Insegnamento a.a. 2022-2023

Part I - "The Franco-German Relations - Quo Vadis?" (prof. Beda Romano) This 12-hour course aims to give undergraduate students a political and economic overview of the current Franco-German relations, showing how they evolved after the Fall of the Berlin Wall and how they will possibly develop in the future. Both the Covid-19 pandemic and the war in Ukraine are dramatic factors at play. While at first the relationship was characterized by a common interest to reconciliate, nowadays it is marked mainly by the need to reconciliate interests. Students will be encouraged to participate in class discussions, ask questions and intervene on the issues at stake. They will be called upon to read academic works as well as institutional documentation and media articles in advance. The main objective of this module is to enable students to understand the bilateral relation and put it into perspective at the European level.  

Part II - "Discussing Security Dilemmas" (prof. Camilla Pagani) Security is a fundamental topic in international relations theories, but its meanings and uses are much broader and overlap with many other disciplines. This preliminary module intends to analyse security from a philosophical and critical perspective. What are the origins and political implications behind the concepts of human security, biosecurity, the securitization of migration and others? How has "security" become a political and dogmatic object? The architecture of European security, human security, global health and food security will be examined with regard to warfare, migration, human rights and the pandemic. The course will be based on both theoretical texts and contemporary case studies. Interaction among students will be encouraged. The main objective of this module is to help students to develop analytical and critical skills in the field of security.

Module I

• understand the cultural differences between France and Germany;

• interpret current affairs through the lens of classics;

• have an understanding of current European politics.

Module II

• understand and critically analyse the main concepts of security

• become familiar with the category of "security" from a philosophical and critical perspective

• evaluate and compare different schools and approaches to security

• analyse and discuss different political topics and contemporary case studies both in group and individually
• analyse texts and articles from journals/books of political theory, philosophy and international organisations

• Face-to-face lectures
• Case studies /Incidents (traditional, online)

Part I (prof. Beda Romano)

Students will be encouraged to participate in class discussions, ask questions and intervene on the issues at stake. They will be called upon to read academic works as well as institutional documentation and media articles in advance.

Part II (prof. Camilla Pagani)

During each lecture there will be an interactive session where students will have the opportunity to discuss a text or a case study. Students are expected to actively participate in class debates and share their personal viewpoints with their peers. They will be encouraged to read all materials in advance.

The required readings for this course will be scientific articles, book chapters, case studies, and policy reports that represent the key and/or state of the art contributions to the different topics analyzed. Required and suggested readings will be released one week prior to the class for which they are assigned and should be done before the beginning of said class. All readings will be posted on Blackboard.

Part I (Prof. Romano)

SESSION 1: Historical Overview

An overview of the relationship between Germany and France. Historical background and cultural differences. Antigermanisme vs Gallophobie

Readings:

• Simon Winder – Lotharingia pp. 19-112 (2019)

SESSION 2: A Review of Franco-German Cooperation

A description of today’s political, economic and cultural cooperation (the government summits, the Processus de Blaesheim, specific cooperation in border regions, the role of Airbus, Arte and the Université Franco-Allemande). The Treaty of Aachen (2019) vs the Elysée Treaty (1963)

Readings:

• Alistaire Cole , The Franco-German Relations, pp. 38-44 (2000)
• Ulrich Krotz, Social Content of the International Sphere: Symbols and Meaning in Franco-German Relations, Program for the Study of Germany and Europe – Working Paper 02.2 pp 5-14. http://aei.pitt.edu/63713/1/PSGE_02_2.pdf

SESSION 3: The Debt Crisis

The euro and the 2008 crisis – How France and Germany countered the risks of disintegration. Grexit. Ruhige Hand vs Activisme économique

Readings:

• The Treaty of Aachen, 2019
• Waltraud Schelkle, Policymaking in Hard Times: French and German Responses to Economic Crisis in the Euro Area, in Coping With Crisis: Government Reactions to the Great Recession. Russel Sage Foundation, NY, pp. 130-162 (2012)

SESSION 4: The Banking Union

The Banking Union – EU supervision and EU resolution in a Franco-German perspective

Readings:

• Completing the Banking Union, European Parliament, February 2019
• Danièle Nouy, Marking the Inauguration of the ECB’s New Supervisory Responsibilities, Nov 20, 2014 https://www.bankingsupervision.europa.eu/press/speeches/date/2014/html/se141120.en.html

SESSION 5: The Health Crisis

The Next GenerationEU - A Franco-German compromise to respond to the Covid-19 Pandemic

Readings:

• European Union Responses to the Covid-19 Pandemic: adaptability in times of Permanent Emergency. https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/07036337.2020.1853120
• European Council Conclusions 17-21 July 2020, EU Council

https://www.consilium.europa.eu/media/45109/210720-euco-final-conclusions-en.pdf

SESSION 6: The War in Ukraine

How the 2004 EU enlargement changed the balance of power between France and Germany. The impact of Brexit and the war in Ukraine on the EU and among member states

Readings:

• Martin Dahl & Yelyzaveta Skomorokhova, The Balance of Power in the European Union after Brexit in Studia Universitatis Babes-Bolyai Sociologia, Sep 2017
• Ivan Krastev and Mark Leonard, Peace versus Justice: The Coming European Split over the war in Ukraine (ECFR, June 2022) https://ecfr.eu/publication/peace-versus-justice-the-coming-european-split-over-the-war-in-ukraine

Part II (C. Pagani)

Module II - Discussing Security Dilemmas (prof. C. Pagani)

SESSION 1 - Origins of security: from ancient Greece to social contract theories

This introductory lecture will discuss the origins of 'security' in ancient Greece to the theories of social contract, by focusing on its relation to the individual and the state.

Reading materials:

Hamilton J. Security: Politics, Humanity, and the Philology of Care, ch. II.

Hobbes. Leviathan, ch. XVII.

Locke J. Two Treaties of Government, II, ch. IX.

SESSION 2 - Security and warfare: discussing security dilemmas from the Westphalian paradigm to the war in Ukraine

Security has been and is still used today as a political tool to justify war. From the Westphalian paradigm to the contemporary war in Ukraine, what are the meanings, the uses and the abuses of security?

Reading materials:

Gros F. The Security principle, ch. III.

Ferrari, A. and Tafuro Ambrosetti, E. (ed.) Environment in Times of War. Climate and Energy Challenges in the Post-Soviet Region. ISPI Report 2022 - selected chapters

Case study

The many challenges of European security after the war in Ukraine.

SESSION 3 - Security and/or liberty? Surveillance and biosecurity

From 9/11 the perception of insecurity caused by terrorism globally has led to illiberal practices of surveillance in both autocratic and liberal states. Technology and AI are increasingly used in order to control, screen and predict suspicious individuals. What is at stake is a loss of basic rights for the safeguard of the 'freedom to be secure'. What is the balance between security and liberty? How has security turned into biosecurity?

Reading materials:

1. Bigo D., Carrera S., Guild E., & Walker R.B.J. 2009. 'The Changing Landscape of European Liberty and Security'.

2. Gros F. The Security principle. ch. IV.

Case study

- Analysis of French 'global security' law.

SESSION 4 - Security and development

This lecture will analyse the category of 'human security', investigating the link between security and development.

Reading materials:

1. Sen A. The Idea of Justice. ch. 16.

2. Nussbaum M. 'Women’s Bodies: Violence, Security, Capabilities'.

3. UNDP. Human Development Report.

Case study

- Food security and its political implications

SESSION 5 - The securitization of migration

This lecture will focus on the theory of 'securitization', by analysing migration as an object of contemporary international security.

Reading materials:

Huysmans J. 2000. 'The European Union and the Securitization of Migration'

Further readings:

Case study

- Analysis of the The Belarus–Lithuania border

SESSION 6 - Health security: a new global order?

This lecture will focus on the securitization of health at national and international level in light of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Reading materials:

Elbe S. 'Pandemics on the Radar Screen: Health Security, Infectious Disease and the Medicalisation of Insecurity'.

Case study

- The Zero-Covid policy in China: stakes and impacts

Reading materials: (the list might be updated)

1. Bigo D., Carrera S., Guild E., & Walker R.B.J. (2009). 'The Changing Landscape of European Liberty and Security: Mid-Term Report on the Results of the CHALLENGE Project'. International Social Science Journal. (February) 59, 192: 283-308. UNESCO. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1468-2451.2009.00699.x
2. Elbe, S. (2011). 'Pandemics on the Radar Screen: Health Security, Infectious Disease and the Medicalisation of Insecurity', Political Studies, 59, 848–866. DOI: 10.1111/j.1467-9248.2011.00921.x
3. Ferrari, A. & Tafuro Ambrosetti, E. (2022). Environment in Times of War. Climate and Energy Challenges in the Post-Soviet Region. ISPI Report - selected chapters
4. Gros, F. (2019). The Security principle. London & New York: Verso, ch. III.
5. Hamilton, J. T. (2013). Security: Politics, Humanity, and the Philology of Care. Princeton: Princeton University Press, chapter II.
6. Hobbes, T. (1668, 1994). Leviathan. Ed by E. Curley. Indianapolis/Cambridge: Hackett Publishing Company. (Or any other edition), chapter XVII.
7. Huysmans, J. (2000). 'The European Union and the Securitization of Migration'. Journal of Common Market Studies, 38, 5 (December): 751–77.
8. Locke J. (1689, 2003). Two Treaties of Government: And a Letter concerning Toleration, chapter IX. New Haven, Conn: Yale University Press.
9. Nussbaum, M. (2005). 'Women’s Bodies: Violence, Security, Capabilities'. Journal of Human Development, 6, 2, (July): 167-183. DOI: 10.1080/14649880500120509.
10. Sen A. (2010). The Idea of Justice. London: Penguin Books, chapter XVI.
11. UNDP 1994. Human Development Report. New York & Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Further reading materials:

1. Amoore, L., Rita Raley. Securing with algorithms: Knowledge, decision, sovereignty. Security Dialogue. 2017, Vol. 48(1) 3–10
2. Baldwin, D.A. (1997). 'The Concept of Security'. Review o f International Studies. 23: 5-26.
3. Bigo, D. ed. (2006). Illiberal Practices of Liberal Regimes: The (in)security Games. Paris: L'Harmattan.
4. Burke A. (2007). Beyond Security: Ethics, and Violence: War Against the Other. London: Routledge.
5. Dillon M. (1996). Politics of Security: Towards a Political Philosophy of Continental Thought. London: Routledge.
6. Dunn Cavelty M & Balzacq T. (2017). Handbook of Security Studies. London: Routledge.
7. Floridi L. (2020). Mind the App-Considerations on the Ethical Risks of COVID-19 Apps. Philosophy & technology, 1–6. Advance online publication. https://doi.org/10.1007/s13347-020-00408-5
8. Foucault M. (2009). Security, Territory, Population. Lectures at the Collège de France, 1977-78. Ed. by M. Senellart. London: Palgrave MacMillan.
9. Fournier P. (2018). A genealogical reading of security: power, politics and resistance. Culture, Theory & Critique. (August), 59, 3, 262-280.
10. Hanrieder, T. & Kreuder-Sonnen, C. (2014). 'WHO decides on the exception? Securitization and emergency governance in global health'. Security Dialogue,45(4): 331–348.
11. Liotta, P.H., Owen, Taylor. (2006). “Why Human Security?”. The Whitehead Journal of Diplomacy and International Relations. Seton Hall University. (Winter/Spring).
12. Lo Yuk-ping C. & Thomas N. (2010). 'How is health a security issue? Politics, responses and issues'. Health Policy and Planning, 25, 6: 447–453. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1093/heapol/czq063
13. Pagani C. (2021). Statecraft Migration: managing migration flows at a bilateral level. International Trends. Journal of International Relations Theory and World Politics.
14. Pagani C. 'The Fragility of the Individual and the ethics of sacrifice'. Reset-DOC. https://www.resetdoc.org/story/the-fragility-of-the-individual-and-the-ethics-of-sacrifice/
15. Peoples C. & Vaughan-Williams N. (2015). Critical Security Studies. An introduction. London: Routledge.
16. Roberts, Stephen L and Elbe, Stefan (2016). Catching the flu: Syndromic surveillance, algorithmic governmentality and global health security. Security Dialogue, 48 (1). pp. 46-62. ISSN 0967-0106
17. Wæver O (1995) Securitization and desecuritization. In: Lipschutz R (ed) On security. New York Columbia University Press, pp 48–86.
18. Walzer, M. (2006). 'Terrorism and Just War'. Philosophia. 34: 3–12. DOI 10.1007/s11406-006-9004-1