Universal Contemporary History (from 1945)
Code: 106183 ECTS Credits: 6| Degree | Type | Year |
|---|---|---|
| 2504216 Contemporary History, Politics and Economics | FB | 1 |
Contact
- Name:
- Javier Rodrigo Sanchez
- Email:
- javier.rodrigo@uab.cat
Teaching groups languages
You can view this information at the end of this document.
Prerequisites
Have not been established, but:
- Most of the subjects are taught in English. A B2 level of English of the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages is required, although no specific test of English proficiency level is held to access the degree.
Objectives and Contextualisation
The course covers world history from 1945 to the present. Students will learn to analyze and understand the events of the so-called Cold War, from its historical roots in the early 20th century to its aftermath at the turn of the century. The course aims to get students used to argue professionally, as historians, and to break the separation between their everyday perception and the historiographical one. Students should have sufficient knowledge of the causes that led to the Cold War and the specificity of this phenomenon, as well as its phases, periods and actors on a global scale. The processes of decolonization will also be addressed.
Competences
- Describe the origin and development of the main current social, political and economic conflicts.
- Distinguish between and analyse the type of relations that have been established over the last century among the different social, political and economic agents on national, regional and international frameworks.
- Distinguish between governmental decision-making systems in different social and political contexts from the mid-twentieth century to the present day in state-, substate and suprastate frameworks.
- Explain and summarise knowledge acquired in English language at an advanced level.
- Recognise and contextualise texts referring to recent contemporary history.
- 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.
Learning Outcomes
- Express an opinion based on the nature, perspective and rigour of texts referring to the course content.
- Identify and summarise the basic bibliography on the main conflicts.
- Identify and synthesise the basic biography on the historical evaluation of the main governmental systems from the most interventionist to the most liberal.
- Make a brief comparison of national and/or regional cases within the same international framework.
- Recognise and explain different national and regional cases of relations between different social agents in contemporary history.
- 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.
- Write a review of a publication, documentary video or event (conference or seminar) in English adapted to the content of one or more subjects on this course.
Content
- The born of a new world: mass politics, revolution, imperialism and total warfare
- From the ashes of the war that was to end all wars: the postwar order
- Consolidating a bipolar world: the USSR, the US and its spheres of influence
- A world in motion, after all: decolonization and social change
- The neoliberal turn and the end of history
- The return of history: the post-Cold War world
Activities and Methodology
| Title | Hours | ECTS | Learning Outcomes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Type: Directed | |||
| Attendance to guided seminars and mentoring sessions | 10 | 0.4 | 4, 1, 6, 5 |
| Theoretical lectures | 40 | 1.6 | 4, 2, 3, 5 |
| Type: Supervised | |||
| Debates and discussions | 5 | 0.2 | 4, 1, 2, 3, 6, 5 |
| Learning of information search strategies | 2 | 0.08 | 4, 2, 3, 6, 5 |
| Oral presentation | 2 | 0.08 | 1, 6 |
| Writing reviews, papers and analytical comments | 27 | 1.08 | 7, 6 |
| Type: Autonomous | |||
| Self-study | 40 | 1.6 | 4, 2, 3, 6 |
- Theoretical lectures
- Attendance to guided seminars and mentoring sessions
- Learning of information search strategies
- Debates and discussions
- Writing reviews, papers and analytical comments
- Oral presentations
- Self-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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Final theoretical exam | 25% | 1 | 0.04 | 4, 1, 2, 3, 6, 5 |
| Mid-term theoretical exam | 25% | 1 | 0.04 | 4, 1, 2, 3, 6, 5 |
| Writing comentaries | 20% | 2 | 0.08 | 4, 7, 1, 6, 5 |
| Writing papers and oral presentations | 30% | 20 | 0.8 | 4, 7, 1, 2, 3, 6, 5 |
Assessment
The evaluation is continuous. Students must demonstrate their progress by completing activities and exams. The deadlines for these evaluation activities will be indicated in the calendar on the first day of class. All activities will have a deadline that must be strictly adhered to, according to the subject calendar. On carrying out each evaluation activity, lecturers will inform students (on Moodle) of the procedures to be followed for reviewing all grades awarded, and the date on which such a review will take place. It is necessary to have obtained a minimum of 3.5 in each of the assessment tests in order to obtain a weighted average and make up for the failed tests. The weighting of the different evaluation elements will be as follows:
- Mid-term theoretical exam (25%)
- Final theoretical exam (25%)
- Research paper (30%)
- Written commentaries (20%)
Single assessement
Single assessment assumes a single assessment date but not a single assessment activity. The students who take advantage of the single evaluation must carry out the following tasks:
- Theoretical exam of the contents of the whole subject (50%)
- Research work (30%)
- Written comment (20%)
Students can apply for the Single Evaluation through a form in the beggining of the term, following the Faculty's calendar. The students can continue to attend class even if they adhere to the single assessment.
Related matters
The information about the evaluation, the type of evaluation activity and its weight on the subject is for information purposes only. The faculty responsible for the course will specify it at the beginning of the course.
Assessment activities review
When publishing final marks, the professor will provide written notification of a date and time for reviewing assessment activities. Students must arrange reviews in agreement with the professor.
Retake
Those students who have submitted activities whose weight is equivalent to two thirds or more of the final grade and who have obtained a weighted grade of 3.5 or more will have access to the recovery. Students will obtain a ‘Not assessed/Not submitted’ course grade unless they have submitted more than 30% of the assessment items.
At the time of giving the final grade prior to the final grade of the course, the teacher will communicate in writing the recovery procedure.
Consideration of “not assessed”
Students will obtain a ‘Not assessed/Not submitted’ course grade unless they have submitted more than 30% of theassessment items.
Irregularities in the evaluation activities
In the event of a student committing any irregularity that may lead to a significant variation in the grade awarded to an assessment activity, the student will be given a zero for this activity, regardless of any disciplinary process that may take place. In the event of several irregularities in assessment activities of the same subject, the student will be given a zero as the final grade for this subject.
In case of irregularity (plagiarism, copying, impersonation, etc.) in an evaluation activity, the grade of this evaluation activity will be 0. In case of irregularities in several evaluation activities, the final grade of the course will be 0.
Evaluation activities in which irregularities haveoccurred (such as plagiarism, copying, impersonation) are excluded from the recovery. It is considered as ‘copy’ a work that reproduces all or most of the work of another student, and as "plagiarism" the fact of presenting part or all of an author's text as one's own, that is, without citing the sources, whether published on paper or in digital form. In the case of copying between two students, if it is not possible to know who has copied whom, the sanction will be applied to both.
More information: http://www.uab.cat/web/study-abroad/undergraduate/academic-information/evaluation/what-is-it-about-1345670077352.html
Bibliography
Bibliography
ANDERSON, Perry (2014), American Foreign Policy and Its Thinkers, London: Verso.
BOUKARI-YABARA, Amzat (2014), Africa Unite! Une Histoire du Panafricanisme, Paris: Découverte.
ELEY, Geoff (2001), Forging Democracy. The History of the Left in Europe, 1850-2000, Oxford: Oxford University Press.
FONTANA, Josep (2011), Por el bien del Imperio. Una historia del mundo desde 1945, Barcelona: Pasado&Presente.
FULBROOK, Mary (ed.) (1999), Europe Since 1945, Oxford: Oxford University Press.
GADDIS, John Lewis (2007), The Cold War. A New History, London: Penguin.
HARVEY, David (2006), A Brief History of Neoliberalism, Oxford: Oxford University Press.
HOBSBAWM, Eric (1994), The Age of Extremes. The Short Twentieth Century, 1914-1991, London: Abacus.
HORN, Gerd-Rainer (2007), The Spirit of ’68. Rebellion in Western Europe and North America, 1956-1976, Oxford: Oxford University Press.
JAMES, Leslie & LEAKE, Elisabeth (eds.) (2015), Decolonization & Cold War. Negotiating Independence, London: Bloomsbury.
JIAN, Chen (2001), Mao’s China & the Cold War, Raleigh: University of North Carolina Press.
JUDT, Tony (2006), Postwar. A History of Europe Since 1945, London: Penguin.
LEFFLER, Melvyn P. (2008), La guerra después de la guerra. Estados Unidos, la Unión Soviética y la Guerra Fría, Barcelona: Crítica.
LEFFLER, Melvyn P. & WESTAD, Odd A. (eds.) (2010), The Cambrigde History of the Cold War, 3 vols., Cambridge:Cambrigde University Press.
MAZOWER, Mark (1999), Dark Continent. Europe’s Twentieth Century, London: Penguin.
PLOKHY, Serhii (2015), El último imperio. Los días finales de la Unión Soviética, Madrid: Turner.
PRASHAD, Vijay (2007), The Darker Nations. A People’s History of the Third World, New York: New Press.
SERVICE, Robert (2015), The End of the Cold War, 1985-1991, London: MacMillan.
SHEPARD, Ben (2010), The Long Road Home. The Aftermath of the Second World War, London: Bodley Head.
SKIDMORE, Thomas E. & SMITH, P. H. (1996), Historia contemporánea de América Latina. América Latina en el siglo XX, Barcelona: Crítica.
VEIGA, Francisco; Ucelay Da Cal, Enrique & DUARTE, Ángel (2006), La paz simulada. Una historia de la Guerra Fría, 1941-1991, Madrid: Alianza.
WALKER, Martin (1994), The Cold War and the Making of Modern World, London: Vintage.
ZUBOK, Vladislav M. (2008), Un imperio fallido. La Unión Soviética durante la Guerra Fría, Barcelona: Crítica.
Software
It is not required
Language list
| Name | Group | Language | Semester | Turn |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| (PAUL) Classroom practices | 50 | English | first semester | morning-mixed |
| (TE) Theory | 50 | English | first semester | afternoon |