Module SGIA3221: THE NEW GERMANY

Department: Government and International Affairs

SGIA3221: THE NEW GERMANY

Prerequisites

• Any Level 2 SGIA module

Corequisites

• None.

Excluded Combination of Modules

• None.

Aims

• The aims of this module are: to enable students to extend their knowledge and understanding of post-unification German politics and society by further developing issues and concepts introduced at level 2.
• to encourage students to explore these issues both through academic writing as well as through a variety of additional cultural sources such as literature, film, newspaper articles, web sites etc.
• in order to evaluate the contribution of those cultural texts to a wider understanding of socio-political issues.

Content

• The module will address the following aspects of post-unification Germany: developments leading to the unification of Germany including selected international responses.
• the constitutional framework of the united Germany.
• the totalitarian legacy: the Stasi debate.
• socio-economic challenges facing the new Germany.
• the political culture.
• political extremism since 1990.
• Germany's new foreign policy.
• Germany's role in the EU since unification.
• the 'normalisation' debate.

Learning Outcomes

• On successful completion of the module students will: have knowledge and understanding of developments leading to the unification of Germany and of political issues dominating the debate in post-unification Germany.
• have an appreciation of some of the socio-political challenges facing contemporary Germany and the ability to account for them.

• be able to discuss and analyse socio-political issues in contemporary Germany both individually and in a group context.
• be able to appreciate the contribution of cultural texts to the analysis of socio-political issues.

• be able to demonstrate these acquisitions in written form by using a wide range of sources.

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

• Teaching will take the form of a series of 12 seminars.
• Their themes will revolve around the developments leading to the unification of Germany and subsequent socio-political issues and challenges facing the new Germany.
• Seminar presentations will enhance students' ability to research topics, present their findings to their peers and stimulate debate.
• They will be formatively assessed in terms of the students' subject-specific knowledge and understanding as well as their intellectual, practical and transferable skills.
• A number of films will be shown which discuss key themes of contemporary Germany.
• Analyses of cultural texts in seminars such as literature, film, newspaper articles etc.
• Will further students' appreciation of such sources in terms of their contribution to an understanding of socio-political developments in contemporary Germany.
• The production of formative essays will give students the opportunity to deepen their knowledge and understanding of particular aspects of post-unification Germany and practise and further develop their intellectual and practical skills.
• Summative essays, with questions from a defined list, will test this subject-specific knowledge and understanding as well as the intellectual and practical skills required for essay writing.

Teaching Methods and Learning Hours

Summative Assessment

Formative Assessment:

One seminar presentation. One 2,000-word essay.

■ Attendance at all activities marked with this symbol will be monitored. Students who fail to attend these activities, or to complete the summative or formative assessment specified above, will be subject to the procedures defined in the University's General Regulation V, and may be required to leave the University