This course aims to study politics in France and Italy from 1945 to the present day. It starts from an observation. The French think they know Italy and the Italians, but they actually convey a lot of clichés about the other country and its inhabitants, and even more about politics in this country. The same goes for the French. And foreigners often share these stereotypes. For example, Italian democracy would be corrupt, clientelist, abnormal, while France would be a republican, authoritarian, centralized and arrogant monarchy. This course intends to destroy these outrageous simplifications. It aims to study the institutions, party systems and political parties, voting mechanisms, cultures and political identities in France and Italy, while following the political evolutions of the two countries over nearly 80 years. In particular, it will address the most recent changes in French and Italian democracies, what is sometimes called the "crisis" of democracies with citizens' distrust of politics, their indifference, or their protests against the political classes, their demands for authority or, conversely, for more participative democracy. The central thesis of the course is to go against mainstream interpretations of Italian and French politics, according to which Italian democracy is abnormal and France an exception. Without denying the singularities of the two countries, their histories, their institutional characteristics, the similarities of the present changes of the two democracies and the challenges they must meet will be highlighted. The other originality of the course is that it is located at the crossroads of history and political science: on the one hand, it will defend a conceptual, social and cultural history of politics, and on the other a historical sociology. Indeed, according to us, politics can only be understood in its permanent interaction with the transformations of society and culture. Politics determines changes in society and culture but is also affected by changes in them. France and Italy are excellent points of observation of these phenomena.

The students – through course attendance and practical activities – will gain full knowledge of Politics in France and Italy. That’s the reason why during the first session of the first week, we will start from the students' initial knowledge of politics in France and Italy, this exercise which could take the form of a little intellectual game will not be noted. It will allow the Professor to adjust the level of the different lessons. The course aims to provide a solid knowledge of institutions, the system of parties and political parties, voting mecanisms but also cultures and political identities as they have gradually been built but also by analyzing their decomposition. The goal is to understand and will not be accepted value judgments or ideological and politically biased analyses. The course will have a conceptual dimension and an empirical dimension and contextualization will be systematically taken into account. We will not content ourselves with analyzing each case study, France and Italy, and we will systematically make comparisons between the two countries, as we will seek to determine whether French policy has been able to influence or still influences the Italian politics and vice versa. The objective for students is to master the forms taken by politics in France and Italy. This could be useful to them in their future professional life in the private sector, which must always at some point take into consideration the political sphere, for consulting jobs, in institutions, diplomacy, community life, politics for those and those who are destined for it, journalism, the world of culture or the academic carriers. The pedagogy adopted will be a mix of lectures and continuous interaction with students. Each course will finish by a precise question for the students who will have all together to give an answer. Students will have to read the lecture each week but also to submit two position papers of 300 words during the twelve weeks, one on the reading to be done for the general course, the other will be an "essay question". The paper position is based on the readings to do. It's not a summary of the text but the student has to indicate the points he or she does not understand or want to explore in depth and he criticize. Theessay question consist in a personal answer by the sudent to a precise question with an historical dimension asked by the professor in relation to the course and the reading. In addition, at the end of the course, they will have to submit a research paper of 3000 words on one of the subjects that the professor will give. In addition, the oral participation of the students will be evaluated by the professor during all the course and more especially for the collective work realized by the groups of students during the last session (see week 12). The position papers will form 30% of the final grade, the oral participation 20% and the final paper 50%. For the students who read Italian and/or French, some texts in these languages could be given instead of the English ones. This decision will be made at the end of the first week.

The first week will be a contact. After an exchange with the students on their views on politics in France and Italy, we will test the basic level of knowledge on the political system and political parties in France and Italy from 1945 to now. We will present the relationship between political history, political sociology and political science. The second week will be devoted to the Fourth Republic (1946-1958). We will study its creation, the institutions, the party system, its work of modernization of the economy and society. This Republic was faced with two major challenges, the birth of the European Economic Community and decolonization, with the wars of Indochina and in Algeria which began in 1954 and contributed to the death of the Fourth Republic. The third week will be dedicated to the Italian Republic from 1946 to the 1990s. We will analyze its birth, the institutions, the party system, its governmental instability and the stability of its ruling class. We will study its achievements with the economic miracle which disrupts Italian society and modifies the relationship of Italians to their political class. The sequence of years of contestation will be studied. The fourth week will be devoted to the Fifth Republic born in 1958. We will study its birth, the institutions with the turning point of 1962 (the referendum for the election by the French people of the President of the Republic), the party system, the effect of the War in Algeria, the economic and social orientations of the governments. Social movements will be studied, in particular the year 1968. The fifth week will be dedicated to a comparative study of political parties in Italy and France until the 1990's. We will take case study of Christian Democracy in Italy which was powerful which was not the case in France. The sixth week will extend the study of political parties until by focusing on a particularity common to France and Italy: the presence of powerful Communist Parties. We will show the similarities and differences between these two parties. The seventh week will focus on political cultures and identities. The political parties were not only entrepreneurs in an electoral market but were also cultural entrepreneurs forging solid mass identities. We will study their establishment, their development and their disintegration. The eighth week will be devoted to the current changes in political systems and parties, the emergence of new actors. We will focus on the phenomena of distrust of politics, rejection of the political class by linking them to the effects of globalization on the economy and societies in France and Italy. The ninth week as well as the tenth will be devoted to the phenomenon of populism. We will give a definition of this notion and we will look at the populist surges of the past in France and Italy without much future and, on the opposite, at the extension, importance and rooting of the new populisms. We will study different case studies of Populism in France and Italy. The eleventh session will examine the state of democracy in France and Italy. Is democracy under threat? How to explain this similar democratic fatigue in two countries which have opposing institutions? Finally, the last session will be dedicated to a collective work by groups of students. They will present to the class a research prepared by the group on a topic given by the professor which will be discussad by all the participants of the class. The topics choosed by the professor will be linked to the themes covered in the course but will allow to take some concrete examples and to deepen them. This will allow us to come back to certain subjects but also to answer some key questions, such as knowing if there is a Made in France in politics and a Made in Italy in politics

it is necessary to strictly follow the compilation instructions on the dedicated page. Citations must be formulated according to an international standard so that they are visible in a uniform and controlled way on the different online dissemination channels of the teaching course. Furthermore, the references will be provided with a direct link to the library catalog (Summon discovery) for an immediate check of physical / electronic availability. Example: 1. Campobasso, G. F., Campobasso, G. F., Campobasso, M., & Campobasso, M. (2017). Manuale di diritto commerciale (Settima / a cura di Mario Campobasso ed.). UTET giuridica. Link 2. Berk, J. B., & DeMarzo, P. M. (2020). Corporate finance (Fifth, global ed.). Pearson. Link For further information on this, please contact mlazar@luiss.it or glella@luiss.it

The pedagogy adopted will be a mix of lectures and continuous interaction with students. Students must read the text each week. Discussion in class about the readings. Each week there is an online session during which the students will have all together to answer a question.

The students will have to read the lecture each week but also each student will have to submit two position papers of 300 words during the twelve weeks, one on the reading to be done for the course, the other on the subject discussed in the online session. In addition, at the end of the course, they will have to submit a research paper of 3000 words on one of the subjects that the professor will give. There is a possibility to write a per on a topic proposed by the student with the agreement by the professor. In addition, the oral participation of the students will be evaluated by the professor. The position papers will form 30% of the final grade, the oral participation 20% and the final paper 50%. For the students who read Italian and/or French, some texts in these languages could be given instead of the English ones. This decision will be made at the end of the first week.

Active attendance and participation at the course Quality of the paper position (2 by student) and the final paper