B029139 - HISTORY OF POLITICAL ISTITUTIONS

Italian

A course on the origins and development of constitutional governments since early modern age to nowadays. Lectures will be based on the evaluation of political documents in a seminar context. The main focus will be on so called “separation of powers” theory: how it was born; how it was shaped in its classical form in XVIII-XIX centuries; how it was re-interpreted in the mass democracy era and which is its present meaning.

For the students which regularly attend the class:
1. Notes from the lessons and other materials available at Luca Mannori Faculty web site;
2. M. DUVERGER, Le costituzioni della Francia, ESI, 1984 (available in the library also in French edition)
For the students which cannot regularly attend the class:
1. Storia delle istituzioni politiche. Dall'antico regime all'era globale, a cura di M.Meriggi, L.Tedoldi, Carocci, 4 chapters ad student's choice
2. One of these two handbooks according to choice:
a. R.MARTUCCI, Storia costituzionale italiana dallo Statuto albertino alla Repubblica (1848-2001), Carocci, 2008
b. C.GHISALBERTI, Storia costituzionale italiana 1849-1948, Laterza, 1978

Offer an overall overview about the origins of the modern constitutionalism which can complete the cultural framework of a student of political sciences.

Basic knowlwdge of public italian law

The course is principally based on the reading and the comment of constitutional documents available on teacher web site. In the same site are also available slides and other references useful for the preparation of the exam

Oral Examimation

1st. part (XI-XVI centuries): the medieval and the early modern roots of the european constitutionalism.
The political culture of the middle ages did not own the concept of ‘separation of powers'. Public power was conceived as a whole function, whose purpose was declaration and defence of the law. The first part of the course will focus on the constitutional assets of the early modern era consistent with this premise, uptil the English Revolution and the birth of the modern sovereignity.

2nd part (XVIII-XIX centuries): the separation of powers in the liberal age.
From the Atlantic Revolutions period, the concept of separation of powers becomes the main postulate of the modern constitutionalism, but its meaning varies according to the different constitutional traditions. The second part of the course will offer a view on these different experiences (USA, France, Germany, Italy) uptil the first world war.

3d part (XX century): The democratic State and the 'new' conception of the separation of powers.
The advent of mass democracy certainly does not mark the end of the separatist conception, but it involves a radical redefinition of its meaning. In the last module we will review the main constitutional experiences of the twentieth century that, from Weimar to nowadays , have shaped the new concept of the old liberal theory.