Aims

This course will aim to:
- provide the historical foundation needed for a current understanding of international life;
- test, via a comparison with the facts, various theoretical elements of the discipline of international relations;
- enable students to have a better appreciation of the relative nature of contemporary events, and to avoid excessively rigid, or ill-founded, interpretations.

Main themes

Without ignoring economic, ideological, social and other aspects, the course will focus on international political relations since 1815. Examination of this theme will be constantly underpinned by the issue of the autonomy of politicians.
The question of international balance, and the resources that sustain it, will be a particular focus of attention through a chronological distribution articulated on key periods.
An examination of the various "systems" that have marked international life will constitute the framework of the course.
Some of these (e.g. the Congress of Vienna, the Bismarkian system, collective security and east-west balance) will be studied in more depth in such a way that comparisons between them will underline the common points and the divergences.
The main international issues such as the construction of national entities, the question of the east, imperial rivalries, disarmament and decolonisation will also be tackled.

Content and teaching methods

The course will examine the different configurations of the international from 1815 to the present day:
- the Congress of Vienna (i.e. the Congress and the conferences) (1815-1870);
- the Bismarkian system (i.e. alliances and counter-alliances) (1875-1890);
- the first type of the "bipolar" system (the Triple Entente) (1895-1917);
- the bipolar system (i.e. the cold war) (1946-1990);
- a new balance (1990- ).
Lectures will be accompanied by work involving an analysis based on documents (individual or group research).

Other information (prerequisite, evaluation (assessment methods), course materials recommended readings, ...)

Pre-requirements: Basic historical and geopolitical knowledge (from the French Revolution to the present day). The course will stress analysis of facts that students will be assumed to know.
Assessment: The final examination will be written or oral.
End-of-year work.
Support: Cl. Roosens, 2001, "Relations internationales de 1815 à nos jours", Vols 1 and 2, Academia-Bruylant, 2nd edition.
Other matters: Close links will need to be established with the courses on "Geopolitics" and "Theories of international relations".

Programmes in which this activity is taught

Other credits in programs