POLITICAL AND INTELLECTUAL HISTORY

The Political and Intellectual History course is one of the basic training activities [A] of the degree course; it is intended for third-year students and can also be taken in earlier years. The course participates in the educational objectives of the degree course in that it aims to frame current political cultures within the historical perspective of the contemporary age. More specifically, the course examines the main political issues addressed in the European intellectual debate between the 19th and 20th centuries. The subject of the course belongs to the general field of Intellectual History, declined in terms of a conjunction between the history of political thought, the history of intellectuals, and the history of concepts. The subject is approached from a contextualist perspective, i.e. one that intends to understand political issues within the framework of cultural and historical references of which they are an expression. The main political cultures examined - reasonably selected for a six-CFU course - belong to the traditions of post-1789 democracy and anti-democracy up to the present time.

Knowledge and understanding;
- Knowledge of the fundamental political issues debated by European culture over the last two centuries (from forms of representative government to mass democracy and social justice);
- Knowledge of the different answers to the issues given by different political cultures in different historical contexts;
Understanding of the dimension of temporality in the political and cultural fields;
- Skill in applying knowledge and understanding
Skill in relating the main issues of political thought to their historical and cultural context.
Skill in tracing the roots of today's main political issues over the past two centuries;
Skill in comparing different responses to similar issues, and identifying their political significance
- Practical and communication skills:
Ability to actively follow lectures, taking notes, asking questions, comparing notes with assigned study texts;
Ability to establish connections between the iconographic and textual sources presented in class and the historical and cultural context;
Ability to present the topics covered in the oral exam in a coherent, clear and distinct manner.

It is advisable to have passed the Modern and Contemporary History course in the first year; in any case, the course subject requires an interest in the analysis of political cultures from a problematic and time-oriented perspective, as opposed to a normative and synchronic one.

Through direct examination of textual sources, a selection of political cultures belonging to the strands of democracy and anti-democracy will be examined, in the time span from post-1789 to the present, including: Conservative and reactionary thought; Liberalism; Constitutionalism; Imperialism; Social-Darwinism; Racism; Anti-Semitism; Socialism and Social-Democracy; Caesarism and Bonapartism; Communism; Radicalism; Fascism; Catholic Social Thought; Neoliberalism; Populism; Neonationalism

The reference texts for the exam are uploaded in Moodle, and include a selection of chapters from:
The Cambridge History of Nineteenth-Century Political Thought, edited by Gareth Stedman Jones and Gregory Claeys, CUP, Cambridge, 2011;
The Cambridge History of Twentieth-Century Political Thought, edited by Terence Ball and Richard Bellamy, CUP, Cambridge, 2005;
Rethinking Modern European Intellectual History, Edited by Darrin M. Mcmahon and Samuel Moyn, OUP, 2014
A Companion to Intellectual History, Edited by Richard Whatmore and Brian Young, Wiley Blackwell, 2016
All sources, or parts thereof, analysed and commented on in class are also uploaded into Moodle, and constitute examination material. For this reason, non-attenders are requested to contact the lecturer to arrange a programme of substitute readings.
A number of further readings - not compulsory - may also be recommended and made available for those who are interested in exploring aspects covered in class, such as:
Duncan Bell, Reordering the World. Essays on Liberalism and Empire. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2016;
David Harvey, A Brief History of Neoliberalism, OUP, Oxford, 2005;
Emily Jones, Edmund Burke and the Invention of Modern Conservatism, 1830-1914. An Intellectual History, OUP, Oxford, 2017;

The oral exam is aimed at verifying that the above-mentioned learning objectives have been achieved. In particular, the first question tests the student's mastery of a well-defined topic, their ability to place it in its historical context and to express themselves clearly and effectively; the second question tests their mastery of advanced theoretical concepts, their ability to make connections between them and their capacity for conceptualisation; the third tests their ability to analyse and comment on quotations from selected authors.

oral

Marking scheme:
30/30: excellent knowledge of the topics covered in class and in the manuals; excellent use of language and terminology.
28-30: excellent knowledge of the topics covered in class and in the manuals; good ability to prioritise information; confident use of appropriate terminology;
25-27: adequate knowledge of the topics covered in class and, to a lesser extent, in the manuals; fair ability to organise information and present it orally; familiarity with the appropriate terminology;
22-24: knowledge of the topics covered in class and in the manuals is not always in-depth or superficial; oral presentation is not always organised or sometimes unclear; use of appropriate terminology is not always correct or lacking;
18-21: incomplete knowledge of the topics covered in class and in the manuals; confused oral presentation; little or no use of appropriate terminology.
<18: very incomplete or absent knowledge of the topics covered in class and in the manuals; very confused oral presentation; no use of appropriate terminology. Exam failed.

The course consists of lectures combined with seminars, depending on the number of students attending. All the sources and documents analysed during the lessons are uploaded to Moodle, and form part of the exam. Due to the importance attributed to text analysis, as well as the genealogical and non-linear configuration of the teaching programme, attendance at lessons is strongly recommended.
Please note that this is a ‘slide-free’ course: in other words, no materials summarising the main concepts covered in class will be provided. One of the reasons for this is that the ability to take notes in class is extremely advanced but underestimated. The other reason is that students are encouraged to formulate their own contribution, rather than relying on predefined readings, both with comments on texts and sources during lessons and in exam preparation.

Further information on the content, materials and methods of the lessons will be provided at the beginning of the course. Students who do not intend to participate in the lessons are kindly asked to contact the teacher by email. At the end of the course, students interested in one of the topics covered in class can make an appointment to ask for supervision of the thesis.