Undergraduate Course: Worlds of Diplomacy: Culture and Power in Modern Europe (HIST10384)
Course Outline
| School | School of History, Classics and Archaeology |
College | College of Humanities and Social Science |
| Credit level (Normal year taken) | SCQF Level 10 (Year 3 Undergraduate) |
Availability | Available to all students |
| SCQF Credits | 20 |
ECTS Credits | 10 |
| Summary | This course will introduce students to the history of diplomacy in modern Europe. Covering developments from the eighteenth to the twentieth century, it will look at the rise of diplomatic encounters in Europe, the great congresses, royal tours, state visits, cross-cultural diplomatic contacts between Europeans and non-Europeans, diplomacy from below, gender and diplomacy, and the impact of the emerging public sphere and the press on foreign affairs. Aside from exploring the brokerage of treaties and alliances and negotiations about war and peace, participants will study the nature of diplomatic conduct, examining ritual, etiquette and ceremonial procedure, and enquire into the ways in which gestures and nuances in behaviour carried political messages. The course will consider the role of not only conventional power-brokers like monarchs, politicians and statesmen, but also less obvious actors like fishermen, bandits and courtesans. Drawing on key secondary texts, primary sources and visual material, it will provide a broad introduction to the history of diplomacy and international order in the modern world. |
| Course description |
1. Introduction
2. Embassies and Emissaries
3. Congresses
4. Royalty and Diplomacy
5. Europeans and Non-Europeans
6. Summits and State Visits
7. Diplomacy, Secrecy and the Public Sphere
8. Gender and Diplomacy
9. International Organisations
10. War and Diplomacy
11. Concluding Debate
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Entry Requirements (not applicable to Visiting Students)
| Pre-requisites |
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Co-requisites | |
| Prohibited Combinations | |
Other requirements | A pass or passes in 40 credits of first level historical courses or equivalent and a pass or passes in 40 credits of second level historical courses or equivalent.
Before enrolling students on this course, Personal Tutors are asked to contact the History Honours Admission Secretary to ensure that a place is available (Tel: 503783). |
Information for Visiting Students
| Pre-requisites | Visiting Students should usually have at least 3 History courses at grade B or above (or be predicted to obtain this) for entry to this course. We will only consider University/College level courses. |
Course Delivery Information
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| Academic year 2014/15, Available to all students (SV1)
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Quota: 26 |
| Course Start |
Semester 2 |
Timetable |
Timetable |
| Learning and Teaching activities (Further Info) |
Total Hours:
200
(
Seminar/Tutorial Hours 22,
Summative Assessment Hours 2,
Programme Level Learning and Teaching Hours 4,
Directed Learning and Independent Learning Hours
172 )
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| Assessment (Further Info) |
Written Exam
0 %,
Coursework
90 %,
Practical Exam
10 %
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| Additional Information (Assessment) |
1) Two essays (each of 2,500-3,000 words, including footnotes but excluding bibliography) (together 90%):
Essay 1: The first essay of 2,500 to 3,000 words, worth 40%, is due on the Monday of Week 9 of the semester, with essay questions handed to students at the end of the seminar in Week 6 (Friday). (This is in order to discourage them from over-preparing for the essay from the beginning and ignoring parts of the course they¿re not writing about.) This would give me three weeks to mark the essays and return them before the end of the teaching block in week 11. This first essay puts the students under time pressure, because they only have c. 14 days to write it. There will be 9 questions, one for each seminar topic, and students will be required to answer a question on a topic different to the one they chose for their course presentation.
Essay 2: The second essay of 2,500 to 3,000 words, worth 50%, is due on the Friday of the third week of the examination period, with essay questions handed to students on the first day of the examination period. There is less time pressure than in the case of essay 1. There will be 3 or 4 questions. These questions will not relate to individual seminar topics, but will be more general and require students to draw on a range of the topics covered in the course. Students can choose their question freely. This essay should be more complex, and students are expected to demonstrate their knowledge of the entire course.
2) Non-Written Skills (class presentation) (10%):
Class Presentation: Students are required to prepare and give one class presentation of about 15 to 20 minutes. The 9 presentation topics (one for each week; there will be no presentations in the first and the last session of the course) are given in the course handbook for students to choose from. There will be two presentations per class, although I may modify this according to the class numbers. Students will be informed how the class presentation will be assessed at the beginning of the course. Presentation will be judged on structure, delivery and content. Students will be expected to include visual materials, and to pose three questions to the class at the end of their presentation. Students are also required to submit an electronic version of their presentation including Bibliography in advance of the presentation, failure to do so will mean no marks being given for the non-written skills element. |
| Feedback |
Not entered |
| No Exam Information |
Learning Outcomes
On completion of this course, the student will be able to:
- A detailed and nuanced understanding of the key themes and developments in the history of diplomacy in modern Europe.
- An understanding of and ability to critically assess relevant historiographical debates, from ¿Rankian¿ diplomatic history and its critics to current developments in the cultural history of diplomacy and new international history.
- The ability to analyse case studies and situate them in relation to broader themes and concepts, such as gender, the public sphere or class.
- The ability to approach European history from a comparative and transnational perspective.
- The ability to present an argument in a clear and persuasive manner, both verbally and in written form.
A degree of research initiative commensurate with this level of study, including the ability to formulate innovative research questions and identify relevant literature beyond that listed on the general reading list.
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Reading List
M. S. Anderson, The Rise of Modern Diplomacy 1450-1919 (London, 1993).
David Armitage, Foundations of Modern International Thought (Cambridge, 2012).
Linda Frey and Marsha Frey, The History of Diplomatic Immunity (Columbus, 1999).
Akira Iriye, 'Culture and Power: International Relations as Intercultural Relations', Diplomatic History 3, 2 (1979), 115-28.
Paul Kennedy, The Rise and Fall of the Great Powers (New York, 1987).
Paul Kennedy, The Parliament of Man: The Past, Present, and Future of the United Nations (London, 2007).
Mark Mazower, Governing the World: The History of an Idea (London, 2012).
Helen McCarthy, Women of the World: The Rise of the Female Diplomat (London, 2014).
Roderick McLean, Royalty and Diplomacy in Europe, 1890-1914 (Cambridge, 2001).
Markus Mosslang and Torsten Riotte (eds.), The Diplomats¿ World: The Cultural History of Diplomacy, 1815-1914 (Oxford, 2008).
F. S. Northedge, The League of Nations (Leicester, 1988).
David Reynolds, Summits: Six Meetings that Shaped the Twentieth Century (New York, 2007). |
Additional Information
| Graduate Attributes and Skills |
This course will help students develop a range of transferable skills, including:
1) Communication and presentation skills.
2) Effective time-management, the ability to work to deadlines and to perform under pressure.
3) The ability to gather, organise and evaluate large quantities of information.
4) The ability to solve complex intellectual problems and to develop sound and coherent arguments.
5) The ability to work independently and, during small group exercises, in a team.
6) Research skills, and the ability to work with library and internet resources. |
| Keywords | Worlds of Diplomacy |
Contacts
| Course organiser | |
Course secretary | Miss Annabel Stobie
Tel: (0131 6)50
Email: Annabel.Stobie@ed.ac.uk |
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