Module HIST2021: BRITISH DEMOCRACY 1900-1990: POLITICS AND POLITICAL CULTURE

Department: History

HIST2021: BRITISH DEMOCRACY 1900-1990: POLITICS AND POLITICAL CULTURE

Pre-requisites

Corequisites

Excluded Combinations

Aims

• To understand the character and development of 20th Century British political life and government.

Content

• During the 20th Century, British politics and government underwent a series of dramatic transformations - in the character and gender of the political nation, in the scale and scope of state activity, in the shift of external concern form empire to 'Europe', in the significance of national institutions, and in the shape of the party system.
• Explanations will be sought not just in the traditional political history of parties, policies and their social and economic contexts, but also in the wider political culture of identities (national, economic, religious, gendered), shared beliefs, contending ideas and material interests.

Learning Outcomes

• A knowledge and understanding of modern British political parties, national institutions and electoral systems, and of learned aspects of national policy and public debate.
• An understanding of the various interpretations offered to explain changes in these aspects, and ability to assess and test he plausibility of competing explanations.

• Subject specific skills for this module can be viewed at: http://www.dur.ac.uk/History/ugrads/ModuleProformaMap/;
• In addition students will acquire the ability to express informed and sophisticated opinions on the political history of 20th century Britain, and more generally to possess a grasp of how politics and government are conducted.

• Key skills for this module can be viewed at: http://www.dur.ac.uk/History/ugrads/ModuleProformaMap/

Modes of Teaching, Learning and Assessment and how these contribute to the learning outcomes of the module

• Lectures will identify leading problems, define appropriate questions, indicate the range of proffered historical explanations, and consider relevant evidence.
• Seminars will consider major episodes and historical controversies, challenge students to address fundamental issues of analysis, and enable them to debate competing interpretations.
• Tutorials will address specific historical and historiographical issues, and advise on analysis of information, critical assessment of possible explanations and construction of coherent, plausible, well-substantiated and clearly-articulated arguments.
• The objectives will be assessed by summative course-work essays, which enable extended and considered engagement with the best literature and detailed evidence, and by unseen examination, which requires the application of understanding in flexible ways to specific problems.

Teaching Methods and Learning Hours

Summative Assessment

Formative Assessment

One or more short assignments submitted in writing or delivered orally and discussed either 1:1 or in a group context.