MODULE SPECIFICATION
Code: UPHPGD-30-1 Version: 7
Title: The Century of the Superpowers: The United States, Russia and Europe 1890-1991
Level: 1 UWE credit rating: 30 ECTS credit rating: 15
Module type: Standard
Owning Faculty: Social Sciences and Humanities Field: History
Faculty Committee approval: QSC, Chair’s Action Date: 16th July 2009
Approved for Delivery by:
(indicate name of affiliated institution if module will only be delivered by them)
Valid from: September 2009 Discontinued from:
Contributes towards: Awards up to BA (Hons)
Pre-requisites: None
Co-requisites: None
Entry requirements:
(if the module is offered as CPD or stand alone, indicate the entry requirements)
Excluded combinations: None
Learning outcomes:
Upon completing the module the successful student should:
1. have a detailed knowledge of several of the key themes and events in modern US and Soviet Union foreign policy history (assessed through all components and elements of assessment);
2. engage critically with different perspectives on these major themes and events in US and Soviet Union foreign policy history (assessed through all components and elements of assessment);
3. to understand the advantages of learning in groups and the benefits of group support (assessed through Component B - Element 4);
4. be able to synthesise secondary and primary sources and address key problems in interpretation (assessed through all components and elements of assessment);
5. appropriate the written and oral skills desired by employers (assessed through all components and elements of assessment);
6. be able to use appropriate evidence to support conclusions and to communicate thinking on the issues raised during the module in a variety of ways:
(1) orally during assessed seminars - (assessed through Component B - Element 3);
(2) in writing under controlled conditions (assessed through Component A - Element 1);
(3) in writing under uncontrolled conditions (assessed through Component B – Elements 1 and 2).
Syllabus outline:
The module is divided into eight connected blocks:
1. The United States and Russia during the late 19th century (social, political, economic development).
2. The respective relations of the United States and Russia with Europe, most notably Britain, Germany and France before the outbreak of the First World War in 1914.
3. The United States' entry into the First World War in 1917 and her deliberate retreat into isolation in 1919; the Russian Revolution and the subsequent forced isolation of the Soviet Union, 1917-1921.
4. Inter-war social and economic developments in the United States and the Soviet Union.
5. American and Soviet reactions to the rise of fascism in Europe in the 1930s.
6. The respective roles of the United States and the Soviet Union during World War II (partners in the Grand Alliance against Hitler).
7. The development of the Cold War, up to the Cuban Missile Crisis of 1962, and its impact on Soviet-American relations.
8. The involvement of the United States in Vietnam compared and contrasted with the involvement of the Soviet Union in Afghanistan; the collapse of the Soviet Union.
Teaching and Learning Strategy:
The module will be taught through a combination of lectures, seminars and tutorials. Students will be encouraged to contribute and, on occasions, lead the seminars through presentations. Students in their seminar groups and in the tutorial situation will be encouraged to recognise and describe their responsibilities as learners, to identify the resources and essential networks that they can call on both within and outside of the university, and to recognise the value of PDP and gain knowledge of the PDP processes.
Reading Strategy:
Key books will be placed in the short-loan collection and students will be given guidance on what books to buy (if they should choose to do so). Students will be supplied with detailed reading lists for each topic
studied via UWEonline. Students will be encouraged to use electronic resources (in particular JSTOR) to access journal articles. Students will be expected to read widely and make full use of the library and associated electronic resources. Reading lists will be updated annually.
Indicative Reading List:
S E Ambrose Rise to Globalism: American Foreign Policy since 1938, (London: Penguin, 8th edition, 1997).
P Boyle American-Soviet Relations: From the Russian Revolution to the Fall of Communism, (London: Routledge, 1993).
R J Caridi Twentieth Century American Foreign Policy: Security and Self-Interest, (New York: Prentice Hall, 1974.)
G Gorodetsky (ed) Soviet Foreign Policy in Perspective, 1917-1991: A Retrospective, (London: Frank Cass, 1994.)
C Kennedy-Pipe Russia and the World, 1917-1991, (London: Arnold, 1999.)
C Kennedy-Pipe Stalin’s Cold War: Soviet Strategies in Europe 1943 to 1956, (Manchester: Manchester University Press, 1995.)
W Kimball America Unbound: World War II and the Making of a Superpower, (New York: St Martin’s Press, 1995.)
A Iriye Cambridge History of American Foreign Relations Volume III: The Globalizing of America, 1913-1945, (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1993.)
G Kolko Main Currents in Modern American History, (New York: Harper Row, 1976.)
A S Link and The Diplomacy of World Power: The United States, 1889-
W M Leary 1920, (London: Arnold, 1970.)
G Martel (ed) American Foreign Relations Reconsidered, 1890-1993, (London: Routledge, 1994.)
D Merrill and Major Problems in American Foreign Relations: Volume II:
T G Paterson (eds) Since 1914, (Boston: Houghton Miflin, 5th edition, 2000.)
H Ragsdale (ed) Imperial Russian Foreign Policy, (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1993.)
G Roberts The Soviet Union in World Politics: Coexistence, Revolution and Cold War, (London: Routledge, 1999.)
J N Westwood Endurance and Endeavour: Russian History, 1812-1992, (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 4th edition, 1993.)
J W Young and International Relations since 1945: A Global History, (Oxford: Oxford University
J Kent Press, 2004.)
Relevant journals:
Contemporary British History, Contemporary European History, Diplomacy and Statecraft, Diplomatic History, eJournal of International History, English Historical Review, European History Quarterly, Historical Journal, History, International History Review, Journal of Contemporary History, Journal of Imperial and Commonwealth History, Journal of Modern History, Journal of Strategic Studies, Review of International Studies, War and Society, War in History.
Assessment
Weighting between components A and B (standard modules only) A: 50% B: 50%
ATTEMPT 1
First Assessment Opportunity
Component A
Description of each element Element weighting
1. Exam (3 hours) 50%
Component B
Description of each element Element weighting
1. Essay (2000 words) 20%
2. Document Exercise (2000 words) 15%
3. Seminar Presentation 15%
Second Assessment Opportunity (further attendance at taught classes is not required)
Component A
Description of each element Element weighting
1. Exam (3 hours) 50%
Component B
Description of each element Element weighting
1. Essay (2250 words) 25%
2. Document Exercise (2250 words) 25%
SECOND (OR SUBSEQUENT) ATTEMPT: Attendance at taught classes is required.
Specification confirmed by …………………………………………………Date ……………………………
(Associate Dean/Programme Director)