Study-Unit Description

Study-Unit Description


CODE HST1014

 
TITLE Western Europe in Modern and Contemporary Times: Cultural and Political Development

 
UM LEVEL 01 - Year 1 in Modular Undergraduate Course

 
MQF LEVEL Not Applicable

 
ECTS CREDITS 4

 
DEPARTMENT History

 
DESCRIPTION This study-unit will focus on two ‘old’ and two ‘new’ states of Western Europe: Britain and France, Italy and Germany. Taking mainly the industrial revolution and the Enlightenment as markers within the broader European continental context from the 17th and 18th century onwards, the course will emphasize and compare mainly political development in the origins and growth of nation states especially in the 19th and 20th century until the Treaty of Rome/EU; as well as cultural differences and affinities in the moulding of a complex ‘Europeanity’ over time. Russia and Eastern Europe, including the Soviet Union, Communism and the Cold War until c. 1989, will be treated in a similar fashion in a complementary course at 2nd and 3rd year level (HST 2004). The study-unit will include a focus on European expansion and its repercussions beyond mainland European shores, which in turn reverberated in the respective metropoles and otherwise. Some historical footage will be shown and discussed.

Aims

To familiarise students with main events and trends in Western European history and the gradual evolution of pluralist democracy and citizenship before and after the world wars, until the formation of a European Union and the end of the Cold War.

Learning Outcomes:

1. Knowledge & Understanding:
By the end of the study-unit the student will be able to:

- realise the long and elaborate evolution of Europe and Europeanity until the advent of modernity;
- appreciate the non-linearity of historical and cultural European development in spite of generally identifiable trends pointing forwards;
- distinguish between the national and supra-national, including intellectual stances, politico-economic/technological developments and diplomatic relations, at various stages of Western Europe’s history.

2. Skills:
By the end of the study-unit the student will be able to:

- assess various aspects of national and international traits and landmarks in the making of Europeanity and of Europe;
- realise how strategy and diplomacy have helped shape or othereise influence European political abd cultural development;
- identify situations from past European historical experiences with a bearing on the present or future, including notions of citizenship, rights and duties, participation and sharing.

Reading List

• J.Loughlin et (Eds), The Oxford Handbook of Local and Regional Democracy in Europe (Oxford, 2011)
• P. Heather, Empires and Barbarians: The Fall of Rome and the Birth of Europe (Oxford, 2010)
• N. Davies, Europe. A History (Random House, 2010)
• H. Frendo (Ed), The European Mind: Narrative and Identity (M.U.P., 2010, 2 vols)
• T. Judt, Postwar: A History of Europe since 1945 (Vintage, 2010)
• J. Merriman, A History of Modern Europe (3rd ed., 2009)
• H. Frendo, ‘Coexistence and Modernity: A Euromed Perspective’, The European Legacy, vol. 10, no. 3, 2005, 161-177
• E.D.Brose, History of Europe in the Twentieth Century (Oxford, 2004)
• H. Frendo, L-Identita’ Ewropea: Tezisti? (Malta European Studies Association, 2002)
• B.A.Cook (Ed), Europe Since 1945 (Garland, 2001, 2 vols)
• T.C.W. Blanning, The Nineteenth Century 1789-1914 (Oxford, 2000)
• H. Frendo, ‘Can a New History Save Europe from its Past?’, Towards a Pluralist and Tolerant Approach to Teaching History: a Range of Sources and New Didactics (Council of Europe, Strasbourg, 1999)
• M.Wintle (Ed), Culture and Identity in Europe: Perceptions of Divergence and Unity in Past and Present (1996)
• S.Garcia (Ed), European Identity and the Search for Legitimacy (1993)
• G.L.Mosse, European Cultural History 1660-1870 (Oxford, 1982)

 
ADDITIONAL NOTES This study-unit is offered to History/European and Global History students only.

 
STUDY-UNIT TYPE Lecture and Seminar

 
METHOD OF ASSESSMENT
Assessment Component/s Sept. Asst Session Weighting
Classwork No 10%
Presentation (15 Minutes) Yes 40%
Assignment Yes 50%

 
LECTURER/S Henry J. Frendo

 

 
The University makes every effort to ensure that the published Courses Plans, Programmes of Study and Study-Unit information are complete and up-to-date at the time of publication. The University reserves the right to make changes in case errors are detected after publication.
The availability of optional units may be subject to timetabling constraints.
Units not attracting a sufficient number of registrations may be withdrawn without notice.
It should be noted that all the information in the description above applies to study-units available during the academic year 2023/4. It may be subject to change in subsequent years.

https://www.um.edu.mt/course/studyunit