MEDITERRANEAN HISTORY IN THE CONTEMPORARY AGE

The course aims to provide knowledge and tools useful for understanding events and key figures in the history of the Mediterranean in the contemporary era (20th-21st centuries), enabling students to contextualize and critically interpret the development and emergence of events and actors (institutional and otherwise), diplomatic relations, and political, economic, social, and cultural processes that have characterized the last two centuries in such a strategic area for global order. The knowledge and skills acquired will enable students to interpret current events with an informed approach, identifying the historical origins of major international issues originating in the region (including, but not limited to, the Israeli conflict), their evolution, and the successes and failures that have shaped the evolution of the Mediterranean region from the Great War to the present.

Based on the Dublin Descriptors, students should achieve the following outcomes at the end of the course:

1. Knowledge and understanding: Ability to understand the evolution of Mediterranean events between the 20th and 21st centuries, connecting them to the international context, and therefore to major global political, economic, social, cultural, and ideological ruptures;
2. Applied knowledge and understanding: Ability to use the acquired skills to reconstruct the historical evolution of the Mediterranean area and the relations between states within and outside the region, to identify strengths and weaknesses, key players and events, continuities and ruptures;
3. Independent judgment: Ability to develop critical thinking on the development and changes of the "Mediterranean system between the 20th and 21st centuries," including through an analysis of the role of major international and supranational actors;
4. Communication skills: Ability to participate in public debate on pressing international issues (including, but not limited to, the war in the Middle East, the diplomatic and geopolitical posture of Mediterranean countries, the emergence of new powers, the role of the EU and NATO), identifying the historical origins and evolution of diplomatic issues, and similarities and differences between past and present;
5. Learning skills: Ability to continue learning independently, including by identifying texts and sources that illustrate the evolution of the Mediterranean between the 20th and 21st centuries.

Recommended.

For the purposes of project preparation and ongoing assessments, students who have achieved at least 70% attendance at the end of the course are considered attending.

The course will reconstruct the history of the Mediterranean between the 19th and 21st centuries, analyzing political, economic, social, cultural, and diplomatic actors; conflicts and treaties; borders and boundaries; integrations and clashes.

From the emergence of the Romantic Nations to the spread of revolution at the dawn of the 19th century; from the rise and decline of the great Empires; from the preparation for the Great War to the actual impact of the conflict on the region; from the interwar period to the new order brought about by the outbreak of the Second World War; from the echoes of the Cold War in the Mediterranean to the emergence of more recent issues and actors (the European Union, migration and security issues, cooperation programs).

Two thematic in-depth studies will focus on the First World War and the "Second" Cold War.

1. In the first case, the themes analyzed will consider the clash between new nationalist visions and different hegemonic perspectives in the area between 1914 and 1918, as well as the ineffectiveness of the strategies and guiding principles agreed upon at the Versailles Peace Conference of 1919, which triggered a veritable Mediterranean upheaval: defeated nations that saw their nationalism triumph, forming modern territorial units; nations that never came into being; communities with national ambitions; others pervaded by internal conflicts; attempts at revisionism; the emergence of new geopolitical spaces and the "great Mediterranean dream" of a profoundly reformed global balance. Adopting different perspectives—long-term phenomena; the narrative of the war experience from different national perspectives; the analysis of its effects from the perspective of the twentieth century—the transformations that the Great War wrought in the Mediterranean will be considered, which, alongside those that devastated Europe, clearly represent the root of our present.
2. The second section will examine the redefinition of the region's structure between the 1970s and 1990s: the EU and the Oslo Accords (1993-1995); the origins of the Barcelona Process and its relationship with the peace process; the migratory dimension in Euro-Mediterranean relations; and Italy's role in the broader Mediterranean.

• Francesca Canale Cama, Daniele Casanova, Rosa Maria Delli Quadri, Storia del Mediterraneo moderno e contemporaneo, Napoli, Guida, 2011, pp. 311-451;
• Francesca Canale Cama (edited by), Una guerra mediterranea. Grande Guerra, imperi e nazioni nel Mediterraneo, Soveria Mannelli, Rubbettino, 2018, pp. 123-236;
• Gennaro Acquaviva e Antonio Varsori (edited by), Il Mediterraneo tra Guerra fredda e nuovo disordine internazionale, Bologna, il Mulino, 2025, pp. 15-167 and 253-277. 

For those attending class, there will be a midterm written exam on some of the topics covered in class.

The remainder of the syllabus will be presented during an oral exam, including the presentation of in-depth group work on selected sections of the syllabus, previously agreed upon with the instructor. The instructor will also provide reference materials and methodological support for the preparation.

Non-attending students will present the full syllabus during the final exam. The oral exam will include at least three questions focusing on three course topics, and students must demonstrate adequate understanding, mastery of the topics discussed, and clarity of presentation.

The average duration of the oral exam is 40 minutes.

To ensure equal opportunities and in compliance with applicable laws, interested students may request a personal interview so that any compensatory and/or extenuating measures can be planned, based on their learning objectives and specific needs. You may also contact the CInAP (Center for Active and Participatory Integration - Services for Disabilities and/or DSA) contact teacher in your department.

Grading will be based on the following criteria:

Not suitable

Significant deficiencies and significant inaccuracies in knowledge and understanding of the topics covered.

Insufficient analytical and synthesis skills.

Frequent generalizations.

Inappropriate use of references.

18-20

Impairments in knowledge and understanding of the topics covered, which are at a barely adequate level.

Analytical and synthesis skills not sufficiently refined.

Barely appropriate use of references.

21-23

Slightly more than adequate knowledge of the topics covered.

Coherent arguments, although not particularly original.

Appropriate use of references, at the standard level.

24-26

Good knowledge and understanding of the topics covered.

Good analytical and synthesis skills.

Coherent presentation of topics.

Appropriate use of references, at the standard level.

27-29

More than good knowledge of the topics covered.

Remarkable analytical and synthesis skills.

Use of references beyond the standard, through in-depth study of the topics.

30-30L

Excellent knowledge and understanding of the topics covered.

Remarkable analytical and synthesis skills.

Use of references well beyond the standard, through significant in-depth study.

• The Ottoman Empire and the Eastern Question
• Modern Egypt
• The Great War in the Mediterranean
• Great Britain and the War in the Great Sea
• Russia's Hegemonic Plans in the Mediterranean
• France and the Mediterranean
• The Mediterranean Policy of Italian Governments
• The Birth of the Middle East
• The Mandates
• The WAFD Party
• Faisal between Syria and Iraq
• The Mediterranean Between the Two Wars
• The Second World War in the Mare Nostrum
• The Cold War in the Mediterranean
• The New Hegemonies
• The Arab-Israeli Conflict
• North-South Relations
• Modern Turkey
• The Mediterranean in a Multipolar Context
• The European Community and the Mediterranean
• The Development Assistance Committee
• The Crisis in Lebanon
• The Gulf War
• The Arab Spring