Module: HIS6117-20 From Decolonisation to Globalisation: the Making and Meaning of the Modern and Contemporary World 

Level: 6

Credit Value: 20

Module Tutor: 

Module Tutor Contact Details: 

1. Brief description and aims of module:

This module investigates the global ideological, historical and institutional shifts that have taken place since 1945. It focuses on key events in geo-politics and on the intellectual, ideological and political movements which helped shape and were shaped by them. It considers domestic responses to global change, and to the dislocations caused by civil wars, famine, migration and population change.

2. Outline syllabus:

The module will examine a selection of the following topics in varying levels of detail:

• The ‘Post War World’: the evolution of the UN and the origins of the Cold War

• Red Stars over Asia: Decolonisation in Asia and the Chinese Revolution

• Alliances: NATO, the Warsaw Pact, the non aligned movement, EEC, WTO and the IMF 

• The Wretched of the Earth: Decolonisation and liberation in the Middle East and Africa

• Red Scares and Red Purges: McCarthyism, last years of Stalin, Cultural Revolution. and Spy Scandals

• Between Marx and Coca-Cola: the Culture of the Cold War

• Dominos: the Indochinese Wars, The Cuban Missile Crisis, Horn of Africa

• The Arab-Israeli Conflict and Oil Crises

• The Age of Protests: Rights consciousness, Women, Indigenous peoples, and the Sexual Revolutions

• The Iranian Revolution, Soviet invasion of Afghanistan and ‘New Asian Century’

• The End of History?: the Fall of Berlin Wall, the end of Apartheid, the Balkans, and Neoconservatism

• Neoliberalism, Globalism and their discontents

• The Clash of Civilisations, 9/11, 2008 financial crisis, Tech giants and social networks

• Climate change, the environment and environmental protest: local action, world movement

• Whither / wither democracy?

• Where are we now?

3. Teaching and learning activities:

Group lectures and workshops, group seminars, one-to-one tutorials, drafting, feedback and response to feedback.

Assessment Item 1:

• Assessment Type: CW

• Description: Essay (2,000 words)

• % Weighting: 40%

Assessment Item 2:

• Assessment Type: CW

• Description: Comparative Research Project (3,000 words)

• % Weighting: 60%