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Italian Language & Culture
2008 Fall Semester - Course Description
Italian Politics & Leadership since Antiquity
CEA Partner Institution: Rome Academic Facility
Location: Rome, ItalyPrimary Subject Area: Cultural Studies
Other Subject Area(s): History
Level(s): 300
Instruction in: English
Recommended Semester Credits: 3
Contact Hours: 45
Required Supplies: Please note that it is mandatory to acquire the course textbooks, which you can purchase at the Global Campus during the textbook buying fair during the first week of class. You will need to spend approximately 50 Euro on these course texts.
Description
What makes a great leader? And what is leadership anyway? Is leadership about innovating and imposing a personal vision for others to follow, or about serving a group, and being able to put that group's vision into practice? Does a leader seek to inspire genuine trust and loyalty in others, or does he simply have the ability to get things done, regardless of the ethics? Can leadership skills be learned, and how much of good leadership is simply derived from good problem-solving skills? In addition to these questions, we will also explore the relationship between leadership, authority and the experiences of minority or repressed groups, such as 'foreigners', slaves and women in ancient Rome, and the fate of religious minorities such as Jews and Muslims in both ancient Rome and the subsequent Catholic State.
In this dynamic course we'll address all of those issues within the framework of Italian history and culture. We will analyze the abilities of leaders from the Roman Empire, the Renaissance, as well those who fought for Italian unification. In the contemporary context, we'll take an in-depth look at Mussolini and the rise of Fascism, as well as the major dilemmas that have afflicted Italy's politicians since its establishment as a republic in 1946. In addition, we will examine the role in which the Roman Catholic Church and its clergy have played with regard to emperors and statesmen from antiquity to today. In doing so, we'll attempt to understand what can be learned from the leaders of the past still today. Stepping back in time, we will visit sites and locations throughout Italy that are associated with leadership such as the Roman forum, the Coliseum and the Sistine Chapel.
Studies will be conducted through on-site seminars and in-class discussions, journal assignments and team presentations. You'll be asking how the talents and skills of Julius Caesar, the Emperors Augustus and Nero, and the great Roman generals like Scipio Africanus, relate to what we now believe constitute the characteristics of leaders. On Roman site visits and field trips you'll be discovering what leadership qualities were possessed by great figures of antiquity. And where do more recent figures like the nationalists Mazzini and Garibaldi and Mussolini's Fascism fit into all of this? Are leadership qualities timeless, the same for the past as they are today? And did these famous emperors, generals, statesmen, artists and popes share common leadership skills that transcend their political and ethical convictions?
Your research and presentations will culminate in a debate, a leadership poll, and the creation of a unique, bound copy of a 'Great Italian Leaders' book for you to take away with you at the end of the course.
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