The course will retrace the development in Europe of the national states system, in the context of the global historical processes which took place between the American Revolution and the creation of the European Union. A particular emphasis will be given to the complexity and multiplicity of actors and factors contributing to the development of the current international order, with a focus on European history. Moreover, the intricacy of the historical causes concurring to the developing of the European unification process will be highlighted, a process providing for the creation of a new statehood by involving the civil society in its articulated phenomenology of economic, political, social, cultural and religious behaviours. National political cultures, Europeanist and federalist political ideals, the international relations system, the work of governments and diplomats, are all interplaying factors which shaped, albeit in different ways, the current European and global geopolitical order, to be understood and interpreted as such. As for the learning outcomes, students are expected to gain the ability to apply and interpret the acquired knowledge so as to better understand European dynamics as well as international political and cultural relations. This will allow them to operate in the field of communication with the appropriate cognitive skills to grasp the complexity of the present national and international situation. A specific seminar will focus on the European states system in its connections with local authorities. A Congress dedicated to these issues will be organized in cooperation with Roma3 University, the “Centro interdipartimentale di ricerca e comunicazione sulla storia del '900” of Pavia University and the “Associazione universitaria di studi europei”. A second Congress, focusing on the European integration process, will be hold in collaboration with the European Union, Turin University Jean Monnet Chair, Genova University and Pavia University.