Storia contemporanea (Ordinario)

Period of duration of course
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Course info
Number of course hours
40
Number of hours of lecturers of reference
40
CFU 6
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Modalità esame

Seminar Presentation

Lecturer

Sara Lorenzini

Programma

Module 1:Cold War History


The course examines the major debates surrounding the history of the Cold War. In its first part (20 hours), it focuses on the nature of the Cold War, exploring its character and, in particular, the debate over whether the Cold War should be understood primarily as a conflict over Europe or as a struggle for global hegemony.

It also addresses questions of periodization and the principal turning points of the conflict, discussing several key junctures and the classic historiographical issues associated with them.


Module 2: Global Cold War


In the second part of the course (20 hours) discussion will move to the Global Cold War and especially focus on the impact of decolonization on twentieth-century history. The course investigates the relationship between decolonization and the Cold War. It is organized around an understanding of the East–West conflict as a contest between alternative modernities and development models, with particular emphasis on regional perspectives.



Lectures are combined with seminar discussions based on key texts, which are distributed to students in advance.


Obiettivi formativi

1) Demonstrate knowledge of the principal historiographical debates in Cold War history.

Demonstrate familiarity with the literature on the Global Cold War.

Demonstrate the ability to structure and conduct a historiographical discussion,including in a debate format


2) Acquire knowledge of the specialized literature on the Global Cold War as a confrontation between competing modernities


Riferimenti bibliografici

A detailed syllabus, with chapters and articles specified for each lecture and seminar session, will be provided at the start of the course.


A.O. Westad, M. Leffler, The Cambridge History of the Cold War, Vol.1-3

V. Zubok, A Failed Empire, the University of North Carolina Press, 2009

Mastny, Vojtech. The Cold War and Soviet Insecurity : The Stalin Years. Oxford University Press, 1996.

T. Judt. Postwar : A History of Europe since 1945. Penguin Press, 2005. 

S. Pons, The Global Revolution. A History of International Communism 1917-1991, Oxford University Press, 2014

O. Sanchez-Sibony, Red Globalization: The Political Economy of the Soviet Cold War from Stalin to Khrushchev. Cambridge University Press; 2014.

Gaddis, John Lewis. Strategies of Containment : A Critical Appraisal of American National Security Policy during the Cold War. Rev. and Expanded ed., Oxford University Press, 2005.

Romero, Federico. Storia della guerra fredda : l’ultimo conflitto per l’Europa. G. Einaudi, 2009.

Chen Jian, Mao’s China and the Cold War (Chapel Hill, University of North Carolina Press, 2001)

O.A. Westad, The Cold War : A World History. First edition., Basic Books, 2018.

L. Lüthi, Cold Wars: Asia, the Middle East, Europe. Cambridge University Press; 2020.

S. Radchenko, To Run the World: The Kremlin’s Cold War Bid for Global Power. Cambridge University Press; 2024.

J. Suri, Power and Protest : Global Revolution and the Rise of Detente. Harvard University Press, 2003.

S. Kott, A World More Equal : An Internationalist Perspective on the Cold War. Columbia University Press, 2023.

Moduli

Modulo Ore CFU Docenti
Modulo 1: La storia della guerra fredda (per ordinari) 20 3 Sara Lorenzini
Modulo 2: Global Cold War: La guerra fredda come guerra globale (per ordinari e PhD) 20 3 Sara Lorenzini