Insegnamento a.a. 2026-2027

The course has two parts, one primarily on conflict and one primarily on cooperation and functioning of institutions. The main topics of part one  are:

• Interstate conflict onset and relationship with interdependence.
• Civil war risk and the role of resource availability.
• Inequality of resource endowments and geography as  structural causes of conflict.
• Genocides.
• Terrorism.

In the second part we cover primarily the role of United Nations, the WTO and other international organizations nd international agreements. Special attention is devoted to EU institutions and to the recently more pressing problems related to migration and globalization.

At the end of the course student will be able to...

• Assess the risk of conflict in a given described situation or scenario.
• Compare conflict risk of different scenarios.
• Relate interstate or civil war risk to different  types of interdependence or institutions or regimes.
• Resolve simple mathematical examples of situations.
• Transform complex situations in  simple model formats that allow to structure  and give sequential logic to the events.
• Explain violence incentives at all level in terms of material and non material ncentives and preconditions.
• Analyze the role of different types of international organizations or agreements for peace and cooperation.
• Understand the key evolution steps of national and supranational institutions.
• Evaluate the necessity of further integration in Europe.
• Evaluate the impact of migration and globalization shocks on the necessity or desirability of international institutions.

At the end of the course student will be able to...

• Distinguish the effects of a market change (like protectionism jump) on civil war risk, depending on the internal characteristics of the country and depending on the network of trades and position of the country in such a network.
• Make logical conclusions on the effects of changes in market conditions on interstate war risks, depending again on the network of interstate trades and on the position of a particular diad or link in such a network.
• Evaluate the desirability of various types of intervention policies by  individual super powers or by international organizations.
• Consult companies on relative attractiveness of investment locations given the geopolitical expected events  that we learn to evaluate.
• Participate to many kinds of debates about the future and evolution of WTO, EU, individual nation states.

• Lectures
• Guest speaker's talks (in class or in distance)

Each class is a lecture, but there are several guest speakers and the material of different sections are covered by expert instructors.

There is no distinction between attending and non-attending students.

The assessment consists of a midterm exam and a final exam, each contributing 50% to the final grade. The midterm exam covers the material presented in the first part of the course, while the final exam covers the material presented in the second part of the course.

Alternatively, students may choose to take a comprehensive final exam, which determines 100% of the final grade. In this case, the exam covers the material from both parts of the course.

The exams are composed of multiple-choice questions covering the material discussed in lectures and assigned readings. These questions are designed to assess not only students' knowledge of the main concepts, theories, and empirical findings presented in the course, but also their understanding of the underlying mechanisms and causal relationships that generate these results. In particular, questions require students to apply theoretical frameworks, interpret evidence, distinguish between competing explanations, and identify the implications of changes in key assumptions or contextual conditions.

This assessment method allows for a comprehensive evaluation of the expected learning outcomes. It verifies students' acquisition of disciplinary knowledge, their ability to apply concepts and analytical tools to specific problems, and their capacity to reason about the mechanisms linking causes and outcomes. 

Collection of articles and book chapters or dispense, to be decided at end of June.