History of Political Institutions and Thought

Module History of Political Institutions

General overview of the history of institutions and in-depth study of specific issues through the use of secondary literature and primary sources.

Lectures and seminars on primary sources

A basic knowledge of the main notions of modern and contemporary history is required.

Non-compulsory attendance

Starting from a general overview of institutional history, the course aims to explore the ways in which the instruments of petition, supplication, and letter to the powerful have allowed for the construction of a channel of communication and negotiation between the top echelons of authority and the base of the social pyramid throughout the modern and contemporary eras. Drawing on the concept of "moral economy" first proposed by E.P. Thompson in 1971, and working with archival sources, the course will focus on the political stakes of this long-lived medium of relations between rulers and ruled, institutions and private citizens.

TOPICS: 1. The history of political and social institutions; 2. The via supplicationis: formal and historical elements; 3. E.P. Thompson and the notion of "moral economy"; 4. Petitions to Mussolini in the State Archives of Catania.

Two collections of texts, one for attending students and a larger one for non-attending students, will be made available prior to the start of the course.

Oral examination