INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS MOD.1

This course is meant for students who have chosen the track of study “International Politics”. It will try to develop students’ knowledge and competences in the field of international relations, in a theoretical and practical perspective. In relation to the learning objectives of the curriculum “International Politics”, it adopts a transversal perspective by presenting the historical trends starting from the trends specific to the international society and considering its roots and its evolution until today. In this sense, the main objective of the course is to familiarize students with the issues, paradigms and main scholars in the field of IR, on the basis of case-studies. The first module of the course will offer a general perspective on the main elements that characterize the history, the theories and the trends specific to the relations between the states and the international organizations, with a focus on the main schools of thought. The second module of the course will examine the role of international relations in a few specific developments of the international society.

Learning objectives to be reached by students

1. Knowledge and understanding of International Relations
The course provides students with tools that will help them to understand international politics. It aims to improve their knowledge of the historical context of contemporary problems, to introduce them to the different perspectives on international issues and to the diversity of the theoretical approaches. Furthermore, it will allow students to understand better some of the main issues that are raised by contemporary international politics.

2. Ability to use acquired knowledge in order to:
- Understand better the context of contemporary events in the framework of international relations;
- Distinguish the different international relations theories and to identify the main differences between them;
- Apply the concepts and theories to the contemporary issues dealt with during the semester.

3. Autonomy of judgment:
- Ability to read with a critical mind textbooks in international relations and newspaper articles; ability to find original arguments on issues related to international politics.

4. Ability to comunicate:
Ability to structure an oral or written argumentation and to justify it in relation to the issues dealt with during the semester. In order to reach this goal, the course includes two written exercises that will be organized during the semester (cf. Assessment Methods).

5. Ability to learn:
- Ability to use the knowledge acquired through the course to interpret critically contemporary phenomena in the realm of international relations.
- Ability to collect autonomously bibliographical references to analyze the international society, in a historical and contemporary perspective. Ability to use this information in the student’s future studies related to international relations.

Learning outcomes (will be checked through the written exercises organized during the semester and through the final exam):
On the basis of the competences described above, students are expected:
- To be able to consolidate their knowledge of concepts and theories of IR and to have a general perspective on the main theories.
- To interpret critically the use of the main theories in practical cases.

This course requires a basic knowledge of modern and contemporary history (in particular: formation of the modern state; peace of Westphalia; Congress of Vienna; World Wars history; colonisation and decolonisation; Cold War history).

1. International Society in the 20th Century: a brief overview
2. The main schools of thought in International Relations field
3. Subjects and structures, processes and organizations: topics in International Relations
4. International relations after the Cold War

John Baylis, Steven Smith and Patricia Owens, The Globalization of World Politics: An Introduction to International Relations, Oxford and New York, Oxford University Press, 7th edition, 2016 (Part 1 e Part 2).

Final written exam:
The final written exam will last three hours and will check students’ understanding of the issues dealt with during the semester and their analytical skills. The exam will be in three parts.
The first part (4 points) will include four multiple-choice questions and will check the students’ reading ability and their understanding of the technical concepts of international relations.
The second part (8 points) will include four brief questions and will assess students’ ability to use synthetically the language of IR and their understanding of the fundamental concepts of the discipline.
The third part (18 points) will include three open-ended questions and aims to assess students’ ability to argue and to critically analyse the major issues related to international relations and the trends of the contemporary world, and their ability to use the textbooks studied during the semester.

For attendant students: two mid-term exams (in December and in May). Duration of each mid-term exam: one hour and a half. Each mid-term exam will have the same structure as the final exam. In addition, attendant students will have to do a presentation in class (on a topic agreed with the teacher of the second module).

Frontal lectures

This programme is provisional and there could still be changes in its contents.

This course is addressed to students whose surname begins with letters from A to E.
Students whose surnames start with different letters are not entitled to join this course.

written

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