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International Relations and Conflicts in the Modern Age

Code: 100358 ECTS Credits: 6
2024/2025
Degree Type Year
2500501 History OT 4
2502758 Humanities OT 3
2502758 Humanities OT 4

Contact

Name:
Francisco J. Veiga Rodriguez
Email:
francesc.veiga@uab.cat

Teaching groups languages

You can view this information at the end of this document.


Prerequisites

A fluid understanding of International Contemporary History. This means knowing main dates and major evolutionary features in the social, economic and political fields. A minimum knowledge of English, necessary for reading academic texts


Objectives and Contextualisation

This subject studies the History of international relations in the period that follows the end of the Cold War (1948-1990). It is, therefore, an exercise of what is called current History or History of present time.
 
The program covers the years between 1991 and 2016 because it can be identified there a closed period which includes: a) The beginning and end of the so-called New World Order led by the United States as the dominant superpower after the Cold War; b) The Great Recession; c) The reaction against globalization with the emergence of radical nationalisms and populist leaders. d) the COVID pandemic; e) The outbreak of the New World Order contradictions in the war in Ukraine. All this is accompanied by important transformations in the praxis of international relations.
 
Complementing these contents, the subject provides a study of the period 1979-1989, which lays the foundations for the end of the Cold War and subsequent transformations, as well as terminology and specific concepts of international relations, a study of the evolution of the military science, diplomacy (conflicts and resolution or prevention of them), security and intelligence, and the theory of the state that are common in Political Science and Law but are not usually adapted to the studies in History.
 
In some courses, more detailed analyzes of topics contained in the program are carried out, but which gain special relevance because they are current. For example, the Gaza conflict during the 2023-2024 academic year.

Competences

    History
  • Developing critical thinking and reasoning and communicating them effectively both in your own and other languages.
  • Identifying the main historiographical tendencies and critically analysing their development.
  • Respecting the diversity and plurality of ideas, people and situations.
  • Students must be capable of collecting and interpreting relevant data (usually within their area of study) in order to make statements that reflect social, scientific or ethical relevant issues.
  • Students must be capable of communicating information, ideas, problems and solutions to both specialised and non-specialised audiences.
  • Students must develop the necessary learning skills in order to undertake further training with a high degree of autonomy.
    Humanities
  • Critically analysing the contemporary culture.
  • Critically analysing today's culture and its historical conditions.
  • Developing critical thinking and reasoning and communicating them effectively both in your own and other languages.
  • Identifying the historical processes of contemporary culture.
  • Respecting the diversity and plurality of ideas, people and situations.
  • Students must be capable of collecting and interpreting relevant data (usually within their area of study) in order to make statements that reflect social, scientific or ethical relevant issues.
  • Students must be capable of communicating information, ideas, problems and solutions to both specialised and non-specialised audiences.

Learning Outcomes

  1. Analysing the historical processes that led to armed conflicts.
  2. Communicating in your mother tongue or other language both in oral and written form by using specific terminology and techniques of Historiography.
  3. Critically analysing the patterns explaining the historical phases.
  4. Critically assessing and solving the specific historiographical problems of war studies.
  5. Drawing up an academic text using the discipline's specific vocabulary.
  6. Effectively working in teams and respecting different opinions.
  7. Engaging in debates about historical facts respecting the other participants' opinions.
  8. Identifying the main and secondary ideas and expressing them with linguistic correctness.
  9. Identifying the social, economic and political structures of the contemporary world.
  10. Organising and planning the search of historical information.
  11. Properly using the specific vocabulary of History.
  12. Solving problems autonomously.
  13. Submitting works in accordance with both individual and small group demands and personal styles.
  14. Using the characteristic computing resources of the field of History.

Content

Please note: The course program or table of contents is also included on the subject page on the Virtual Campus, along with suggestions and references to material that can be consulted online.
 
1.- The antecedents: the end of an era, 1973-1988
 
2.- The conclusion of the Cold War: 1989-1991
 
2.- The NWO: reshuffle crisis, 1991-1995
 
3.- Triumph of globalization, 1996-2000
 
4.- NWO, next wave of readjustments, 2001-2007
 
5.- The Great Recession. the NWO peaks, 2008-2015
 
6.- The emergente of Populism, 2016-2019
 
7.- Pandemics; jumping into the void, 2020
 
8.- New World Order and globalization collapses in the Ukraine war (2021-2022)

Activities and Methodology

Title Hours ECTS Learning Outcomes
Type: Directed      
Theoretical lessons 40 1.6 1, 8, 11
Workshops and practices led by the professor 10 0.4 7, 10, 14
Type: Supervised      
Scheduled learning exercises 5 0.2 4, 11, 14
Tutorials 15 0.6 10, 13
Type: Autonomous      
Personal study 45 1.8 10, 12
Reading of texts, writing of papers, building up of oral comments and seminars. Search tools to bibliographies 25 1 2, 4, 8, 10, 11, 12, 14

The teaching methodology and the training activities will contemplate different aspects, in the part and proportion that the professor considers appropriate. For example:
 
Attendance at theoretical classes led by the professor.
 
Attendance to seminars sessions and practices led by the professor.
 
Comprehensive texts reading
 
Learning strategies in order to obtaining information.
 
Making reviews and analytical comments ((the emergence and rapid development of GPT Chat and other AI applications have made coursework lose much formative effectiveness)
 
Building up of oral presentations.
 
Personal study

Annotation: Within the schedule set by the centre or degree programme, 15 minutes of one class will be reserved for students to evaluate their lecturers and their courses or modules through questionnaires.


Assessment

Continous Assessment Activities

Title Weighting Hours ECTS Learning Outcomes
Courseworks and learning exercises 35 4 0.16 1, 2, 4, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13
Practices, internships 20 2 0.08 1, 2, 3, 5, 6, 7, 8, 10, 11, 14
Written theoretical tests 45 4 0.16 1, 3, 5, 6, 8, 10, 11

 

In accordance with what is dictated in the Degree Report, the subject will be evaluated according to the following points:

a) Exams. Written tests (both partial and final), with a cumulative mark that means up to 45% of the total of the maximum grade; 

b) Paper. Inside or outside the classroom, with a cumulative mark that means up to 35% of the maximum grade;

c) Practices: research and analysis techniques that means up to 20% of the maximum grade;

As a whole, to pass the subject the student must obtain a grade of 5 out of 10. On the other hand, each teacher may mark, if they deem it useful, a minimum to be achieved in each of the items a), b) and c) here exposed

 

This is specified in:

• Two written tests (20 + 25 points) spaced throughout the course. TOTAL: 45 points

• One written work (TOTAL: 35 points)

• Practices (20 points)

 

COURSE TOTAL MAXIMUM: 100 POINTS; APPROVED: 50 POINTS)

 

The scoring system will be cumulative, without applying percentages or arithmetic averages

A final re-evaluation exam will be carried out, on the date set by the administration of the center, for students who have failed in the tests carried out during the course. To do this, students must have submitted to a minimum of tasks included in the teaching guide (three tasks), excluding practice exercises.

Warnings:

Only activities carried out (exams or practices) and previously suspended with a grade higher than 2, will be reevaluated.The reevaluation will be held on the official dates established by the Faculty. In no case, may reevaluation be considered as a means of improving the grade of students who have already passed the subject in the normal continuous assessment process. The maximum mark that can be obtained in the reevaluation is 5.0 (Pass)

The emergence and fast development of the so-called GPT Chat and other Artificial Intelligence applications mean that the old "take home" or course works no longer has relevance for the student's academic training. Therefore, while teachers and students work together to incorporate AI as a new training tool, both the assignments and the practices will have new formats.

Plagiarism from written sources (internet, books, papers, etc.) or copying in the exam, supposes a zero in the grade for the exercise. Self-plagiarism by the student himself or take home plagiarism by others falls into this category as long as the percentage of plagiarism is high. Plagiarism control scanners are used in this subject

The students will have the right to review the results of the tests carried out. The professor will establish the mechanisms to do so, during office hours.

No type of individual special exam will be established outside of the dates established for common students. Any imponderable that may affect a specific student, with duly documented justification, will be resolved within the framework of the dates and calls set for all and with the arbitration of the Coordination of Studies, if necessary. No favorable treatment will be granted to one another based on personal or professional circumstances.

 

SPECIFIC EVALUATION
 
It will consist of the following tests:
 
  • A written exam, extensive writing model, on aspects covered in the course agenda (30% of the score)
  • A critical review, equally extensive, about a book that will be indicated by the teacher (30% of the score)
  • Complementary oral evaluation on both tests (30% of the score)
  • Practice evaluation, carried out in person (10% of the score)

 


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Software

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Language list

Name Group Language Semester Turn
(PAUL) Classroom practices 1 Spanish first semester morning-mixed
(TE) Theory 1 Spanish first semester morning-mixed