Estudia

1. The interwar period and the Second World War: a) Political, economic and social context; b) The rise of fascisms and ultranationalism; c) War developments and battle fronts.

2. The post-1945 international order, EE.UU. and the USSR as the new world superpowers, and the establishment of the “iron curtain’: a) The world situation in 1945; b) USA and Soviet Union: the new protagonists of world politics; c) The beginning of the Cold War (1946-1949), the formation of NATO and the Warsaw Pact; d) The Marshall Plan and its implementation.

3. The refugee crisis in the post-WWII and the origins of the contemporary refugee protection system: a) The appearance of a ‘refugee problem’; b) Creating a global refugee regime; c) The Geneva Convention of 1951 and its 1967 Additional Protocol.

4. The collapse of the empires and the process of decolonisation: a) Decolonisation in India and Southeast Asia; b) Palestine and Israel; c) Mao Tse-Tung's China and the Korean scenario; d) The Third World and the Movement of non-aligned countries; e) The Cuban revolution.

5. The beginning of the European integration process a) A new idea of Europe; b) The first European institutions.

6. The evolution of the two blocs of the Cold War and People's China from the 1950s to the mid-1970s: a) The Welfare Society (1950s-1970s) and the protests movements in the late 1960s b) The USA: from Eisenhower to Johnson and the Vietnam War; c) The Soviet Union: from Stalin’s death to Brezhnev and the Soviet invasion of Prague in 1968; d) The break between the USSR and China and the Chinese "Cultural Revolution"; e) The peak of detente and the end of the I Cold War.

7. Neoliberalism and the Second Cold War: a) Thatcher, Reagan, neoliberalism and neoconservatism; b) The rise of Carter and the crisis of détente (1976-1978) c) Iran, Afghanistan and the beginning of the Second Cold War d) Deng Xiaoping's China

8. The end of the Cold War: a) Reagan’s policy and the USSR crisis (1980-1985) b) Gorbachev: the reform of the USSR and new détente (1985-88); c) The end of the USSR and the fall of communism in central and eastern Europe.

9. The 1990s-early 2000s. New equilibrium and new conflicts a) The USA world hegemony b) From the EEC to the EU: recent developments in the integration process c) The hotspot of the middle East d) The diffusion of Islamic terrorism

10. Globalisation, the 2008 economic recession, and the current challenges to democracy: a) Economic transformations since 1945, globalisation; b) The crisis of 2008 and subsequent changes; c) Refugee crises in the 2010s; d) The rise of populisms and the new radical right.

• Bozo, Frédéric, Rey, Marie-Pierre, Rother, Bernd and Ludlow, N. Piers (eds.) (2012). Visions of the End of the Cold War in Europe, 1945-1990. New York: Berghahn Books. Catàleg
• Fuentes Codera, Maximiliano and Rodrigo, Javier (2022). Ellos, los fascistas: la banalización del fascismo y la crisis de la democracia. Barcelona: Deusto. Catàleg
• Iordachi, Constantine (2009). Comparative Fascist Studies. New Perspectives. London: Bloomsbury. Catàleg
• Jensen, Jan and Osterhammel, Jurgen (2017). Decolonisation. A short story. Princeton: Princeton University Press.
• Mazower, Mark (1998). Dark continent: Europe’s Twenty Century. London: Allen Lane.
• Ther, Philipp (2019). The Outsiders. Refugees in Europe since 1492 . Princeton : Princeton University Press. Catàleg
• The Cambridge History of the Cold War (2010). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Catàleg
• The Cambridge History of the European Union (2024). Cambridge : Cambridge University Press. Catàleg
• The Oxford Handbook of Postwar European History (2012). Oxford : Oxford University Press. Catàleg
• The Oxford Handbook of Populism (2017). Oxford: Oxford University Press. Catàleg
• Arendt, Hannah (2006). Eichmann in Jerusalem: A report on the banality of evil. Penguin. Catàleg
• Black, Jeremy (2016). The Holocaust. History and Memory. Indiana University Press. Catàleg
• Blinkhorn, Martin (1990). Fascists and conservatives: the radical right and the establishment in twentieth-century Europe. Unwin Hyman. Catàleg
• Cheek, Timothy (2010). A critical introduction to Mao. Cambridge University Press. Catàleg
• Lukacs, John (2013). A short history of the XX century. Harvard University Press.
• Schoppa, Keith (2021). The Twentieth Century. A world history. Oxford University Press.

Assessment activities:

See the evaluation criteria.
Plagiarism by any means is a serious academic offence and will automatically be marked with a 0 (final mark of the course).

Specific criteria for the "No show" grade:
The student who does not complete all the requested assignments on time and/or in the forms established by the professor will be considered as “Absent”.

Single Assessment:
The student has the possibility to take a single final exam that will cover all the topics addressed throughout the course.

Minimum requirements to pass:
In order to pass the exam, a minimum overall mark of 5.0 is required. The minimum mark for the final exam is 4.0.

Tutoring will take place in person (History Department, 4° floor, office no. 425) and, if not possible, through email and virtual platforms (by appointment).

Office hours:
Wednesday 11.30-13.00

In person, by email and Moodle.