How was our modern world made? How does it function, what are its foundations, and what historical forces are still actively at play? By investigating the historical materials with which the modern world was made, you’ll better understand some important connections and implications. The development of modern political culture, democracy, party politics, ideological divides, enlightenment, and secularisation between 1700 and 1990, will all figure prominently. Ultimately crisis beset the world between the eighteenth and twentieth century. People sensed that they lived in an exceptional moment, when change and hope could free people from tradition, superstition, and economic exploitation. There was a sense of dissatisfaction with existing systems of power, exclusion, capitalism and injustice. Crisis, Revolution, Cold War and Reform all became key concepts in humanity’s struggle to exit the crisis of the ancien régime and create a better world. Thinking broadly, you’ll evaluate this key moment in history, to be able to develop your own critical understanding of this transition towards modern politics, culture and society. You will also be empowered to actively engage with contemporary problems through an understanding of their deep historical origins.
Lecture 16, Seminar 16
500 words Primary Source Critique. Assessment Details: Students choose a primary source to analyse, using some key interpretive tools. worth 25%.
20 minutes plus presentation slides Group Presentation. Assessment Details: Students work in groups to present on a specific historical subject, in line with week’s focus. worth 20%.
2,000 words Essay. Assessment Details: Students interpret question using primary sources and the secondary literature on a topic. worth 55%.
Reassessment Method: Single instrument
100% Written Assessment (2,000 words)
On successfully completing the module, students will be able to:
1) Appraise the conceptual tools of modern history and apply them to interpreting how modernity’s different crises and revolutions created new social, political, economic, cultural, and military structures that still affect the present day.
2) Investigate the historical forces that shaped the modern world and formulate evidence-based arguments relating to crises and revolutions and illustrate how they have fundamentally altered the structure of politics and society in creating the modern world.
3) Apply historical theoretical frameworks and methodological approaches to critically assess the unfinished business of building free and equal societies in our modern world.
4) Debate, differentiate and explain how different crises and revolutions shaped the modern world between 1700-1990.
5) Effectively communicate information, ideas, and interpretations surrounding the many crises and revolutions of modernity to different audiences and in various forms.
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