HISTORY OF POLITICAL INSTITUTIONS

Academic Year 2023/2024 - Teacher: ELENA GAETANA FARACI

Expected Learning Outcomes

The course aims to provide students with the knowledge and conceptual tools to understand the evolution of Italian institutions from unification to the reforms of the late twentieth century with reference to the European context and the relationship between the Constitution and administration.

A thematic block will concern the role played by the ruling class in the political-institutional history of our country.

The course also aims to convey elements on methodological aspects with the aim of knowing the functioning of the current institutions and the changes necessary for their functioning.

Course Structure

Frontal lessons, in-depth seminars and laboratory activities with active involvement of students.

Required Prerequisites

Knowledge of historical, political, institutional events of the modern and contemporary age.

Attendance of Lessons

Recommended, but not mandatory.

Detailed Course Content

The premises of political institutions in the modern age.
Constitutional and institutional processes in the pre-unification states.
The construction of the unitary State.
Centralization and decentralization.
Italian institutions between the nineteenth and twentieth centuries.
Italian and European institutions in the contemporary age.

The ruling class at the head of the country.

Textbook Information

1) G. Astuto, Le istituzioni politiche. Da Cavour al dibattito contemporaneo, Carocci, Roma 2016.
2) G. Astuto (a cura di), Napoleone Colajanni. Europa, Italia e Mezzogiorno, Bonfirraro Editore, Barrafranca 2023 (pp. 5- 64; 116-188; 217-235).
Attending students will be provided with in-depth materials on the course topics.

Author	Title	Publisher	Year	ISBN
G. Astuto	Le istituzioni politiche italiane. Da Cavour al dibattito contemporaneo	Carocci	2016	9788843080571
G. Astuto (a cura di)	Napoleone Colajanni. Europa, Italia e Mezzogiorno	Bonfirraro Editore	2023	9788862762889

Course Planning

	Subjects	Text References
1	The premises of political institutions: the birth of the modern state. Constitutional and institutional processes in the pre-unification states.	G. Astuto, Le istituzioni politiche italiane. Da Cavour al dibattito contemporaneo, Carocci, Roma 2016, Introduction and cap. I.
2	The construction of the Italian state. Centralization and decentralization. The foreign policy of Cavour and the France of Napoleon III.	G. Astuto, Le istituzioni politiche italiane. Da Cavour al dibattito contemporaneo, Carocci, Roma 2016, capp. II e III.
3	The liberal turning point and the Giolittian age. The First World War, the crisis of the liberal political system and the fascist regime. The Italian ruling class and the figure of Napoleon Colajanni.	G. Astuto, Le istituzioni politiche italiane. Da Cavour al dibattito contemporaneo, Carocci, Roma 2016, capp. IV, V, VI.G. Astuto (a cura di), Napoleone Colajanni. Europa, Italia e Mezzogiorno, Bonfirraro Editore, Barrafranca 203, pp. 5-64; 116-188; 217-235.
4	Repubblican Italy: from centrist governments to the long transition.	G. Astuto, Le istituzioni politiche italiane. Da Cavour al dibattito contemporaneo, Carocci, Roma 2016, capp. VII, VIII e IX.

Learning Assessment

Learning Assessment Procedures

The learning assessment method is the oral examination. For attending students it is possible to take part in on-going verifications (written and / oral), aimed at ascertaining the knowledge of a part of the program.

Examples of frequently asked questions and / or exercises

Political institutions in the modern age. The French Revolution and the Napoleonic Age
The Restoration. The liberal movements and the Italian Risorgimento
The construction of the Unitary State. Centralization and decentralization. The Lieutenancies.
The governments of the historical Right. The Left in power. The Spanish Age.
The Giolittian Age. The First World War and the crisis of the liberal political system. The fascist regime.
The Republic and the centrist governments. The new institutions in Europe and the construction of the European Union.
Italy from centre left to pentapartito. The collapse of the Italian political system and the long transition.

VERSIONE IN ITALIANO

Degree Course in

Sciences of Administration and Organisation