KHID 3020 - THE MAKING OF THE PRESENT A global history of globalization from St. Helena to Davos

CIVICA JOINT MSc GLOBAL HISTORY COURSE

BOCCONI – SciencesPo

THE MAKING OF THE PRESENT

A global history of globalization from St. Helena to Davos

Coordinators:

Andrea COLLI, Bocconi

Mario DEL PERO, Sciences Po

Description

The course will examine 19th-21st century world history by looking at the processes of global integration/disintegration that have marked the last two centuries. It will outline and discuss the fundamental drivers and consequences of various waves of ‘globalization’ - from the early 1800 to today - as well as the resistances they generated, their unintended effects, and the backlashes that often ensued, with globalization and integration being followed by deglobalization and fragmentation.

After an opening session dedicated to the historiographical and methodological challenges in the study of the history of globalization/de-globalization, the course will follow a chronological pattern and consist of six “seasons”. The first and second will focus on the imperial, economic and technological drivers of the first globalization of the mid/late-19th and early 20th centuries, its winners and losers. The two episodes of season 3 will deal with the contestation and ultimate implosion of the first globalization between World War I and the global recession of the 1930s. Season 4 and 5 will examine the reload of globalization following World War II and the complex co-existence between a partially globalized capitalist order and the Cold War geopolitical bipolar regime. The last two episodes will deal with the post-1970s new, and in many ways radical, phase of globalization, its many contestations and its current crisis, highlighting the many similarities, and the differences, with the first wave of global integration described in the first episodes.

Students will be subject to a multiple method of evaluation.

Midterm and Final test. To ascertain their knowledge of basic historical facts and event, a mid-term and a final exam will take place, at the end of the first and second part of the course. They will include quizzes and Multiple-Choice questions. The average grade of the 2 midterms will count for the 30% of the final grade.

Essay. Students will be divided in mixed groups (according to gender and institution) and will be required to write an essay of 3k words (with 10% tolerance) about a topic related to the course, in agreement with the instructors and the TA. The essay will weigh for the 70% of the grade. The essays will be based upon secondary and primary sources. The instructors and the TA will be available for mentoring.

Class Participation The most active and participating students can be awarded (at the instructors’ discretion) for additional points, up to 10% of the final grade.