History and Institutions of Latin America

Course Programme For Attending Students - 9 Cfu

A frame about the discovery, the exploration, the conquest and the colonial organization of Spanish and Portuguese empires.
The XIX century: riots for the independence from Spain (1810) and the birth of the independent Brazil (1822), the political instability (the long attendance), the building of new national States, the model of the primary exporter, the liberal era (the so-called British century) with a focus on the relationships with Europe and United States.
The Spanish-American War (1898) and Cuba: from colony to protectorate USA until the 1959 revolution. Cuba from 1959 until today.

The XX century; the end of the liberal political and economical scheme; the rise of United States as new regional actor and the decline of the British role; the Mexican Revolution (1910-1917); the Constitutions of 1917 and Lázaro Cárdenas. the birth of PRI ruling party until 2019; Mexico today with the president AMLO.
The advancing of populism and the relationship among the masses (Vargas; Cárdenas and Perón); the World War II (the so-called "caesura"), Cold War and its consequences, revolutions and repression in '60s and '70s (for the difusion of rural and urban 'guerrillas'; new authoritarian regimes; transition to democracy (the legacy of the dictatorships); the neoliberal era in '90s.

The new Millennium: new political leaders, progressive and innovative parties and their final act, the last years and the the beginning of a season of alternating conservative and progressive governments.
The lessons aim to analyse the main political and economical changes in institutions and society and to monitor actual dynamics and political evolutions (e.g., elections, migrations, peace process, indigenous rights in relation to territorial claims and environmental protection). The students shall study them in recent journal articles and in the documents uploaded on the site Ariel (section Contents, file Materials for attending students).

Course Programme For Non-Attending Students - 9 cfu
The course deals with the following historical periods:

A frame about the discovery, the exploration, the conquest and the colonial organization of Spanish and Portuguese empires.
The XIX century: riots for the independence from Spain (1810) and the birth of the independent Brazil (1822), the political instability (the long attendance), the building of new national States, the model of the primary exporter, the liberal era (the so-called British century) with a focus on the relationships with Europe and United States.
The Spanish-American War (1898) and Cuba: from colony to protectorate USA until the 1959 revolution. Cuba from 1959 until today.

The XX century; the end of the liberal political and economical scheme; the rise of United States as new regional actor and the decline of the British role; the advancing of populism and the relationship among the masses; World War II (the so-called "caesura"), Cold War and its consequences, revolutions and repression in '60s and '70s; new authoritarian regimes; transition to democracy; the neoliberal era in '90s.

The new Millennium: new political leaders, progressive and innovative parties and their final act, the last years, and the the beginning of a season of alternating conservative and progressive governments..
The course aims to analyse the main political and economical changes in institutions and society and to monitor actual dynamics and political evolutions (e.g., elections, migrations, peace process, ndigenous rights in relation to territorial claims and environmental protection). The students shall study them in recent journal articles and in the documents uploaded on the site Ariel (section Contents, file Materials for non-attending students).