CONTEMPORARY HISTORY

The course provides fundamental knowledge regarding the origins of the present world. It aims to clarify the long-term developments that still determine the contemporary debate. It highlights the cultural, political, and socioeconomic paths of various geographical areas over the last two and a half centuries. It helps to develop a general vision and historical background of international relations, and a better understanding of international societies and their political choices.

The course aims at the following learning objectives:
a) knowledge and understanding at an advanced undergraduate level of the major trends of world history after 1750, and more recent changes especially in Western societies;
b) to apply this knowledge to present society and politics through an improved understanding of how they have been influenced by past developments;
c) to promote the autonomy of judgment by classroom discussions and the elaboration of a paper regarding one of the course’s reference texts;
d) to promote communication abilities, such as how to communicate in English, by offering the opportunity of proposing classroom presentations on a volunteer basis;
e) to promote the learning ability so as to develop and consolidate competence in the field of historical reading and quoting text sources, reflecting on the history of concepts, and elaborating a critical judgment in oral and written form.

Language skills, according to the admission requirements; basic knowledge of modern and contemporary history.

01 Introduction
02 At the roots of globalization: European colonialism, 1450-1750
03 The concept of 'Europe'
04 European Timeline, 1776-1914: Major events; Europe and eurocentricsm
05 The concept of 'Industrial Revolution'
06 Industrial Revolution in Europe, 1750-1914
07 The American Revolution of 1776
08 The French Revolution of 1789
09 Liberalism, Socialism, Feminism
10 The concept of 'Nation' and nationalism
11 Social changes in Europe, 1800-1914
12 Slavery and Slave Trade, 1750-1888 (guest Dr. Bonazza)
13 The Ottoman Empire in the 19th and early 20th century (guest Dr. Oğuz)
14 World Timeline, 1750-1914,Global changes: Colonialism and imperialism
15 Global changes: Economy, population, modernization
16 Theories of imperialism
17 World Timeline 1914-2000: Major events
18 World War I
19 Economic crisis of 1929, right-wing dictatorships, World War II, Shoah
20 The affirmation of Communism and the USA-USSR confrontation
21 Third World', political Islam, decline of Soviet communism
22 Global changes: demographic, social, and political changes
23 From social insurance to welfare state (1880s-2000s) (guest Dr. Mioni)
24 Two waves of economic globalization
25 Social changes in Europe 1945-2000
26 From 'solid' to 'liquid modernity'
27 Community
28 Equality and hierarchy in the global society
29 Race, culture, multi-culturalism
30 Final discussion

Richard E. BALDWIN, Philippe MARTIN, Two waves of Globalization: Superficial Similarities, Fundamental Differences, National Bureau of Economic Research, Cambridge (MA) 1999, Working Paper 6904, 33 pp.;
Zygmunt BAUMAN, Liquid Modernity, Polity Press, Cambridge 2006, pp. 130-199;
Colin HEYWOOD, ‘Society’, in: The Nineteenth Century, ed. by T.C.W. Blanning, Oxford University Press, Oxford-New York 2000, pp. 47-77;
Hartmut KAELBLE, ‘Social history’, in: Europe since 1945, ed. by Mary Fulbrook, Oxford University Press, Oxford-New York 2001, pp. 53-94;
Alana LENTIN, Gavan TITLEY, The Crisis of Multiculturalism. Racism in a Neoliberal Age, Zed Books, London-New York 2010, pp. 11-48, 160-192;
Rolf PETRI, A Short History of Wester Ideology: A Critical Account, Bloomsbury, London 2018, pp. 101-169;
Kevin REILLY, The Human Journey. A Concise Introduction to World History, Rowman & Littlefield, Lanham 2012, pp. 275-408.

The PROFICIENCY TEST is graded up to 30 points. It consists of THREE PARTS:
• i) elaborated answers of 100 words each to five questions treated in REILLY’s text, pp. 275–408 (up to 10 points);
• ii) elaborated answers of 100-200 words each to five questions taken from the whole range of questions treated in the other texts of the reading list (up to 10 points);
• iii) a home written paper of no less than 1,300 words and no more than 1,500 words (all included), which summarizes, and comments on, one of the other texts from the reading list; it has to be prepared beforehand and delivered in PDF format on the day of the examination (up to 10 points).
Detailed instructions regarding part iii) of the proficiency test can be downloaded from the Moodle page related to this course.

The proficiency test will be held ONLINE in the open book modus, through the use of the Moodle platform, together with interaction relying also on google Meet and your @stud.unive account.

Due to the number of participants the prevailing teaching method is lecturing. Students are invited to contribute with critical questions and comments to the classroom discussion. They will also have the opportunity of presenting texts.Instructions for the classroom text presentations can be downloaded from the "Moodle page related to this course.

English

It is recommended that you download and carefully read the moodle materials related to this course.

NOTA BENE: Students intent on applying for final exam, Erasmus etc. are asked to inquire with the offices on the deadline for recording the grade useful for the application, and to register for exams not too close to those deadlines. Note that this teacher will perform only those recording operations that the software esse3 allows him to perform autonomously.

written