COMPARATIVE HISTORY OF GOVERNMENT
Degree Course in WORLD POLITICS AND INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS
Teacher: dott. Cristina Bon
The course will compare the developments of government in the Western World from the 19th century to
the second half of the 20th century, with a particular focus on five main countries: France, Germany, Italy,
UK and USA. When it will be deemed relevant, and especially during the discussions, the analysis will be
broadened to some case studies other than the main ones considered.
Although a general outline of the constitutional and political systems considered will be provided, the
course will be mainly concerned in using the same case studies to shed light on critical aspects of
governmental institutions and processes such as political participation and elections, monarchical and
presidential vs. parliamentary rule, the politics/administration ‘dichotomy’, centralization vs.
decentralization and federalism and the nation-building process. Attention will be paid to issues like the
convergence and the circulation of political models, the use of institutional symbols in the different polities,
the relation between the constitutional structures and the underlying social structures.
10 weeks - 40h hours: 20h lectures ; 20h discussions
Lectures
WEEK 1 (16/10-17/10) – The Comparative approach in History
WEEK 2 (23/10-24/10) – The age of Revolutions and the first constitutional conventions (US and France)
WEEK 3 (6/11-7/11) – Constitutional systems and separation of powers / Part 1: Republican and Federal
Experiments in Nineteenth Century (First French Republics – US political system – Switzerland)
WEEK 4 (13/11-14/11) – Constitutional systems and separation of powers / Part 2: Constitutional
Monarchies in Nineteenth Century Europe (Constitutional monarchies in France, Belgium, Italy, Prussia)
WEEK 5 (20/11-21/11) – Nation-State and Nation-Building in comparative perspective
WEEK 6 (27/11-28/11) – The development of the public administration between Nineteenth and Twentieth
Centuries (US, UK and Italy)
WEEK 7 (3/12-4/12) – The beginning of the Twentieth Century: the crisis of parliamentary system
WEEK 8 (11/12-12/12) – Communist and fascist dictatorships in the early Twentieth Century (Germany –
Italy – Soviet Union)
WEEK 9 (18/12-19/12) – Beyond the nation-state: mass democracies and international organizations
WEEK 10 (date to be defined) – The policing of protest in Twentieth Century: Italy, France and US
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Reference textbooks1
Baycroft Timothy, Hewitson, Mark (eds.), What is a nation? Europe 1789-1914, Oxford, Oxford University
Press, 2006 (chapters will be provided during the class)
Bayly, Christopher Alan, The Birth of the Modern World, 1780-1914, Oxford, Blackwell Publishing, 2004
(chapters will be provided during the class)
R. C. van Caenegem, An Historical Introduction to Western Constitutional Law, Cambridge, Cambridge
University, Press, 1995, chapters 8 and 9
Loughlin, John, Kincaid, John, Swenden, Wilfried (edited by), Routledge Handbook of Regionalism and
Federalism, London and New York, Routledge, 2013 – Part I (chapters 1 to 4)
The required readings for the discussions will be provided in class
Course requirements
1) Full attendance is required (and will be checked by the teacher)
(Student guidelines: “Credible justifications and excuses for non-attendance at individual classes will be
taken into account, and should be addressed directly to the relevant course teacher. We are reasonable
people and will therefore treat these justifications and excuses reasonably. However, having a job is not
considered a reasonable excuse in this context”)
Active participation in class will be considered as a part of the student performance.
2) At the end of the course, students have to write a final essay (4000-5000 words). (a list of topics will
suggested by the teacher during the class)
(Student guidelines: “This is a standard term paper based on several specific texts (for example, 4 or 5
articles, which might be taken from your course reading or might be additional to it, going more into depth
on a specific topic). An assessed essay should normally show some autonomous ability to construct or
reconstruct debates, arguments or lines of reasoning, and if possible should show some critical distance”).
3) Oral examination - based on the final essay + 3 readings chosen from the course material
Grade breakdown:
25%: Attendance & Participation
45%: final essay
30%: oral examination
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Other than those indicated in the syllabus, additional chapters or parts of the books will be indicated during the
classes.
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