Module description
This module will examine the ways in which the UK’s relations with its European neighbours have affected British foreign, military, and domestic policymaking. Additionally, this module will explore how political parties and political leaders have responded to developments in Europe and how and why Europe has been a divisive issue in British politics.
Assessment details
4,500 word essay (100% of overall module mark)
Educational aims & objectives
Using history and historical methods, this module will examine the ways in the United Kingdom has interacted with Europe since the end of the Second World War. The focus will be on diplomacy and defence and the UK's relations with countries across the continent.
Topics covered will include:
- Introduction: Britain's diplomatic and defence relations pre - World War II;
- NATO and other defence organisations in the years immediately after World War II;
- The Berlin Crises, 1948 and 1961;
- EFTA and the EEC;
- Anglo - Soviet Relations, 1960 - 70s;
- The Year for Europe and the oil shocks, 1973;
- Detente and Western European security;
- Thatcher and the creation of European Single Market;
- German unification;
- Brexit.
Learning outcomes
At the end of the module students will have:
- Acquired a detailed understanding of the history of British diplomacy towards Europe as an issue in British policymaking;
- Acquired a detailed knowledge of the current historiography in this area;
- Understood the issues involved in comparing events across time;
- Used and understood primary sources (such as documents and oral histories) to analyse British diplomatic history;
- Undertaken a detailed investigation of a particular relevant historical episode and used secondary sources, and primary sources where appropriate, to produce a finished piece of analysis in the form of an essay answering a specific question.
Teaching pattern
Weekly 1-hour lecture & 1-hour seminar
Suggested reading list
- NJ Crowson, Britain and Europe: A Political History Since 1918 (2011)
- O Daddow, Britain and Europe since 1945: Historiographical Perspectives on Integration (2004)
- B Grob-Fitzgibbon, Continental Drift: Britain and Europe from the End of Empire to the Rise of Euroscepticism (2016)
- A Jones, Britain and the European Union (2007)