Instructional goals
The course aims at broadening and deepening the students' understanding of democracy through the study of twentieth-century European political history.
Prerequisites
A good general knowledge of nineteenth- and twentieth-century history.
Intended learning outcomes
At the end of the course, students will be able to confront political issues from a historical viewpoint; to critically engage with historical interpretations; to present their reflections in a structured and consistent form orally as well as in writing.
Course Contents
The course deals with the political history of European democracy since 1945: the foundation, or re-foundation, of Western European democracies after the war; the new constitutions; party systems; the evolution of the public sphere in the Sixties, Seventies and Eighties; the challenges of the new millennium. The study of historical events will be given coherence by adopting a long-term methodological and conceptual framework that considers political modernity in its entirety, starting from the late eighteenth century.
Reference Books
There is no single textbook, but a number of readings for each week. Students will be asked to summarize, comment and discuss readings in class. Readings for the first five weeks can be found here: https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fo/111co7hknv5rjkfkkrmmp/h?rlkey=sbwe5mmsgxyjwu8g3mbm932z9&dl=0. Students are expected to purchase C.S. Maier, The Project-State and Its Rivals. A New History of the Twentieth and Twenty-First Centuries, Harvard University Press 2023
Teaching Methods
Students are expected to read the assigned material before the lectures and to actively participate in them.
Assessment Method
Two midterm exams will take place during the course. Each will be worth one third of the final vote.
1. On October 27, one question on the readings and lectures of weeks 1 to 5, to be answered in 40 minutes, in writing, in presence
2. On November 17, one question on the readings and lectures of weeks 6 to 8, to be answered in 40 minutes, in writing, in presence
The final exam will be worth the last third of the final vote and will consist in one question on the readings and lectures of weeks 9 to 12, to be answered in 40 minutes, in writing, in presence.
Students not attending the lectures (non frequentanti) will take the final exam, consisting in three questions on the entire program to be answered in two hours, in writing, in presence.
Week 1 Contenuto sessioni on line e on campus
Politics and time: the political framework of modernity (1789-1945)
Week 2 Contenuto sessioni on line e on campus
The re-founding of democracy after 1945: an overview
Readings:
– M. Gauchet, “Democracy: From One Crisis to Another”, Social Imaginaries, 2015, 163-187
– G. Orsina, “European Liberalism in the Age of Totalitarianism”, in T. Piffer, V. Zubok (eds), Totalitarian Societies and Democratic Transition. Essays in Memory of Victor Zaslavsky, CEU Press 2017, pp. 53-75
– M. Conway, “Democracy in Postwar Western Europe: The Triumph of a Political Model”, in European History Quarterly, 2002, pp. 59-84
Week 3 Contenuto sessioni on line e on campus
The Origins of the Fourth French Republic
Readings:
– E. Cartier, “The Liberation and the Institutional Question in France”, in A. Knapp (ed.), The Uncertain Foundation. France at the Liberation, 1944-1947, Palgrave Macmillan 2007, pp. 23-40
– G. Orsina, Party Democracy and Its Enemies: Italy, 1945–1992, «Journal of Modern European History», 2019, pp. 220–233
Week 4 Contenuto sessioni on line e on campus
The Origins of the Bonn Republic
Readings:
M. Fulbrook, A History of Germany 1918–2014. The Divided Nation, Wiley Blackwell 2015, chaps 6 and 7, pp. 113-163
Week 5 Contenuto sessioni on line e on campus
The Origins of the French Fifth Republic
Readings:
N. Atkin, The Fifth French Republic, Palgrave Macmillan 2005, chaps 1 and 2, pp. 10-59
Week 6 Contenuto sessioni on line e on campus
The 1960s, I
Readings:
C.S. Maier, The Project-State and Its Rivals. A New History of the Twentieth and Twenty-First Centuries, Harvard University Press 2023, Introduction: History’s Protagonists and Chapter 4, Projects for the Postwar: Nations, Empires, and Governance, 1940s–1960s
Week 7 Contenuto sessioni on line e on campus
The 1960s, II
Readings:
C.S. Maier, The Project-State and Its Rivals. A New History of the Twentieth and Twenty-First Centuries, Harvard University Press 2023, Chapter 5, Countervailing Power? Capital’s Projects and Their Limits, 1948–1960s
First midterm exam
Week 8 Contenuto sessioni on line e on campus
The 1970s
Readings:
C.S. Maier, The Project-State and Its Rivals. A New History of the Twentieth and Twenty-First Centuries, Harvard University Press 2023, Chapter 6, Contesting the Postwar Order: Coal, Steel, Oil, and Dollars, 1950s–1970s
Week 9 Contenuto sessioni on line e on campus
The 1980s
Readings:
C.S. Maier, The Project-State and Its Rivals. A New History of the Twentieth and Twenty-First Centuries, Harvard University Press 2023, Chapter 7, Deploying Governance
Week 10 Contenuto sessioni on line e on campus
Neoliberals and populists, I
Readings:
C.S. Maier, The Project-State and Its Rivals. A New History of the Twentieth and Twenty-First Centuries, Harvard University Press 2023, Chapter 8, Reinventions, 1978-1990s
Second midterm exam
Week 11 Contenuto sessioni on line e on campus
The managerial revolution
Readings:
C.S. Maier, The Project-State and Its Rivals. A New History of the Twentieth and Twenty-First Centuries, Harvard University Press 2023, Chapter 9, Convergences and Catastrophe: States, Governance, and Capital
Week 12 Contenuto sessioni on line e on campus
Neoliberals and populists, II
Readings:
C.S. Maier, The Project-State and Its Rivals. A New History of the Twentieth and Twenty-First Centuries, Harvard University Press 2023, Chapter 10, The Populist Assertion and the Return of Authoritarianism