COURSE SYLLABUS

ModernEuropeanState Formation
Course Code: Please leave this blank.
Language of Instruction: ENGLISH
Course Instructor: Jakub Basista, PhD
Associate Professor in the Institute of History at the JagiellonianUniversity. Specializes in early modern English history, but also Polish history in the early modern period and in the 20th century.

Description: The aim of the course is to describe and discuss the process of the formation of modern states in Europe since the mid-seventeenth century. Both historical facts will be examined (with some attention devoted to political thought) as well as legal and ideological changes in state forming and transforming over almost four centuries.
Number of ECTS points: 6
Prerequisites (if applicable):
None
Intended Learning Outcomes:
Understanding of the changes in the theory and practice of state functions and/or theory in Europe in the early modern, modern and contemporary periods. Both the theoretical and practical side of state functioning will be examined against the historical background. Thus students will learn about the theory of absolutism (e.g. Bodin), its application (e.g. Louis XIV) and its collapse (the French Revolution).
K_W01 has basic knowledge about the place of European Studies in academia as well as how the subject matter and methodology tie in with other academic disciplines.
K_W03 knows and understands the basic terminology used in the sciences, which are components of European Studies
K_U05 has an ability to use the appropriate terminology related to the field of European Studies.
K_U10 has the ability to prepare and present presentations individually or in a group.
K_K02 has the ability to effectively work individually as well as interact and work in a group, performing different roles in it.
Notices and announcements:Via USOS, CES office, regular email.
COURSE ORGANISATION
Winter Semester
Time and Place: Mondays 10:00-11:30
Wednesdays10:00-11:30
Small Lecture Hall (Aula) Auditorium Maximum
Course type:
The course will be primarily a lecture course with four meetings devoted to student presentations. Students’ discussion and questions are strongly encouraged both during the lecture and the presentation meetings. The course will consist of 15 two-clock hour meetings (equivalent to a 40 teaching hour course at the JagiellonianUniversity).
Contact hours:
Tuesdays 10:00-11:00
Institute of History, Gołębia 13, room 106
Or on appointment after e-mail contact.
Breakdown of ECTS credits:
Lecture participation– 40 teaching hoursand preparation for meetings 1.5 ECTS
Preparation of and presenting of presentation – 45 hours 1.5 ECTS
Preparation and writing of the final take-home exam – 80 hours 3 ECTS
Didactic methods used:
Lecture; PowerPoint presentation; discussion; student presentations; essay writing.
Mode and criteria of assessment of learning outcomes :
K_W01 K_W03 will be assessed through final written take-home exam
K_U05 K_U10 will be assessed through discussion and student presentations
K_K02 will be assessed during class discussions, as well as presentations.
Assessment
Students will be required to participate in classes, prepare an in-class oral presentation and take the final written exam.
Attendance:
Students are required to attend classes and take active part in discussions. Failure to show up to at least 80% of all meetings (12 meetings) will result in the student having to write an additional essay for each class missed. Missing more than 40% (6 meetings) will result in the automatic failure of the course, unless otherwise discussed and approved by the instructor (in case of sickness, family problems and similar).
Presentation:
Each participant will be required to have one in-class presentation during the whole course. All presentations will be devoted to the political thought of a chosen thinker/politician in the discussed period. A list of possible choices will be circulated during the first meeting (please note that the list is not final and can be changed and amended). An introductory workshop devoted to preparation of a presentation will be held during the first meeting.
Exam:
A written take-home exam will take place at the end of the course. Course participants will be given a list of 12 questions out of which they will be obliged to answer 4 in writing within one week. The answers, in the form of short, 1500 word essays, will be based on topics discussed in class, textbooks, primary texts and other sources (including web sources). Each answer will fulfill the criteria of a professional academic text.
Final mark composition:
Attendance 10 %
Presentation 30 %
Exam 60 % (four questions at 15% each).
RECOMMENDED READING
Agnew, Hugh, Documentary Readings in European Civilization since 1715, Kendall/Hunt 2000.
Black, Jeremy, Eighteenth Century Europe, MacMillan 1990.
Briggs, Asa and Patricia Clavin, Modern Europe, Londyn 1997.
Cook Chris, Philip Broadhead, The Routledge Companion to Early Modern Europe, 1453–1763, Routledge 2006.
Davies, Norman, Europe, OUP 1996.
Davies, Norman, God’s Playground, vols. I-II, OUP 1981.
Di Scala, Spencer M., Twentieth Century Europe, Politics, Society, Culture, McGraw Hill 2004.
Gorski, Philip S., The Disciplinary Revolution, Calvinism and the Rise of the State in Early Modern Europe, Chicago 2003.
Heineman, John L., Readings in European History 1789 to the Present, Kendall/Hunt 1994.
McClelland, J.S., A History of Western Political Thought, Routledge 1996.
Morrow, John, A History of Political Thought, New York 1998.
Munck ,Thomas, Seventeenth Century Europe, Macmillan 2001.
Nelson, Brian R., Western Political Thought: From Socrates to the Age of Ideology, Prentice Hall 1995. Strauss, Leo and Joseph Cropsey, History of Political Philosophy, Chicago 1963.
COURSE STRUCTURE
No. / Session Title
Discussion of the course requirements and students’ expectations. A short presentation of the material to be covered along with some methodological remarks.
2. / Drifting away from the Mediaeval World? A survey of European political systems at the eve of early modern times.
Religion and the question of civil rule. Religious change in Europe and the emerge of a state in a new form. The treaties of Westphalia 1648.
3. / An isolated phenomenon. The political system in the Polish-LithuanianCommonwealth – Nobles’ Democracy.
4. / The reason of state or the reason of citizens? Building of strong ‘national’ states in Western Europe (France, England) in the 16th and 17th centuries.
5. / STUDENT PRESENTATIONS 1
6. / STUDENT PRESENTATIONS 2
7. / STUDENT PRESENTATIONS 3
8. / The good Father-Monarch? Enlightened Absolutism in Europe.
9. / The world turned upside down. The French Revolution – its impact on the understanding of the functions of the state.
10. / The first bureaucrat of modern Europe. Napoleon and his input into modern state formation.
11. / Attempts to revitalize the Ancien Regime. The return of “normality” at the Congress in Vienna.
12. / Movements towards united national states in 19th century Europe. Risorgimento in Italy – unification of Italian states.
13. / Unification of Germany – the role of economy versus the role of politics. From a federation of states to a federal state.
14. / The national question in 19th/20th century Europe I. National awakening in 19th century in Central Europe. Changes in Austrian Empire after 1867. Forming of new states in the Balkans in the 19th century. The national question in 19th/20th century Europe II. Forming of National States after 1918.
15. / The national question in 19th/20th century Europe II. Forming of National States after 1918.
16. / STUDENT PRESENTATIONS 3
Modern dictatorships. Totalitarian states in 20th century Europe. Soviet Union – first socialist/communist state in the world. Fascism, Nazism and Stalinism in Europe.
The welfare state of workers and peasants I. The forming of Communist regimes in Central Europe after World War II, 1944-48.
The welfare state of workers and peasants II. “Peoples’ Democracies” in CE in the years 1948-1989.
Return to Normality. The Velvet Revolution of 1989/90.
Exam / Take-home exam.

PLEASE NOTE!!!

This course is a history course, yet its focus is not political, social, or cultural history. The core of this course is devoted to THE STATE. Thus we are interested in wars, people(s), change over time, as long as they are relevant for the change in the functioning of a particular state, or the understanding of how a state should function.

This is particularly important in the student work – both in your presentations and in the final essays. When presenting Martin Luther, do not concentrate on his personal life, on his theology, but on the MEANING OF HIS ACTIVITY AND LIFE FOR A STATE, for AN IDEA OF A STATE.

BORDERS

What elements (from above and from below) influenced the structuring of European borders?

How was the ideology, religion, will of the people implemented/respected?

Borders as a disuniting factor for the peoples of Europe. What were the uniting elements/parameters?

POWER

THE DIVISION OF POWER INTO:

Executive

governing the state

executing laws

Legislative

issuing laws

amending and controlling laws

Judicial

 assuring that no one encroaches the law

OF INTEREST TO OUR COURSE:

Political thought behind political systems – Question: where and when does it precede politics, where and when does it confirm the status quo?

Forms of political systems: an analysis from the point of view of political power and its division.

Character of political power; where does it come from; who/what is the source of power?

Territorial expansion of European states; how, why and under what excuse?

PRESENTATION REQUIREMENTS:

Presentation should be presented

Prepare a clear structure with the beginning, contents and conclusions.

Prepare appropriate handouts to help listeners concentrate on your presentation

Concentrate on the theory of state; limit your presentation on history, life story, celebrities etc.

Not every information is important and valid

Think how this very thinker made us change our understanding of the state, the state power and politics.