Università Roma Tre

The course intends to offer a general survey of the evolution of the international system since the end of the Cold War. After discussing the main historical interpretations of the causes of the Soviet collapse, the first part of the course will focus on the crises of the 1990s (Iraq, Yugoslavia, Somalia and Rwanda), the repeated failures of the UN, and the US and European search for a new international security paradigm. The second part of the course will look at the consequences of 9/11 as well as the war on terror, considering their long term impact on the hegemonic position of the US. It will also discuss the growing role of emerging powers such as China and India. Finally, the third part of the course looks at such events as the negotiations on the Iranian nuclear program, the Arab Springs and their consequences, the paralysis in the EU, and the crises in Ukraine and Syria.

CONTENT:

PART I – Introduction, historical controversies and the major features of the early post-cold war era.

Week 1
Introduction and description of the course. The search for new interpretive paradigms: the end of the Cold War or the triumph of globalization ?

Week 2
The rise of US hegemony and the search for a new Europe: the Kuwait war and the Maastricht negotiations

Weeks 3-4
The crises of the early 1990s: Yugoslavia, Somalia and Ruanda. The failure of assertive multilateralism and the search for alternatives. Contending US and EU security models

PART II
The war on terror and the rise of a multipolar system

Week 5
The drift towards US unilateralism: the Kosovo war and its implications for NATO and European security. The evolution of Russian foreign policy

Nuclear proliferation and arms control after the end of the Cold War: the North Korean crisis, the containment of Iraq, and the A.Q. Khan network

MIDTERM EXAM

Week 6
The impact of 9/11, the war in Afghanistan and the 2003 Iraq crisis.

Week 7
The rise of China and India and its impact on the international system. Will Asia return to the center of the international system?

PART III
What next?

Week 8
The erosion of US hegemony? The crisis in the Greater Middle East, 2003-2010 and the Obama administration’s pivot to Asia. The consolidation of the EU – and its stalemate. The Arab Springs and their aftermath. The Negotiations on the Iranian nuclear program

Week 9
2014-2023: the unraveling of the post-cold war order?

Week 10
Seminar – Class Presentations

Week 11
Seminar -Class Presentations

Week 12
Seminar -Class Presentations

Week 13
Seminar -Class Presentations

John W. Young and John Kent, International Relations since 1945 (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2020):

19:The Decline of the Cold War, 1985-9

Part VI The Post-Cold War World, 1990-2000

20:Europe and the Former Soviet Union
21:US Predominance and the Search for a Post-Cold War Order
22:Stability and Instability in the Less Developed World

PART VII The Age of Instability and Conflict: Terror, Economic Chaos, and Political Change 2001-11
23:The 'War on Terror' and the War in Afghanistan
24:The War in Iraq
25:Economic Problems in the West and the Economic Rise of China in the East

PART VIII The Age of Uncertainty: Chaos and Confusion in a Globalized World, 2011-18
26:Conflict and Chaos in the Middle East
27:Threats to the existing Global Order: Instability in the West
28:Threats to the Existing Global Order: Challenges from the East