test the basic knowledge and the sense of contextualization, and five extended-answer questions about general topics and issues dealt with in the teaching program, designed to check the depth of knowledge and ability to synthesize, argumentation and problematization. It is required to reply to all five extended-answer questions. The evaluation of the results, albeit expressed in numerical terms, is qualitative, in connection with the demonstrated possession of knowledge and argumentative ability.
Students attending classes are allowed to substain the two-hour intermediate examination, after the second term of the course. The intermediate examination consists of a series of short answer questions and two extended answer questions, about the first part of the program of the course. A positive evaluation of the intermediate test allows to sustain a reduced final examination (some short answer questions and three extended answer questions, to be completed in two hours), once a time and only in the winter term. Final evaluation results from the medium of the grades of the two tests.
Type of Assessment - Last names J-Z
A written intermediate test is scheduled on November 13th at 12 noon. It will focus on the program of the first two modules, with open-ended questions. The final examination of the winter session (January-February 2020) will also take place in written form, with the same characteristics of the mid-term exam. For students who have passed the intermediate test it will only cover the second part of the program; for all the others it will concern the whole program. The positive result of the intermediate test will be considered valid only for taking the final exam in the winter session (and only in one of the three exam sessions foreseen). In the event of a negative result of the second exam, the result of the intermediate exam will be canceled and the student will have to take the exam on the whole program. In the subsequent spring-summer 2020 exam sessions, the exam will be oral.
Course program - Last names A-I
Main topics of teacher’s lessons are:
1. An introduction to contemporary history. Contents and methods.
2. Transition to contemporary history: the capitalist proto-globalization
3. The “twin revolutions” in Europe
4. The American revolutions
5. 19th century Europe: bourgeoise society and working classes among liberalism and democracy
6. Empires and nation-states
7. Colonialism and imperialism
8. Asia and China in the long 19th Century
9. 1905: wars and revolutions
10. The first world war
11. Russian revolution and the Urss
12. Crisis of empires, nations and democracy in postwar Europe
13. War after the war: the fascist regimes
14. Asia from empires to the national-states
15. The crisis of 1929
16. Antisemitism and the Shoah
17. The second world war
18. Postwar democracies in Europe
19. The Cold War
20. The Golden Age
21. The decline of colonialism and its legacy
22. Latin America from populism to dictatorships
23. The two communisms
24. Transition and the globalization in the Seventies
25. Return to democracy in Central and East Europe and Latin America
26. The Islamic world in the last four decades
27. Asia development in the last four decades
28. Conclusions
Course program - Last names J-Z
The course is divided into three modules and covers a period from the end of the Nineteenth Century to the present day. The first module deals with the great changes in Europe and in the world in the period from 1870 to the thirties of the twentieth century (second industrial revolution and mass society, imperialism and colonialism, World War I and the Russian Revolution, the birth of totalitarianism, etc..). The second module will outline the most important world events since 1945 (the Cold War, decolonization, European integration, globalization, new conflicts). In both modules, particular attention will be devoted to Italian history. Some lessons will be devoted to illustrating the new fields of research and the new trends in contemporary political history. Among the topics covered will include: Generations, youth movements and politics, propaganda and political communication, violence and politics, art and politics, sports and politics, emotions and politics, symbols, rituals and politics.