Università Roma Tre

The course is divided into two parts. The first part deals with the most important features of European contemporary history since 1945 up to the present. The second part is devoted to a specialized theme: history of terrorism in Europe from the Sixties to the present.

FIRST HALF OF THE COURSE (4 CFU)
History of Europe since 1945
Contents: 1. From War to Cold War 2. Democracy Embattled: France, Italy, and West Germany 3. Stalinism beyond the Iron Curtain 4. The Economic Boom and the Welfare State 5. Political Transformations in Western Europe in the Fifities and the Sixties 6. The Years of Chruščëv 7. The End of the European Empires 8. Gaullism in France and the Center-Left in Italy 9. Europe in Crisis: the Old Continent during the Seventies 10. Eastern Europe after 1968 11. The Transition to Democracy in Spain, Portugal, and Greece 12. The Thatcher Era 13. The Fall of the Wall and the End of the Cold War 14. The Yugoslavian crisis 15. The new Europe between integration and immigration


SECOND HALF OF THE COURSE (4 CFU)
Terrorism in Europe since the Sixties
Contents: 1. What is Terrorism? 2. The Main Waves of Modern Terrorism 3. Nationalist and Separatist Terrorism in Europe: ETA and IRA 4. Main Features of Ideological Terrorism in Europe 5. Ideological Terrorism in France, Italy, and West Germany 6. The Origins of Left-Wing Terrorism in Western Europe: 1968, Violence, and Terrorism 7. Terrorists’ Memoirs 8. Interpretations of European Ideological Terrorism 9. Religious Terrorism in Europe since the 1970s up to the Present 10. European Democracies Dealing with Terrorism


The first part of the course will consist of lectures, during which also photographs and footage will be employed.
The second part of the course will be structured as a specialized seminar. After a series of lectures during which the instructor will introduce the main topics of the seminar, attending students will be required to do one presentation in class about a book, which will be chosen from a selection provided by the instructor at the beginning of the course. Class discussion will follow each presentation. At the end of the course, attending students will be required to write a 4000 word paper, analyzing the book chosen in the light of the analyses and discussions from the seminar.

Only for students attending the course, the assessment related to the first part of the course may take the form of a mid-term written exam, to be taken during the course (esonero).
With regard to the seminar, the grade for this part of the course (which will average with the grade obtained for the first part) will be attributed on the basis of the student’s performance in the following activities: PRESENTATION: 30%; FINAL PAPER: 50%; PARTICIPATION TO CLASS DISCUSSIONS: 20%.

Books for students attending the course:
- William I. Hitchcock, Il continente diviso. Storia dell’Europa del 1945 a oggi, Roma, Carocci, 2003
- Readings assigned by instructor


Books for students not attending the course:
1. William I. Hitchcock, Il continente diviso. Storia dell’Europa del 1945 a oggi, Roma, Carocci, 2003
2. Isabelle Sommier, La violenza rivoluzionaria: le esperienze di lotta armata in Francia, Germania, Giappone, Italia e Stati Uniti, Roma, Deriveapprodi, 2009

3. One book chosen among the following:
• P. Acanfora, Miti e ideologia nella politica estera DC: nazione, Europa e comunità atlantica (1943-1954), Bologna, Il Mulino, 2013
• R. Brizzi e M. Marchi, Charles De Gaulle, Bologna, Il Mulino, 2008
• G.M. Ceci, Il terrorismo italiano. Storia di un dibattito, Roma, Carocci, 2013
• M. Di Donato, I comunisti italiani e la sinistra europea: il PCI e i rapporti con le socialdemocrazie (1964-1984), Roma, Carocci, 2015
• V. Lomellini, Les Relations Dangereuses: French Socialists, Communists and the Human Rights Issue in the Soviet Bloc, Bruxelles, Peter Lang, 2012