Undergraduate Course: The United States and Transatlantic Relations during the Cold War (HIST10254)
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 focuses on the relations between the United States and its Western European allies during the Cold War. Did this alliance constitute a community of values, a rational and self-interested defensive community or indeed an American empire, 'by invitation' or otherwise? |
| Course description |
Against the background of strained or weakening transatlantic relations in recent years, it is crucial to analyse and understand the origins and development of the transatlantic alliance in the wake of the Second World War. This course focuses on the relations between the United States and its European allies during the Cold War, both in the guise of bilateral relations between the most important partners (the United States, France, Great Britain, and Germany) and in its expression in multilateral bodies such as NATO or the relations between the European Community and the United States. The most important questions guiding our analysis will be 1) Did the United States further or obstruct the process of European integration and 2) Was (and is) there a real community of values between the United States and its European allies, or did the alliance rather rest on a common political foe, the Soviet Union? In this regard, the course also focuses on the idea of 'the West', as defined in opposition to the Soviet bloc - a term that holds much sway again in recent years against old and new enemies. In the process, we will also focus on key controversies in Cold War historiography.
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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, Directors 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.
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| High Demand Course? |
Yes |
Course Delivery Information
| Not being delivered |
Learning Outcomes
On completion of this course, the student will be able to:
- Demonstrate, by way of coursework, examination, classroom participation and oral presentation, as required, command of the body of knowledge in relation to transatlantic relations during the Cold War;
- Demonstrate, by way of coursework, examination, classroom participation and oral presentation, as required, an ability to read, analyse and reflect critically upon relevant scholarship;
- Demonstrate, by way of coursework, examination, classroom participation and oral presentation, as required, an ability to understand, evaluate and utilise a variety of primary source material;
- Demonstrate, by way of coursework, examination, classroom participation and oral presentation, as required, the ability to develop and sustain scholarly arguments in oral and written form, by formulating appropriate questions and utilising relevant evidence;
- Demonstrate independence of mind and initiative; intellectual integrity and maturity; an ability to evaluate the work of others, including peers.
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Reading List
Barnet, Richard J. The Alliance: America, Europe and Japan: Makers of the Postwar World. New York, 1983.
Burk, Kathleen and Melvyn Stokes, eds. The United States and the European Alliance since 1945. New York, 1999.
Costigliola, Frank. 'The Nuclear Family: Tropes of Gender and Pathology in the Western Alliance.' Diplomatic History 21 (Spring 1997): 163-83.
Dumbrell, John. A Special Relationship: Anglo-American Relations from the Cold War to Iraq. Houndmills, New York, 2006.
Giauque, Jeffrey Glen. Grand Designs and Visions of Unity: The Atlantic Powers and the Reorganization of Western Europe, 1955-1963. Chapel Hill, 2002.
Judt, Tony. Postwar: A History of Europe since 1945. New York and London, 2005.
Kaplan, Lawrence. NATO and the United States: The Enduring Alliance. Boston, 1988.
Lundestad, Geir. The United States and Western Europe since 1945: From Empire by Invitation to Transatlantic Drift. Oxford, 2003.
Moore, R. Laurence and Vaudagna, Maurizio, eds. The American Century in Europe. Ithaca, London, 2003.
Risse-Kappen, Thomas. Cooperation among Democracies: The European Influence on US Foreign Policy. Princeton, 1995.
Ryan, David. The United States and Europe in the Twentieth Century (Seminar Studies in History Series).
Trachtenberg, Marc. Ed. Between Empire and Alliance: America and Europe during the Cold War. Lanham et al., 2003.
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Additional Information
| Graduate Attributes and Skills |
Not entered |
| Keywords | Not entered |
Contacts
| Course organiser | Dr Fabian Hilfrich
Tel: (0131 6)51 3236
Email: Fabian.Hilfrich@ed.ac.uk |
Course secretary | Ms Marie-Therese Talensby
Tel: (0131 6)50 3780
Email: M.T.Talensby@ed.ac.uk |
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