Geopolitics of the Contemporary International System

A.Y. 2018/2019
9
Max ECTS
60
Overall hours
SSD
SPS/04
Language
English
Learning objectives
The course aims at providing the students with an advanced and comprehensive understanding of the contemporary international system, as well as with the capability to apply knowledge and methodology to emerging case-studies. Against the backdrop of the ongoing geopolitical changes of the international system, each year the course focuses on a single topic: in 2016/17, for instance, the transformation of war and its relationship with the transformation of international convivence.
Expected learning outcomes
Undefined
Single course

This course cannot be attended as a single course. Please check our list of single courses to find the ones available for enrolment.

Course syllabus and organization

Single session

Responsible
Lesson period
Second trimester
ATTENDING STUDENTS
Course syllabus
The first part analyses war as the mirrored image of international politics; namely, why the major changes in the history of international politics (such as the shifts from multipolar to bipolar systems, from pre-global to global systems, from ideologically homogeneous to heterogeneous systems) turn out to be mirrored in the frequency of war, its severity, its ability to determine hegemony, or even the way in which it is fought. Particular emphasis will be put on the enduring relationship between war and the distribution of power; the geopolitics of the international arena; culture, ideology, and international law; and between war and the very nature of political actors.

The second part provides a comprehensive analysis of the ongoing transformations of war. The course addresses such topics as the so-called "new wars", the privatization of violence, the proliferation of civil wars, the alleged decline of major wars, the rediscovery of the just war tradition, terrorism and the so-called global war on terror.

In the third part, the attendant students are required to deliver a presentation upon single case-studies.
NON-ATTENDING STUDENTS
Course syllabus
The first part analyses war as the mirrored image of international politics; namely, why the major changes in the history of international politics (such as the shifts from multipolar to bipolar systems, from pre-global to global systems, from ideologically homogeneous to heterogeneous systems) turn out to be mirrored in the frequency of war, its severity, its ability to determine hegemony, or even the way in which it is fought. Particular emphasis will be put on the enduring relationship between war and the distribution of power; the geopolitics of the international arena; culture, ideology, and international law; and between war and the very nature of political actors.

The second and the third parts provide a comprehensive analysis of the ongoing transformations of war. The course addresses such topics as the so-called "new wars", the privatization of violence, the proliferation of civil wars, the alleged decline of major wars, terrorism and the so-called asymmetric war.
SPS/04 - POLITICAL SCIENCE - University credits: 9
Lessons: 60 hours
Professor: Colombo Alessandro
Professor(s)