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 impact of 9/11 as well as at the war on terror, considering their long term impact on the hegemonic position of the US. It will also discuss the growing role of such emerging powers as China and India. Finally, the third part of the course looks at such recent 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, containing Iraq, and the AQ Khan network

MIDTERM EXAM APRIL 10

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
2014-2015: the unraveling of the post-cold war order?

Week 10
Seminar –

Week 11
Class Presentations

Week 11
Class Presentations

Week 13
Class Presentations

RECOMMENDED READINGS:

Derek Chollet and James Goldgeier, America between the Wars: from 11/9 to 9/11 (New York: Public Affairs, 2008)

Warren I. Cohen, America’s Falling Empire. U.S. Foreign Relations since the End of the Cold War (Oxford: Blackwell, 2006)

Philip H. Gordon, and Jeremy Shapiro. Allies at War: America, Europe and the Crisis Over Iraq (New York: McGraw-Hill, 2004)

Jolyon Howorth, Security and Defence Policy in the European Union (London: Palgrave/ Macmillan, 2014)

Marc Lynch, The Arab Uprising: The Unfinished Revolutions of the New Middle East (New York: Public Affairs, 2013)

Richard Rhodes, The Twilight of the Bombs- Recent Challenges, New Dangers, and the Prospects for a World Without Nuclear Weapons (New York: Knopf, 2010)

William Shawcross, Deliver us from Evil. Warlords and Peacekeepers in a World of Endless Conflict (London: Bloomsbury, 2001)

Robert G. Sutter, Chinese Foreign Relations: Power and Policy since the Cold War (New York, Rowman and Littlefield, 2009)

Ashley J. Tellis, Travis Tanner and Jessica Keough (eds.), Asia Responds to its Rising Powers. China and India. Strategic Asia 2011-2012 (Seattle and Washington: NBR, 2011)

David S. Yost,, NATO’s Balancing Act (Washington, DC: United States Institute of Peace Press, 2014)