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DEGREE REGULATIONS & PROGRAMMES OF STUDY 2013/2014
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DRPS : Course Catalogue : School of History, Classics and Archaeology : Postgraduate (History, Classics and Archaeology)

Postgraduate Course: Approaches to Modern British Political History (PGHC11351)

Course Outline
SchoolSchool of History, Classics and Archaeology CollegeCollege of Humanities and Social Science
Course typeStandard AvailabilityAvailable to all students
Credit level (Normal year taken)SCQF Level 11 (Postgraduate) Credits20
Home subject areaPostgraduate (History, Classics and Archaeology) Other subject areaNone
Course website None Taught in Gaelic?No
Course descriptionThis course supplements the School's existing graduate options for the History and Scottish History MSc programmes and it strengthens the political history component of the Modern British and Irish History MSc programme. Structured around historiographically significant themes, this course does not offer a chronological overview of British politics, but rather engages with crucial questions of recent scholarship. In this sense, it is particularly appropriate for the graduate level.

Students will develop a critical appreciation of the different ways in which historians have approached some of the key themes and features of British politics across a 'long' nineteenth century (c. 1780 - c. 1914). The course concentrates on theoretically and methodologically significant texts and is structured around themes, such as: the nature of party; leadership and the role of ideas in politics; and the study of elections and popular politics. It will end with a consideration and critical evaluation of the diverse body of scholarship which has been taken to constitute 'new political history'.

A key part of the course will be the study and evaluation of a range of primary sources available to historians including: contemporary newspapers, periodicals and political cartoons; politicians' correspondence and personal papers; and parliamentary debates and other official publications. As the course is based around discussions of significant themes, students will be expected to acquire the contextual and foundational knowledge of the period themselves, though the course organiser will identify appropriate resources.
Entry Requirements (not applicable to Visiting Students)
Pre-requisites Co-requisites
Prohibited Combinations Other requirements None
Additional Costs None
Information for Visiting Students
Pre-requisitesNone
Displayed in Visiting Students Prospectus?No
Course Delivery Information
Not being delivered
Summary of Intended Learning Outcomes
After successfully completing the course, students will be able to:
o demonstrate an in-depth knowledge of the most important issues and themes connected to the study of politics in Britain c. 1780 - c. 1914;
o independently identify and pursue research topics connected to the themes of the course;
o exhibit an understanding for different conceptual approaches to the study of history;
o analyze and contextualize primary source material;
o arrive at independent, well-argued, well-documented and properly referenced conclusions in their coursework essay;
o demonstrate their skills in group discussion and oral presentations;
o demonstrate their written skills, their analytical and theoretical skills in coursework;
o prepare and present their work in seminars.

Assessment Information
Following School practice in the assessment of MSc courses, assessment will involve a paper of 3000 words. The essay will count for 80% of the final mark. Non-written skills will also be assessed, providing 20% of the final mark (10% for a presentation; 10% for contribution to classroom discussions).
Special Arrangements
None
Additional Information
Academic description Students will develop a critical appreciation of the different ways in which historians have approached some of the key themes and features of British politics across a 'long' nineteenth century (c. 1780 - c. 1914). The course concentrates on theoretically and methodologically significant texts and is structured around themes, such as: the nature of party; leadership and the role of ideas in politics; and the study of elections and popular politics. It will end with a consideration and critical evaluation of the diverse body of scholarship which has been taken to constitute 'new political history'.
A key part of the course will be the study and evaluation of a range of primary sources available to historians including: contemporary newspapers, periodicals and political cartoons; politicians' correspondence and personal papers; and parliamentary debates and other official publications. As the course is based around discussions of significant themes, students will be expected to acquire the contextual and foundational knowledge of the period themselves, though the course organiser will identify appropriate resources.
Syllabus D. Indicative Teaching Programme

1. Liberal and Marxist Inheritances
2. 'The Politicians that Mattered'
3. Politics and Ideas
4. Sources: Reading Politicians' Letters
5. Parties and Elections
6. Popular Politics
7. Sources: Newspapers and Print
8. Towards a 'New Political History'?
9. Case Study: Reforming the Reform Acts
10. Beyond the Text: The Material Culture of Politics
11. Conclusion and Student Presentations
Transferable skills Not entered
Reading list Indicative Bibliography

M. Bentley, Politics without Democracy: Perception and Preoccupation in British Government (2nd edn, 1996).

M. Bentley and J. Stevenson (ed.), High and Low Politics in Modern Britain: Ten Studies (1983).

E. Biagini, Liberty, Retrenchment and Reform: Popular Liberalism in the Age of Gladstone, 1860-1880 (1992).

E. Biagini and A. J. Reid (ed), Currents of Radicalism: Popular Radicalism, Organised Labour and Party Politics in Britain (1991).

M. Chase, Chartism: A New History (2007).

P. Clarke, Lancashire and the New Liberalism (1971).

S. Collini, S. Winch and J. Burrow, That Noble Science of Politics: A Study in Nineteenth-Century Intellectual History (1983).

A. B. Cooke and J. Vincent, The Governing Passion: Cabinet Government and Party Politics in Britain, 1885-6 (1974).

M. Cowling, 1867: Disraeli, Gladstone and Revolution. The Passing of the Second Reform Bill (1967).

J. Epstein and D. Thompson (ed.), The Chartist Experience: Studies in Working Class Radicalism and Culture, 1830-1860 (1982).

P. Joyce, Visions of the People: Industrial England and the Question of Class, 1840-1914 (1991).

M. Finn, After Chartism: Class and Nation in English Radical Politics, 1848-74 (1993).

A. Gambles, Protection and Politics: Conservative Economic Discourse, 1815-1852 (1999).

H. J. Hanham, Elections and Party Management: Politics in the Time of Gladstone and Disraeli (1959).

C. Hall, K. McClelland, J. Rendall, Defining the Victorian Nation: Class, Race, Gender and the Reform Act of 1867 (2000).

R. Harrison, Before the Socialists: Studies in Labour and Politics 1861-1881 (1965).

A. Jones, The Politics of Reform 1884 (1972).

J. Lawrence, Speaking for the People: Party, Language and Popular Politics in England, 1867-1914 (1998).

J. Lawrence and M. Taylor (ed.), Party, State and Society: Electoral Behaviour in Britain since 1820 (1997).

M. McCormack (ed.), Public men: masculinity and politics in modern Britain (2007).

P. Mandler, Aristocratic Government in the Age of Reform: Whigs and Liberals, 1830-52 (1990).

H. Pelling, Social Geography of British Elections, 1885-1910 (1967).

D. Tanner, Political Change and the Labour Party, 1900-1918 (1990).

M. Taylor, The Decline of British Radicalism, 1847-1860 (1995).

J. Vernon, Politics and the People: A Study in English Political Culture, 1815-67 (1993).

J. Vernon (ed.), Re-reading the Constitution: New Narratives in the Political History of England's Long Nineteenth Century (1996).

J. Vincent, The Formation of the Liberal Party, 1857-1868 (1966).

J. Vincent, Pollbooks: How Victorians Voted (1967).

D. Wahrman, Imagining the Middle Class: The Political Representation of Class in Britain, c. 1780-1840 (1995).

A. Windscheffel, Popular Conservatism in Imperial London, 1868-1906 (2007).
Study Abroad Not entered
Study Pattern Not entered
KeywordsAppsToMBPolHist Approaches Modern British Political History
Contacts
Course organiserDr Gordon Pentland
Tel: (0131 6)50 8354
Email: gordon.pentland@ed.ac.uk
Course secretaryMrs Lindsay Scott
Tel: (0131 6)50 9948
Email: Lindsay.Scott@ed.ac.uk
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