Unit POLITIC CULTURES AND IDEOLOGIES IN THE MODERN WORLD
- Course
- European legal integration and human rights
- Study-unit Code
- A000382
- Curriculum
- In all curricula
- Teacher
- Cristina Baldassini
- Teachers
-
- Cristina Baldassini
- Hours
- 36 ore - Cristina Baldassini
- CFU
- 6
- Course Regulation
- Coorte 2026
- Offered
- 2026/27
- Learning activities
- Caratterizzante
- Area
- Storico
- Sector
- GSPS-03/A
- Type of study-unit
- Obbligatorio (Required)
- Type of learning activities
- Attività formativa monodisciplinare
- Language of instruction
- Italian
- Contents
- This course analyses, in a historical and political perspective, the most important ideologies and political cultures from the beginning of the twentieth century to the present day, with special emphasis on the European and American contexts. Particular attention will be given to the literature on the crisis of liberal democracy.
- Reference texts
- Texts for attending students:
M. Conway, L’età della democrazia. L’Europa occidentale dopo il 1945, Carocci 2023 (ed. or. Western Europe’s Democratic Age 1945-1968, Princeton University Press 2020).
Texts for non-attending students:
M. Conway, L’età della democrazia. L’Europa occidentale dopo il 1945, Carocci 2023 (ed. or. Western Europe’s Democratic Age 1945-1968, Princeton University Press 2020).
In addition, one book selected from the following list:
-F. Fukuyama, Il Libralismo e i suoi oppositori, Utet 2022 (ed. or. Liberalism and Its Discontents 2022);
-E. Luce, Il tramonto del liberalismo occidentale, Einaudi 2017 (ed. or. The Retreat of Western Liberalism 2017);
-P. J. Deneen, Perché il liberalismo ha fallito, Edizioni La Vela 2026 (ed. or. Why Liberalism Failed 2019). - Educational objectives
- This course aims to provide students with an overview of the most significant cultures and political ideologies from the twentieth century to the present day. Teaching programme is designed to help students understand historical contexts from which political cultures and ideologies are set up, their impact on political systems and, more generally, on the international political order. At the end of the course, students will have gained an understanding of the evolution of the main political cultures and ideologies, not only in terms of factual reference, but also according to determining myths, ideas and interests.
- Prerequisites
- In order to gain an understanding of the topics covered, a general knowledge of contemporary history is required.
- Teaching methods
- The first part of the course is organized in lectures on general concepts of political culture and ideology. The second part is organized in seminars and takes an in-depth look at specific case studies, with particular attention to so-called “new ideologies” in the world today.
- Other information
- For further information, please send an email to:
cristina.baldassini@unipg.it - Learning verification modality
- For students who complete the course the final exam consists of an oral examination lasting about 20 minutes on all the contents of the course. The assessment aims to evaluate the students’ level of knowledge of the course content and their ability to express it clearly and appropriately. For non-attending students the final examination is oral, lasting about 20 minutes, with questions on the content of two texts specified in this programme.
Students with disabilities (including learning disorders) are invited to get in touch wich the lecturer in order to agree on an appropriate modality for support. - Extended program
- The course explores the history of the most significant ideologies and political cultures from the twentieth century to the present day, with particular reference to the European and American contexts. The first part of the course focuses on ideologies and political cultures of the twentieth century (liberalism, fascism, nazism, communism) paying attention to their development, decline and fall. The second part of the course analyzes the discussion on “the end of ideologies” following 1989 and focuses on several more contemporary issues, including: the scientific literature on the crisis of liberalism; critiques of liberalism; the emergence and rise of “new ideologies” (from environmentalism to anti-globalism, from anti-Europeanism to anti-Americanism) but also phenomena such as the cancel culture in Anglo-Saxon countries.
- Obiettivi Agenda 2030 per lo sviluppo sostenibile
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