King's College London

This course introduces students to Italian politics and political economy in the context of its insertion into European integration and world politics, and is divided into three parts. The first part deals with the historical analysis of the Italian institutional and administrative systems; the Italian political system; interest organization; and socio-economic cleavages and the Italian labor markets. The second part focuses on the political economy of Italy in Europe, Europeanisation of decision-making and implementation in economic, monetary, and fiscal matter and the impact of the Euro-zone crisis on Italy. The third part is concerned with the place of Italy in the world, Italian migratory policy and its relations with neighboring countries.

The course provides students with an understanding of the key issues in the historical, philosophical, ethical, and sociological approaches to the study of war and the military. It develops students’ understanding of the relationship between armed forces and the societies they protect, and it engages with war as a moral problem and the tools that philosophers have created to limit its brutality and guide belligerents. It explores why, in spite of these tools, wars can descend into barbarity, crime, and genocide, making a special case study of the Holocaust in the Second World War. It looks at dynamics of protest against war and then goes on to interrogate the intellectual, economic, and financial factors that drive outcomes and shape war as a social dynamic. The term concludes with explorations of what war teaches us about human nature and the social contract, humans’ relationship with their environment and national identity. Students in this course undertake the spring-term portion of the yearlong course War And Society.