The twentieth century – the century of globalisation

This course is part of the programme
Doctoral study programme Humanities

Objectives and competences

group dynamics
work with different sources
field work
public presentations
writing articles
mastering research methods
ability to manage a great number of data and sources
ability to organize data logically and coherently
critical analyses and synthesis
ability to develop argumentation and dialogue
ability to make propositions and conclusions based on and within a research work

Prerequisites

The formal prerequisites:
a first degree study completed;
enrolment to the postgraduate study programme.

Content

The course will examine different aspects of global history and the ongoing ideological streams and praxis, which directed the modernization and transformation of the 20th century. The time frame will be that between the rise of nationalism in the second half of the 19th century and the making of modern political parties and enforcement of the traditional political environment of the conservative, liberal and socialist camp up to the end of the bipolar world order of the end of the 20th century. From the geopolitical point of view, this period was marked by three watersheds (First and Second World War, the fall of the Berlin wall), which decisively effected the world balance. The multinational empires collapsed and the national states were built. The global course for the supremacy after the First World was marked by the conflict between socio-political and economic-technological models, which brought to radical social and political changes that affected all social classes and were worldwide. In this respect the course will also focus on the role of the masses and mass societies and modernization as cultural and social phenomena, like mass politics, which was also the base for the totalitarian ideologies and liberal democracies, as well as mass mobilizations in other political and social processes, particularly the 20th century wars. In this contexts the focus of the course will be directed to the examination of the basic Causal and Consequence processes which affected the political strategies in sometimes controversial and very complex situations in one century and a half time span. The course will discuss the relationship between nationalism, totaliatiran systems, colonialism vs. national and multinational states. The course will introduce a comparative perspective to explore global dimensions of the issues, as well as the influence of social phenomena like modernization, nationalism, war, and revolution, on global processes.
The course will include theoretical questions, as well as the analyses of different praxis and thus will stimulate the creative integration of theoretical problems with specific and concrete historical questions.

Intended learning outcomes

knowledge about dynamics and specifics of the First and Second World War
knowledge about political camps in the Slovenian and European context
knowledge about the fundamental concepts of nationalism, totalitarianisms, globalization in a historical perspective
understanding the national dimension in the historical processes of the 20th century

Readings

  • Mark Mazower, Temna celina. Dvajseto stoletje v Evropi. Mladinska knjiga, Ljubljana 2002.
  • Eric Hobsbawm, Čas skrajnosti – svetovna zgodovina 1914–1991. Znanstveno in publicistično središče, Ljubljana 2000. Catalogue
  • Slovenska novejša zgodovina. Ljubljana, Mladinska knjiga 2005 (Selected chapters).
  • Tony Judt, Povojna Evropa: 1945–2005. Ljubljana, Mladinska knjiga 2007.
  • Paul Fussel,Velika vojna in moderni spomin. Ljubljana: Studia humanitatis, 2013. Catalogue
  • Winter, Jay, The Great War in history: debates and controversies, 1914 to the present Cambridge ; New York: Cambridge University Press, 2006. Catalogue E-version
  • The Cambridge History of the First World War. Vol. 1–3, edited by Jay Winter. - Cambridge; New York: Cambridge University Press, 2014 (selected chapters). E-version

Assessment

Two essays (30,000 signs)

Lecturer's references

Professor Petra Svoljšak, research adviser at ZRC SAZU (Slovene Academy of Sciences and Arts), is a researcher in the history of the First World War. Her research focuses on the topics of civil experience, refugees, everyday life, occupations and victims of war and memory of the War. At the same time, professor Svoljšak is concerned with researches in the cultural history of the First World War and the processes of demobilization and reconstruction after the War.

Selected bibliography:
- Soča, sveta reka: italijanska zasedba slovenskega ozemlja (1915–1917), (Zbirka Korenine). Ljubljana: Nova revija, 2003
- La popolazione civile nella Slovenia occupata. In: BIANCHI, Bruna (ur.). La violenza contro la popolazione civile nella Grande guerra: deportati, profughi, internati. Milano: UNICOPLI, 2006, 147-163.
- La memoria della guerra in Slovenia. In: MONTICONE, Alberto (ur.), SCANDALETTI, Paolo (ur.), BALBI, Marco. Esercito e popolazioni nella Grande Guerra : autunno 1917. Udine: Gaspari, cop. 2008, 79–85.
- The social history of the Soča/Isonzo region in the First World War. In: TENFELDE, Klaus (ur.), RUTAR, Sabine (ur.), WÖRSDÖRFER, Rolf (Ed.). Sozialgeschichte und soziale Bewegungen in Slowenien, (Mitteilungsblatt des Instituts für soziale Bewegungen, Nr. 41). Essen: Klartext, 2009, 2009, [Bd.] 41, 89–109
- The language policy of the Italian army in the occupied Slovenian territories, 1915–17. In: FOOTITT, Hilary (ur.), KELLY, Michael (ur.). Languages and the military : alliances, occupation and peace building, (Palgrave studies in languages at war). Houndmills [etc.]: Palgrave Macmillan, 2012, 70-85.
- Slovenian Historiography and Collective Memory of World War I in the First Yugoslavia (1918 – 1941). In: Jozef Niznik (ed). Twentieth Century wars and European Memory. (Studie in social sciences, philosophy and history of ideas, volume 1). Peter Lang Edition, 2013, 205–216.
- SVOLJŠAK, Petra, GODEŠA, Bojan. Italian interwar administration of Slovenian ethnic territory : Italian ethnic policy. V: DORNIK, Wolfram (ur.), et al. Frontwechsel : Österreich-Ungarns "Großer Krieg" im Vergleich. Wien; Köln; Weimar: Böhlau, 2014, str. 303–323.
- Prva svetovna vojna in Slovenci: 1. del. V: Zgodovinski časopis 47, št. 2 (1993), str. 263–287.
- Prva svetovna vojna in Slovenci: II. 1945–1992. V: Zgodovinski časopis. 47, št. 4 (1993), str. 547–567.

Dr Bojan Godeša, research adviser at the Institute of Contemporary History in Ljubljana, is a researcher in the history of the Second World War. His research focuses on the topics of political and cultural history, the history of ideologies and totalitarian ideologies that led to the Second World War, the occupational regimes during the war, and the war consequences.

Selected bibliography:
– Kdor ni z nami, je proti nam. Slovenski izobraženci med okupatorji,
Osvobodilno fronto in protirevolucionarnim taborom. Ljubljana: Cankarjeva založba 1995.

– Izgubljeni spomin na Antona Korošca. Iz zapuščine Ivana Ahčina. Ljubljana: Nova revija 1999 (skupaj z/with Ervin Dolenc).

– Jozef Tiso a Anton Korošec – vzt'ahy medzi Slovákmi a Slovincami. Historicky časopis, 53, 2005, N. 2, pp. 365–379.

– Slovensko nacionalno vprašanje med drugo svetovno vojno. Ljubljana: Inštitut za novejšo zgodovino 2006.

– Storia della resistenza e della guerra mondiale. La Slovenia e l'ex-Jugoslavia. Contemporanea. Rivista di storia dell'800 e del'900. Anno IX, numero 1, gennaio 2006, pp. 123–132 (skupaj z/with Boris Mlakar).

– I comunisti sloveni e la questione di Trieste durante la Seconda guerra mondiale. Qualestoria 2007, št. 1. La storia al confine e oltre il confine. Uno sguardo sulla storiografia slovena, pp. 119–132.

– La Slovenia e le sue vittime (1940–1946). Pallante Pierluigi (ed.), Foibe, memoria e futuro. Atti dei convegni internazionali di Roma e di Rovigo. Roma, Riuniti, 2007, pp. 189–203 (skupaj z/with Tadeja Tominšek Rihtar).

– Social and cultural aspects of the historiography on the Second World War in Slovenia. Sozialgeschichte und soziale Bewegungen in Slowenien / Social History and Social Movements in Slovenia. Mitteilungsblatt des Instituts für soziale Bewegungen 41/2009, pp. 111–125.

– Čas odločitev. Katoliški tabor in začetek okupacije. Ljubljana: Mladinska knjiga 2011.

– Italian interwar administration of Slovenian ethnic territory : Italian ethnic policy In: Frontwechsel. Ősterreich-Ungarns »Grosser Krieg« im Vergleich. Wolfram Dornik, Julia Walleczek-Fritz, Stefan Wedrac (Hg.). Bőhlau Verlag Wien – Kőln – Weimar, 2014, pp. 303–323. (skupaj z/with Petra Svoljšak)