Unit HISTORY OF MILITARY INSTITUTIONS AND SECURITY SYSTEMS
- Course
- International relations
- Study-unit Code
- A001426
- Curriculum
- Conflitti internazionali, studi strategici e analisi di politica estera
- Teacher
- Francesco Randazzo
- Teachers
-
- Francesco Randazzo
- Hours
- 42 ore - Francesco Randazzo
- CFU
- 6
- Course Regulation
- Coorte 2023
- Offered
- 2023/24
- Learning activities
- Affine/integrativa
- Area
- Attività formative affini o integrative
- Academic discipline
- SPS/06
- Type of study-unit
- Opzionale (Optional)
- Type of learning activities
- Attività formativa monodisciplinare
- Language of instruction
- italian language
- Contents
- Military art has become increasingly indecipherable in the contemporary era. Above all, the role of the military today is increasingly subject to confrontation with technology, information technology, and artificial intelligences that are bursting onto the international scene, forcing armies to understand warfare as a dynamic combination of several factors, including intelligence, cybersecurity, disinformation, the use of intelligent weapons, etc. New military technologies that are far more effective than any nuclear deterrence and that are holding the world in check and with bated breath, especially the peoples of the West, who since the Second World War have abandoned war as a means of conflict resolution and given ample space to diplomatic and political solutions. The course will aim to provide elements for reflection on how military institutions tend to change according to the choices made by governments to deal with international crises, without neglecting recent wars and giving an overview of the notions of 20th century military history
- Reference texts
- M. Bressan, G. Cuzzelli Da Clausewitz a Putin: la guerra nel XXI secolo. Riflessioni sui conflitti nel mondo contemporaneo, Ledizioni, 2022
N. Cristadoro, La dottrina Gerasimov. La filosofia della guerra non-convenzionale nella strategia russa contemporanea, Edizioni Il Maglio, 2022
Inoltre, un libro a scelta tra:
F. Farina, Donne nelle forze armate: Il servizio militare femminile, Viella, 2015
A. Beccaro, Il concetto di Gray zone: la dottrina GERASIMOV e l’approccio russo alle operazioni ibride. Possibili convergenze con la dottrina Cinese. Obiettivi strategici e metodologia d’impiego nello scenario geopolitico attuale. Prospettive del ruolo del Potere Aereo e Spaziale nei “Gray zone Scenarios”, in https://www.difesa.it/SMD_/CASD/IM/CeMiSS/DocumentiVis/Ricerche_da_pubblicare/Pubblicate_nel_2021/Beccaro_AP_SMD_01_SMA_04_ITA.pdf (online)
N. Cristadoro La mossa del drago strategia politico-militare e guerra di intelligence nella Cina del XXI secolo, Edizioni Il Maglio, 2021
F. Randazzo, (a cura di), Scritti sul tamburo: Miscellanea di Studi Storici, Politici e Militari, Passerino Editore, 2021 - Educational objectives
- To provide students with basic knowledge of military history and military institutions in their progressive and slow process of modernisation. The secondary objective of the course is to make students reflect on the consequences of military actions in the various theatres of war in peacetime and in wartime and in doing so it will consider recent crisis phenomena in the various geographical areas of the planet. All this is aimed at gaining knowledge of the military apparatuses and their operations in the field, not disdaining some military theories especially in relation to important military leaders in the 20th century.
- Prerequisites
- A good knowledge of 20th century history would be desirable as it is preparatory to the simplified learning of the concepts that will be enunciated during the course.
- Teaching methods
- Teaching activities include classroom lectures, participation in conferences and seminars on topics related or relevant to the course, and video or film screenings that enrich the course content. In addition, students are expected to be able, in the second part of the course, to discuss in groups or individually specific topics proposed by the lecturer as in-depth and collective discussions.
- Other information
- Attendance at the course is optional, though recommended and encouraged.
- Learning verification modality
- The examination includes an oral test consisting of a discussion lasting approximately 30-40 minutes and aimed at ascertaining the student's level of knowledge and comprehension of the theoretical and methodological contents indicated in the syllabus. The oral test will have to verify the student's communication skills, language property and autonomous organisation of the exposition on the same theoretical topics and notions learnt. The following will be strongly appreciated: the ability to synthesise, clear and coherent exposition as well as the ability to be able to link the topics with leading threads and logical-deductive reasoning.
- Extended program
- From the Twin Towers to the insurgencies in Iraq and Afghanistan, from the proxy wars in the Levant and the Persian Gulf to Wagner's role in Ukraine, North Africa and the Sahel, from the challenges in cyberspace to the new race to conquer space and, finally, from the People's Republic of China's naval programme to the Russian T-72s deployed at the Ukrainian border. The common thread uniting this mosaic, despite the diversity of forms and representations, is always the same: imposing one's will on the adversary by force. Starting from how the Russian-Ukrainian conflict is unfolding, innovations in military doctrines and contemporary war strategies will be discussed. In fact, the cue of war serves to explain how military institutions have in recent decades altered their set-up in relation to the changes taking place in the contemporary world. Today we speak of "ambiguous warfare", "non - linear", "hybrid", ... different ways of indicating wars fought in ways that are now increasingly distant from the concepts and doctrines of traditional conflicts, both at the strategic and tactical levels. Non-conventional warfare assumes a dominant role and so the military component in contemporary conflicts often does not wear a uniform or display distinctive symbols. Contemporary wars prefigure situations in which a belligerent state or non-state entity deploys military and paramilitary units in a confusing and deceptive manner in order to achieve military and political objectives, disguising the direct participation of its armed forces in operations. Hence the topicality of the thought of Gen. Valeij Gerasimov, the Russian Chief of Defence Staff, who goes beyond the 'asymmetrical' model with a doctrine that envisages attacking the adversary on an economic, cognitive and physical level by making extensive use of unconventional procedures, and which sees in the Donbass dispute with Ukraine and the occupation of Crimea the paradigmatic application of what he theorised.
- Obiettivi Agenda 2030 per lo sviluppo sostenibile
- high-quality education