Political and Economic Geography

The course aims to illustrate the phenomena and processes that govern the growing dialectic between the political-institutional and social frameworks of the nation state and the supranational determined by the growing political, economic and social globalization. The first module of the course (lectures and related texts) provides the conceptual and methodological cornerstones of the economic and political geography. The second module will concern mainly economic globalization and political situation with particular attention to their impact on the transformation of the economic geography of Italy. The third module carefully illustrates particular border territories where the tension between the national and the supranational framework is evident, particularly with regard to the growing phenomenon of illegal migration, the movement of refugees and attempts to control these phenomena . A special space will be dedicated to the clandestine Italian emigration of the past and the current illegal immigration in Italy. Lessons and texts relating to the first module intended 1) to raise students' awareness and understanding of these phenomena; 2) the specific cases discussed about economic globalization and its effects on the spatial transformation of the Italian economy are meant to stimulate students' understanding applied to specific geographical and social contexts; 3) a statement of the scientific debate on the most controversial events in the student intended to stimulate its independent judgment. The geographical and historical context of the cases considered, the use of data and sources, questions of method and theoretical framework are the tools that are to be adopted by the schools in order to raise students' reading skills and self-criticism of national and international realities faced. The oral interaction with students during the lesson and examination, almost entirely oral, not only have the purpose of verifying the above skills, but also to stimulate 4) the communication skills of the student and his 5) ability to learn.

During the course and as a result of the examinations, students acquire the knowledge and understanding of economic, political and social phenomena that have global influence on the specific territory. They will recognize also the ability of the single place to implement, modify or resist the global influences. In terms of application, acquire the ability to go up by tangible signs of territory to cover social, economic and political changes that produced them. Acquire, in addition, independent judgment by analyzing the scientific debate around the most controversial issues (financial globalization, international migration, climate change, global economic crisis etc ..). The teaching of basic concepts and terms of discipline exacerbate further the communication skills of the students and hence their ability to learn from written texts, from the maps and audiovisual materials related to the discipline.