HISTORY OF EUROPEAN CONSTITUTIONALISM

The "European Experiment" is an established reality in the history of international relations. However, Europe's future is far from certain. This course concerning the History of European Constitutionalism will analyse the origins, the development and the historical function of European constitutionalism as instrument to understand the rise and fall of EU Constitutional Treaty. History becomes an instrument to study: 1) the European area as laboratory for written constitutionalism and intercultural relations; 2) the historical development of European constitutionalism during 18th and 19th centuries; 3) constitutionalism as a form of government that limits the power of the central authority; 4) the EU Constitutional treaty between 20th and 21th centuries as instrument that limits the single EU state power.
Objectives
-Provide students with a clear theoretical and empirical framework to understand the concept of constitutionalism according to an historical perspective
-Analyze themes of constitutional history (good government; written constitution, fundamental rights) in a cross-cultural and multidisciplinary perspective able to encompass political, economic and cultural factors
-Analyze the key-themes of constitutionalism and their historical development
The above-mentioned specific objectives aim to give students the instruments necessary to develop a critical and personal view of the topics discussed and to develop an independent and multidisciplinary methodology for the analysis of historical phenomena to better understand the present.

Expected learning results
1. Knowledge and understanding: at the end of the course the students will be able to
- Understand the general framework of the History of European constitutionalism
- Understand the cultural approach to constitutional history
- Understand the multidisciplinary character of Constitutional History through the thematic cases presented
- Understand the historical processes of European constitutionalism
2. Ability of applying knowledge and understanding: at the end of the course the students will be able to
- Understand the general framework of the History of European constitutionalism> Ability of discussing subjects related to the field (History of constitutionalism) in a specialized language and according to an historical methodology and to explain them to classmates
- Understand the cultural approach to constitutional history > Ability of comprehending the methodology and to confront it with other instrument of analysis they already master from previous studies (e.g. European history, Cultural history, History of International Relations)
- Understand the multidisciplinary character of Constitutional History through the thematic cases presented> Ability of applying the historical methodology through the cases analyzed also to other fields of study (e.g. final dissertation)
- Understand the historical processes of European constitutionalism > Ability of analyzing events and phenomena in an historical dimension
3. Judgement abilities: at the end of the course the students will be able to
- Ability of connecting the facts and data learnt during lessons
- Ability of organizing the course materials (lessons and readings) in a coherent interpretation
- Ability of interpreting and commenting the weekly reading materials
4. Communicative abilities: at the end of the course the students will be able to
- Ability of presenting the issues related to the field of study using specialized language
- Ability of presenting the knowledge acquired from lessons and readings in a coherent discourse
- Ability to gather data and to create learning supports (e.g. hand-out, ppt presentation) in order to present one own’s results during lessons and seminars
5. Learning abilities: at the end of the course the students will be able to
- Ability of taking notes during lessons
- Ability of critically reading the assigned bibliography
- Ability of connected the knowledge acquired to nowadays issues

Pre-requirements
A good knowledge of general history (15th – 21th centuries).
Students must fulfill the minimum credit requirements (ECTS) for the admission to the MA in Comparative International Relations. Therefore, they must possess at least 6 ECTS from the political-logical-social and historical Field.

Contents
This course will take into account the major issues in European Constitutional History, with specific focus on the following aspects:
- The concepts of (written)constitution and Constitutionalism
- The current debate on European Constitutionalism and on the EU Constitutional Treaty
- The origins of European Constitutionalism in 18th century
- The concept of good government
- The idea of Europe as small-state system
- Constitution and the state-nation
- From the Rights of Man to the Human Rights
- Cultural networks of European constitutionalism

Students can prepare the exam on
1) the class notes;
2) the slides from the classes, which will be made available on Moodle before the end of the course;
3) the following books
- Mark Gilbert, "European Integration: A Concise History", Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, 2011
- Antonio Trampus, "Emer de Vattel and the Politics of Good Government: Constitutionalism, Small States and the International System", Palgrave Macmillan, 2020 (only chapter 3, The Good Government: The Constituting and Constituted Nation, https://www.palgrave.com/gp/book/9783030480233 )

Assessment methods
Final oral exam. The exam aims to assess the critical understanding of the contents discussed during the course and the individual reflection on the assigned bibliography. It will therefore consist of three questions. The approximate duration is 25-30 minutes.
The first question will ask the student to present a chosen subject (taken from lessons or bibliography), so that he/she can show his/her ability of organizing information in a coherent discourse and in a historical perspective, to critically engage them and to integrate them with previously acquired knowledge (expected learning results 1.Knowledge and understanding and 4. Communicative abilities).
The second question will be on an issue explored during lessons so that the student can show his/her ability of personal re-elaboration and of critical listening (expected learning results 3.Judgement abilities and 5.Learning abilities).
The third question will concern the texts assigned, so that the student can show his/her ability of critical reading, understanding of scholarly literature connection with already acquired information (expected learning results 2.Ability of applying knowledge and understanding and 5. Learning abilities) .
The oral exam will define the 90% of the final grade.
Students will be asked to actively participate in lessons. In groups (3 to 5 students) they will also present to the class and discuss a personal research. In case of oral presentation of this research to the class, the presentation will define the 40% of the final grade. (Expected learning results 2.Ability of applying knowledge and understanding, 3.Judgement abilities and 4. Communicative abilities)

Lectures (lessons 1-9)
Seminars (lessons 10-15)
Case study analysis
Ppt presentations
Digital resources Humanities

oral

This subject deals with topics related to the macro-area "International cooperation" and contributes to the achievement of one or more goals of U. N. Agenda for Sustainable Development