The course aims to familiarize stdnets with the most important theories of the international relations. This instrument will enable them to understand a series of case studies that will be presented starting with the first wordl war and going until today. The case studies will include the main aspects of the Cold War period, the role of USA and Soviet Union in shaping the international relations according to a political and ideological logics of blocks. Moreover, it will include the main determinants of the post-Cold War situation:the concept of peace dividend, the passage to a short phase of American unipolarity, and the following multipolar world. The last part of the course will be focusing on the role of China in international relations and how its attitude is changing the international political and economic relations. Within this framework the case studies will face with the US-Chinese relations from the political, economic, technological, and cultural point of view.