|
 Academic Year:
| 2013/4 |
| Owning Department/School:
| Department of Politics, Languages and International Studies |
| Credits:
| 6 |
| Level:
| Honours (FHEQ level 6) |
| Period: |
Semester 2 |
| Assessment:
| CW 33%, ES 67% |
| Supplementary Assessment: |
Like-for-like reassessment (where allowed by programme regulations) |
| Requisites:
| |
| Description:
| Aims: The unit examines the changing nature of borders and identities in post-Cold War Europe. It explores how the process of European integration has been accompanied by an increase in mobility and transnational identities, but also, paradoxically, by fragmentation and the assertion/construction of sub-national identities, both regional and ethnic. It asks: 1. Why did some European states break up into smaller states? 2. How has the process of European integration altered the relationship between nations and regions? 3. How have the lives of people living in border areas, and national minorities more generally, changed as a result of EU membership? 4. What is EU policy towards its external and internal borders and how effectively can it shape and control migration? 5. How far does migration result in the creation of hybrid, transnational identities? Learning Outcomes: By the end of the unit students should be able to: * demonstrate understanding of major developments in European politics since the collapse of communism, with special focus on trends towards greater integration and, simultaneously, fragmentation, regionalism and ethnic conflict; * analyse the components of national and ethnic identity and apply theories about nationalism and about the creation and transmission of identities to developments in contemporary Europe; * attempt an informed definition of 'Europe' in the context of global political developments since the end of the Cold War. Skills: Skills in critical analysis, conceptual thinking, precision in the use of written and spoken language, exercise of independent judgement, reasoned argument and the planning/conduct/reporting of non-quantitative research are developed and assessed in this unit. CIT skills are developed in this unit. Content: Immediate consequences of 1989; the resurgence of particularism; forces for integration. Key texts: Jon E. Fox and Cynthia Miller-Idriss, 'Everyday nationhood', Ethnicities 8,4; Liam O'Dowd, 'The changing significance of European borders', in J. Anderson, L. O'Dowd and T. M. Wilson (eds.), New borders for a changing Europe: cross-border cooperation and governance (London: Frank Cass, 2003); Gwendolyn Sasse and Eiko Thielemann, 'A research agenda for the study of migrants and minorities in Europe', Journal of Common Market Studies, 43,4. |
| Programme availability: |
PL30295 is Optional on the following programmes:Department of Economics
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