COMPARATIVE HISTORY OF POLITICAL SYSTEMS

Lorenzo Castellani

Instructional goals

Comparative history in the field of institutions, leadership, culture.

Prerequisites

Contemporary and Institutional history fundamentals.

Intended learning outcomes

Contextualization; Scenario analysis; Political reasoning; Applied history;

Course Contents

Comparative European History in the Twentieth century.

Reference Books

Mark Mazower, Dark Continent: Europe's Twentieth Century; Documents for presentations.

Teaching Methods

Lecture; Presentations; Debates;

Assessment Method

30% presentations in class on historical documents provided by Professor; 70% final written exam; For non-attendant: 5000 words essay on a topic chosen by the Professor (30%) and final exam (70%)

Thesis assignment criteria

Professor's research project evaluation.

Week 1

Two world wars: democracy's rise and fall.

Week 2

Empire, Nations, minorities

Week 3

The State and the people: coercion, warfare and welfare.

Week 4

The crisis of capitalism: 1929 and its consequences.

Week 5

Hitler's new order and the world of war.

Week 6

Golden age? New projects for democracy

Week 7

A brutal peace, 1943-1949

Week 8

Building people's democracy

Week 9

Democracy transformed: Western Europe 1950-1975

Week 10

The social contract in crisis

Week 11

The collapse of comunism

Week 12

The end of everything?