Ateneo - UPO

Triumph and Crisis of the European Model: an introduction to European history from 1945 to 2024.
This course is meant to be a quick survey of European and global history from the end of WWII to the present time. The main focus will be on the reasons for the birth and success of a European model of economic, social and cultural development that has produced a period of peace and prosperity without equal in the history of humanity. The course will then examine the reasons for the crisis of this model, which started from the turning point of 1973-75 and led up to the current situation of uncertainty and to the return of war.

All students will prepare for the exam by reading:
• Tony Judt, Postwar. A History of Europe Since 1945, London, Penguin, 2005 (any following edition will do).
Those unable to attend classes and participate in the seminar will also read both:
• Philipp Ther, Europe Since 1989. A History, Princeton, Princeton UP, 2016.
• Serhii Plokhy, The Russo-Ukrainian War. The Return of History, New York, W.W. Norton & Co., 2023.

At a basic level, the aim of the course is to provide students with an overview of the historical evolution of Europe between the end of the Second World War and today and to illustrate the historiographical categories with which this period has been read. The second aim is to provide, through the seminar part, an opportunity to exercise one's research skills and to use the notions learned in the first part of the course in a concrete way by analyzing a national case.
At an advanced level, the aim of the course is to provide an in-depth knowledge of the historiographical debate on European history and on the concept of applied history. The aim of the second part of the course is to provide the tools through which students can analyze and understand the most recent contemporary history, even outside the European context.

None.

The course will consist of two parts: in the first, made up of frontal lectures, the instructor will illustrate the main topics of European history starting from the post-war period, outlining the process of expansion and later crisis of the European model. The second part of the course will instead take the form of a seminar: already during the first part of the course, students will be asked to choose a European country and to select with the help of the instructor a few readings on the history of their European country of choice from 1989 to present. In the seminar part, students will then have to discuss to what extent the specific history of the country they have chosen fits coherently into the path traced in the first part of the course. The material for the oral reports will be discussed by the lecturer with each student during office hours and in class from the very first lessons of the course, in such a way as to give students the necessary time to prepare the presentation. The course will be carried out entirely in English.

Students with physical disabilities, Learning Disabilities or Special Education Needs can request
specific services and tools via the Staff Sviluppo e Coordinamento Carriere e Servizi alle Studentesse
e agli Studenti, consulting the University webpage: https://www.uniupo.it/en/services/services-
students-physical-or-learning-disabilities
Students with disabilities, learning disabilities or special education needs, once they have contacted
the University Staff, can refer to the tutor in charge of the course to define the examination
modalities, concerning academic aspects.

The evaluation will take place both during the seminar part and during the final oral exam. As for the seminar part, not only the presentation made by each student will be evaluated but also the involvement during the other presentations and the participation in the discussion to compare the different national cases and find an overall reading. The final grade will be determined as follows:
50% oral exam
25% presentation
25% participation during the seminar.
The evaluation will be determined by the following elements:
- a general knowledge of concepts and events as a set of notions without a conceptual link between them, with the use of inappropriate language in oral discussion, will be considered sufficient. The only presentation of one's case study without interaction in the seminar part will be considered just enough. Corresponding vote: 18-22
- A more in-depth but not detailed knowledge of concepts and events, with the use of a language generally appropriate to the topic being discussed, will be considered discreet. The interaction in the seminar part with the cases presented by the other participants, making comparisons and references with one's own case study, will be considered discreet. Corresponding vote: 22-26.
- An in-depth knowledge, showing a good understanding of the relationships between different phenomena and the ability to use the notions learned autonomously, applying them to different events, will be judged as satisfactory. It will be judged fully satisfactory if the student shows an ability to speak of the texts he has read with independent judgement, enucleating the author's point of view and dialoguing with it in a critical way. The interaction during the seminar part that demonstrates the will to elaborate a general interpretation of the phenomenon including all the case studies will be considered excellent. Corresponding grade: 27-30 cum laude.

The lessons will take place according to the following outline:
- Lesson 1: Introduction to the course and practical information. Europe at the end of the Second World War.
- Lesson 2: The basis for reconstruction 1947-1953.
- Lesson 3: The economic boom of the 1950s.
- Lesson 4: Brief global history of the welfare state.
- Lesson 5: The 1960s and the cultural revolution.
- Lesson 6: The turning point of the 1970s.
- Lesson 7: Crisis and the end of the old order (1980s).
- Lesson 8: US preeminence and the neoliberal vulgate.
- Lesson 9: Terrorism, populism and the recession of 2008-2009.
- Lesson 10: The crisis of the European model: PIGS and de-Europeanization of Russia and Turkey and the divide on human and gender rights.
- Lesson 11: The environmental question and the COVID-19 crisis.
- Lesson 12: The Russian-Ukrainian conflict.
- Lesson 13: Seminar presentations.
- Lesson 14: Seminar presentations.
- Lesson 15: Seminar presentations.

At the basic level:
Knowledge and understanding:
demonstrate knowledge and understanding of the issues related to the political, social and cultural history of Europe in the second post-war period. Demonstrate knowledge of the fundamental stages of the development of European history with particular reference to European economic and political development and international relations both among European states and with non-European countries. Know the fundamental stages of European political history both in the context of the Cold War and in that of the second hinge age.

Applied knowledge and understanding:
Demonstrate the ability to understand and discuss issues concerning the European history of the second post-war period with reference to the various historiographical interpretations and their main authors.

At the advanced level:
Knowledge and understanding:
demonstrate in-depth knowledge of the historical development of a country of choice and compare it with the general European interpretative paradigm.
Applied knowledge and understanding:
demonstrate the ability to use the tools used in the seminar part to analyze the historical development of a country of choice and discuss it by comparing it with other cases studied by the other seminar groups.

These learning outcomes are consistent with the provisions of the SUA of the Study Programme, framework A4.b2 (particularly for the Historical Area).