Machiavelli and International Politics
Patrick McCarthy Memorial Series on Intellectuals and Politics
Supported by the “Patrick McCarthy Fund" (www.jhubc.it/McCarthy/)
hosted by Professor Marco Cesa
Marco Cesa and John L. Harper
Marco Cesa
Professor of International Relations, Johns Hopkins University SAIS Bologna Center and University of Bologna, Italy
John L. Harper
Professor of American Foreign Policy, Johns Hopkins University SAIS Bologna Center, Italy
Moderator
Mark Gilbert
Visiting Associate Professor, Johns Hopkins University SAIS Bologna Center, Italy; Associate Professor in Contemporary International History, University of Trento, Italy
Machiavelli is one of the most fascinating of all political thinkers and one whose views are highly relevant for students of international relations. Marco Cesa, who is editing an anthology of the Florentine's views on international affairs, power and war, and John Harper, who is the author of
American Machiavelli: Alexander Hamilton and the Origins of U.S. Foreign Policy, will talk about how reading Machiavelli has influenced their work and why they think he matters for SAIS students.
PATRICK MCCARTHY MEMORIAL SEMINAR SERIES
INTELLECTUALS AND POLITICS
Patrick McCarthy was one of the leading scholars of contemporary Italian history of recent times and a major figure in the field of intellectual history of twentieth century Europe. He was also a distinguished member of faculty at the Bologna Center and an inspiration for many BC graduates. Upon his death, many of his former students contributed money to establish a memorial fund in his name. Without their past generosity, this series would not be taking place.
This seminar series aims to revive a tradition of studies in the humanities that has always been part of the BC’s mission. Studying International Relations requires knowledge of what makes other countries and other cultures tick. It requires knowledge of the mores, ideas and histories of societies around the world. Patrick McCarthy, who published books on the French writers Celine and Camus as well as on the politics of Italy, France and Germany, was an able interpreter of this cultural dimension to international affairs.
This seminar series will mostly – albeit with occasional detours – deal with Italy. Italy, along with Greece and, of course, Germany, was the West European country most divided by the Cold War, and its intellectual history was marked by the choice between East and West, Communism or Catholicism. The intellectual conflicts of post-war Italy are perhaps the most intense in all Europe, but are less well known, in part for linguistic reasons, than the fervent ideological battles that took place in France.
In collaboration with the languages department, the seminar series will also be hosting several film nights in which classic "political" movies, in Italian with English subtitles, will be shown.
Overall, the seminar will help BC students grasp the immense cultural and political strains that have characterized Italian society in the post-war period.
