Undergraduate Course: History of Transatlantic Relations since 1945 (HIST10439)
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 4 Undergraduate) |
Availability | Not available to visiting students |
| SCQF Credits | 40 |
ECTS Credits | 20 |
| Summary | This course will examine the evolution of post-1945 transatlantic relations: the political, intellectual, cultural, economic, social as well as diplomatic and military framework within which they developed. After two broader introductory lectures, the course will follow a chronological pattern. |
| Course description |
This course will examine the evolution of post-1945 transatlantic relations: the political, intellectual, cultural, economic, social as well as diplomatic and military framework within which they developed.
Specific questions will be raised and discussed: how do we conceptualize and investigate the Atlantic Community in an international context characterized by the East-West conflict? Which were the foundational pillars of this Community? How was it constructed, what actors, discourses and networks made it possible? How did it relate to its different constitutive parts, American and Western European?
Particular attention will be paid to specific transitions (i.e.: the Cold War, the 1970s, the end of the Cold War, 9/11) and to the frequent controversies within the Atlantic alliance and between the United States and its main European partners.
The lectures will follow a chronological pattern. After two broader introductory lectures on the complex relationship between Europe and the United States, the course will be divided into three parts: a) the Cold War; b) the period that goes from the end of the Cold War to the terrorist attack of September 11, 2001; c) The post 9/11 period.
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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 in 40 credits of third level historical courses or equivalent.
Before enrolling students on this course, PTs are asked to contact the History Honours Admission Administrator to ensure that a place is available (Tel: 503780). |
Course Delivery Information
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| Academic year 2018/19, Not available to visiting students (SS1)
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Quota: 30 |
| Course Start |
Full Year |
Timetable |
Timetable |
| Learning and Teaching activities (Further Info) |
Total Hours:
400
(
Seminar/Tutorial Hours 44,
Programme Level Learning and Teaching Hours 8,
Directed Learning and Independent Learning Hours
348 )
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| Assessment (Further Info) |
Written Exam
0 %,
Coursework
80 %,
Practical Exam
20 %
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| Additional Information (Assessment) |
Semester 1:
- 1 x 2,500-word essay (15%)
- 1 x 3,500-word essay (20%)
Semester 2:
- 1 x 2,500-word essay (15%)
- 1 x 4,000-word research essay, for which the students will have to devise their own question and/or topic (30%)
- 2 assessed presentations (10%).
Students will do two presentations during the course - one on historiography and one on source material. (A powerpoint presentation or handout has to be provided.)
- Class and workshop participation (10%) |
| Feedback |
Students will receive written feedback on all coursework and presentations, and will be offered the opportunity to discuss each piece of feedback in person with the course organiser during office hours or by appointment. |
| No Exam Information |
Learning Outcomes
On completion of this course, the student will be able to:
- to understand the most important developments in the history of transatlantic relations, the current debate on the crisis of Europe, the transformation of American hegemony and the impact on the 'Atlantic Community';
- to engage critically and actively with the historiographical debate;
- to demonstrate, by way of coursework and examination as required, an ability to understand, evaluate and utilize a variety of primary source material including processing, organizing and using relatively large amounts of information;
- to demonstrate, by way of coursework and examination as required, the ability to develop and sustain scholarly arguments in oral and written form, by formulating appropriate questions and utilising relevant evidence;
- to 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
Peter Baldwin, The Narcissism of Minor Differences: How Europe and America are alike (Oxford, 2010)
Ivo Daalder & Michael O'Hanlon, Winning Ugly. NATO's War to Save Kosovo (Brookings Institution Press, 2000)
D. Ellwood, The Shock of America.: Europe and the challenge of the century (Oxford UP, 2012)
David Farber (ed.), What They Think of Us. International Perceptions of the United States since 9/11 (Princeton, 2007)
A. Kessler-Harris, M. Vaudagna (eds), Democracy and the Welfare State. The Two Wests in the Age of Austerity, Columbia University Press, 2017
M. Mariano (ed), Defining the Atlantic Community: Culture, Intellectuals, and Policies in the mid-20th Century (London, 2009)
Mary Nolan, The Transatlantic Century. Europe and America, 1890-2010 (New York, 2012)
K. Klaus Patel and K Weisbrode (eds), European Integration and the Atlantic Community in the 1980s, ( New York, 2013)
Richard Pells, Not Like US: How Europeans Have Loved, Hated, and Transformed American Culture since World War II (New York, 1997(
David Ryan, The United States and Europe in the Twentieth Century (London, 2003)
M. Schulz, T.A. Schawrtz, The Strained alliance: U.S.-European relations from Nixon to Carter, Cambridge University Press, 2010.
M. Vaudagna (ed), Reinstating Europe in American History in a Global Context, Otto, Turin, 2015 |
Additional Information
| Graduate Attributes and Skills |
Not entered |
| Keywords | Not entered |
Contacts
| Course organiser | Dr Alessandra Bitumi
Tel: (0131 6)50 9110
Email: abitumi@exseed.ed.ac.uk |
Course secretary | Miss Katherine Perry
Tel:
Email: kperry2@ed.ac.uk |
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