Overview
This course is for students whom have an interest in and enthusiasm for modern history and would like to study major international issues in the modern world, as well as looking in greater depth at the history of particular regions. Exploration of historical concepts such as cause and consequence, continuity and change and similarity and difference throughout this syllabus enables learners to develop analytical skills and the ability to explain historical issues and events.
Students will be encouraged to research the topic and then individually or in groups discuss this through class presentations to encourage debates and active peer interaction.
Students will be given lectures by world-leading experts in their field and through informal group discussions , tutorial, individual research, students will be expected to present their finding.
Academic content
The course aims to challenges students to consider the great social, technological, economic, political and moral transformations concentrating on post war ( 1945) to the present. The modern history course is aimed to be especially relevant to the lives of students whom will attend the course, as the events and issues that form its content are, in many cases, still current. Through classes, debate and tutorilas the course will require students to analyse the causes, progress and effects of these transformations and, finally, to make their own judgements about them.
Introduction to Modern History
Modern Middle East: 1945 to Present
Currents topics to stimulate the students mind will be offered. E.g “Syrian Crisis – What has caused it?”.
Background : Since gaining independence from France in 1946, Syria’s modern history has largely been one of instability driven by conflicting interests of various groups. A union with Egypt in 1958 was invalidated by a military coup in 1961. But its importance is elevated due to its strategic location at the crossroads of Europe, Asia and Africa, and its oil reserves. Ethnically, the region is diverse, being the home of Alawites, Sunnis, Armenians, Kurds, Christians, Assyrians, Palestinians and Jews.
What is the Syrian Civil War? The Syrian Civil War is one of the biggest crises of our time. The humanitarian loss, the economic consequences, the political implications and the geostrategic importance of the conflict had hardly be overstated.
Modern Europe: 1945 to the Present.
Twentieth-Century Britain.
Modern America: 1945 to the Present.