Geopolitics

Bocconi University and ISPI School offer a number of Winter School on contemporary geopolitics topics, that take place during the weekend with an intense mode format.

This semester courses will be delivered online on Friday and Saturday from 9am to 5pm and will be offered in Italian. 

For the full list and further information visit this webpage: unibocconi.it/convenzioneispi

Gulf countries between crises and new geopolitical dynamics

Course organized in collaboration with ISPI (Institute for International Politics Studies) and held in English.

The Gulf has been on the spotlight for its geopolitical significance and its huge energy resources for a long time. Over the last decade, especially after the Arab uprisings, the Gulf region has increasingly become one of the main centres of the geopolitical and geoeconomic dynamics of the wider Middle East. Not only Saudi Arabia and Iran, whose geopolitical and religious rivalry has been affecting the entire region, but also smaller states such as Qatar and United Arab Emirates have emerged as more and more active and assertive players, leveraging on their large hydrocarbon revenues and financial resources. However, competition for influence and intra-Gulf crises have questioned regional stability, spreading their effects well beyond the Gulf and transforming Middle Eastern conflicts (i.e. in Syria, Libya and Yemen) into proxy wars. Recently, Covid-19 pandemic and plummeting oil price have put strain on Gulf states. In this context, what are the main challenges at stake for the Gulf states today? What are future scenarios?

Coordinator: Valeria Talbot, is co-head of the Middle East and North Africa Centre at the Italian Institute of International Political Studies (ISPI), in charge of Middle East Studies.

When: on Wednesday from 6.40 to 8.10 pm

• 7, 14, 28 October 2020
• 4, 11, 18 November 2020
  

Teaching mode: in-distance learning

Registrations: September 16 — 30 through yoU@B ("supplementary activity" widget)

Sub-Saharan Africa is all too often associated with armed violence by the media and by public opinion. Conflicts have certainly been an important feature of the post-independence history of the region, particularly in the form of civil wars and ethnic clashes. But the frequency and location of neither of the two has been even. Rather, conflict motives, events and dynamics have evolved significantly over time, and some countries have clearly been more prone to episodes of armed violence than others.

How widespread are armed, violent conflicts in today’s Africa? Are they on the rise or are they declining? Can we distinguish different types of conflicts? What causes them and how are they ended? Who are the key actors embracing arms and how do they operate? What is the role of international players? These are some of the questions the course will address. The course is meant to introduce and discuss key issues regarding conflicts and instability in sub-Saharan Africa. It will start by offering an overview of the main conflict trends and types in the area, and it will then focus on individual countries or sub-regions – including such key zones as the Sahel and the Horn of Africa – to examine specific conflict episodes, trajectories and outcomes.

The course consists of ten one-hour and a half lectures that will be delivered twice a week in February and March 2021.

Course coordinator: Giovanni Carbone, Head of Africa Programme at ISPI and Professor of Political science at Università degli Studi di Milano. His research focus is the comparative study of politics, geopolitics and economic development in sub-Saharan Africa, with particular regard to political institutions. He was previously a Research Associate at the Crisis States Programme of the London School of Economics and the Principal Investigator of a research project funded by the European Research Council (ERC). His latest book is Political leadership in Africa. Leaders and development south of the Sahara (with Alessandro Pellegata, 2020).

When

Teaching mode: in distance learning

REGISTRATIONS AND CREDITS
The course is reserved to Bocconi students who are enrolled for AY 2020-21 in a graduate program.

Call for applications n. 2 for curricular supplementary activities will open on 22 January 2021.
There will be about 200 spots available.

Further information on registrations and creteria of assignment are available here:
2.1.2.4. enhancing Experience - Curricular supplementary activities

9.3 ENHANCING EXPERIENCE - Curricular Supplementary Activities: choice, assignment and placement in the Program Structure

ATTENDANCE AND CREDITS

Live attendance to at least 80% of all lectures is a precondition to take the final test. Passing the test gives students access to 2 CFU.

The course will be taught in Italian.

For further information and the complete program please check this webpage.

When: May — July 2021

All Summer School courses will be offered in Italian. 

For further information please check this webpage. 

On November 3, 2020, the US will elect their new President. In 2016, the outsider Donald Trump unexpectedly won the race against the former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. In the following years, the Trump administration deeply revised the US international role, while, in the domestic realm, its decisions triggered a process of deep political polarization. Through a long and troubled process, the Democratic party finally agreed on the name of Barack Obama's former Vice president, Joe Biden, as the challenger in the November competition. However, the result is far from certain.

In this perspective, the course aims to provide an overall vision of today's US political situation and its impacts on the upcoming elections, and of the challenges facing the new administration, both in the domestic and international fields. In doing so, it will also provide a sketch of the US institutional system and of the limits that the presidential action meets in everyday intercourses with the other constitutional bodies. In the las two lectures, a sketch will be drawn of possible domestic and international agenda for the new administration, in the light of the result of the presidential vote.

PROGRAM
When: 

• 9 - 13 - 16 - 20 - 23 - 27 - 30 October
• 3 - 6 - 10 November

from 6.40 to 8.10 pm 

Where: Online (Blackboard — Collaborate)

COORDINATOR

Gianluca Pastori, PhD, is Associate Professor, History of political relations between North America and Europe, Faculty of Political and Social Sciences, Catholic University of Milan. He also teaches History of military institutions and security systems in the same Faculty, and History of the international relations and institutions in the Faculty of Political and Social Sciences, Catholic University, Brescia.

REGISTRATIONS AND CREDITS
The course is reserved to Bocconi students who are enrolled for AY 2020-21 in a graduate program.

Call for applications n. 1 for curricular supplementary activities will open on September 24.
There will be 160 spots available.

Further information on registrations and creteria of assignment are available here:
2.1.2.4. enhancing Experience - Curricular supplementary activities

9.3 ENHANCING EXPERIENCE - Curricular Supplementary Activities: choice, assignment and placement in the Program Structure

The two credit points that can be earned are subject to meeting the attendance requirements (at least 80%) and passing a theory-based test (multiple-choice test, pass or fail) that will be held online on November 17 at 6:40pm.

**course taught in Italian**

When:
20-27 November from 2pm to 6:15pm

21-28 November from 2pm-4:45pm

REGISTRATIONS AND CREDITS
The course is reserved to Bocconi students who are enrolled for AY 2020-21 in a graduate program.

Call for applications n. 1 for curricular supplementary activities will open on September 24.
There will be 30 spots available.

For further information and the complete program please check this webpage.