EUR200Y1
Europe: Nation-State to Supranational Union
An analysis of the development of European political regimes since 1789. This course identifies the decisive forces and factors affecting the operation of constitutions and institutions within the countries which came to form the European Union: nationalism, multi-nationalism, internationalism, and supranationalism.
HIS 241H1-F
Europe in the Nineteenth Century, 1815-1914
This course gives an introduction to major themes in European history over the ‘long’ nineteenth century. The geographical focus will be on the countries of Western Continental Europe, especially France, Germany, Austria-Hungary, and Italy, though at times developments in Great Britain and Russia will be discussed; the themes covered will be quite wide ranging. Political developments to be covered include the establishment of Restoration Europe, the revolutions of 1848, the unifications of Italy and Germany, imperialism and the coming of the First World War. We will also discuss industrialization and its manifold effects, a variety of intellectual and social movements, and changes in cultural life over the course of the century. The course explores the history of everyday life as well as the history of high politics and culture, and emphasizes the importance of multiple approaches to historical problems.
HIS 242H1-S
Europe in the Twentieth Century
This course surveys the history of European politics, culture and society from 1914 to the present day. Lectures will cover an array of events and themes, from the two world wars, to the Russian Revolution, the rise of fascism, the Holocaust, the onset of decolonization, and the creation of the European Union. Special attention will be paid throughout to a number of themes relating to democracy, nationalism, culture, gender, and difference in twentieth-century Europe.
HIS 245Y1-Y
Women in European History: From the Renaissance to the Twentieth Century
What does European history look like if considered from women’s perspective? This course interprets the great movements and events of the European past in terms of their implications for women and relations between the sexes. We will also consider continuity and change in the “great events” of ordinary lives - marriage, birth, death, work, establishing a home and the like. The course provides an introduction to using gender as a category of analysis in courses in other periods, cultures and disciplines, and a background for understanding women’s lives in the late twentieth century.
HIS 415H1-F
Nationalism and Memory in Modern Europe
No other category has been as important for understanding modern European history as that of the nation and its political corollary, nationalism. This course investigates the modern concept of the nation and its connections to the idea of collective memory in twentieth-century Europe. What is the relationship between memory (individual and/or collective) and national history? What role does remembrance play in the construction of collective identities? What is the relationship between war and collective memory? Through reading and discussing seminal works on nationalism and national memory, we will discuss the connections between modern notions of nations and practices of remembering. Topics include: theories of nation and nationalism, the representation of national history, the idea of collective memory, trauma and memory, sites and institutions of remembering (monuments and museums), the rise of the heritage industry, the idea of the “invented tradition”, and the connections between history and the memoir.
POL207Y1Y L0101
Politics in Europe
The course provides an introduction to European politics, society, and the processes of European integration. It is organized into four sections. The first analyzes national institutions in the ‘big three’ European states – the United Kingdom, Germany, and France – and reflects on the ways in which these contrasting institutional configurations structure politics. The second examines the world’s most advanced international regime, the European Union (the EU), through which member states have harmonized policies, eliminated barriers to the movement of goods and people, and pooled or transferred sovereignty. The third considers Europe’s emergent foreign policy, its relationship(s) with the United States, and the effects of EU enlargement. The final section devotes attention to hotly debated issues in contemporary European politics: immigration, citizenship, and integration; anti-Semitism and the legacy of Vichy in France.
POL324H1S L0101
European Politics in a Global World
Designed largely for students with some background in European politics and history (but above all for those fascinated by Europe), the course adopts a thematic and (broadly) chronological approach to explore a set of issues that have defined Europe’s institutions, culture, and identity. The focus is on Europe’s ‘big three,’ with particular focus on Germany, the country that defined in all possible manners Europe’s last century. Beginning with the major World War II leaders’ (and the German resisters’) visions for a post-victory Europe, the course will focus on and account for the origins, nature, and implications of defining moments in postwar Europe: the morality of war, denazification, the start of the cold war, democratization in West Germany, resistance, collaboration and postwar France, British imperialism and the death of empire, British welfare and British economic decline, Thatcherism, the end of the cold war and German reunification.
POL359Y1Y L5101
Enlarging Europe: The European Union and Its Applicants
European integration is one of the most important political experiments in recent history. This course looks to the recent trends in this process, as well as its future prospects for states that are still outside the Union. It will examine the consequences of enlargement and deeper integration for the internal dynamics of the Union. However, the emphasis is on the impact that integration and the prospects of integration have on the potential member states and the countries bordering the Union. The course provides a brief overview of the salient issues in the past enlargement rounds, furnishing the context for the study of current and future integration efforts. Readings will cover the current round of enlargement to the Central and East European countries, continuing with efforts related to South-Eastern Europe (the Balkans), as well as Turkey.