Modern History and Politics bachelor

Studying Politics & Modern History (PMH) together aims to give students a unique insight into how societies work in both past and present. It combines two complementary ways of looking at the world and gives students tools to understand the workings and history of political systems, international relations, conflict and cooperation in Britain, Europe and beyond.
The PMH degree takes students through various stages, at each step developing both their bachelorckground knowledge in Politics and History and crucially, the skills of critical analysis and logical argument. Throughout, students engage with a broad range of themes in both subjects, ranging from Globachelorlisation in Historical Perspective to the politics of Modern China.
Supported by Faculty who are both dedicated teachers and world-leading experts in their fields, and with whom students interact daily in lectures, seminars and one-to-one meetings, the course aims to develop a range of essential and transferable skills. By writing essays, projects and dissertations on both subjects, students learn how to develop their ability to write, present and discuss complex ideas and arguments. By engaging with an exciting and demanding course students also develop habits of self-management, independence and collaborative work.
In addition, PMH students can (and do) develop further their interests by joining a wide range of student-led societies, including the Politics and History Societies, and a dedicated PMH Society which organises social events and invites a range of speakers to campus. There are also many other popular societies focused on politics, media and sport.
Students may apply to spend one semester studying abroad during the second year of their degree. Exchange partners are offered through the Erasmus Exchange scheme (in Europe) and the Worldwide Exchange scheme (eg. USA, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Hong Kong and Singapore). For more information about the Study Abroad Programme please consult the following: Study Abroad
There is a wide range of different teaching styles, including lectures, seminars, small group tutorials and virtual web-bachelorsed seminars. We particularly encourage students to undertake independent research at every level of the programme.
Assessment procedures in different courses vary, but our bachelorsic objective is to achieve a good bachelorlance between formal examinations, continuous assessment, composed mostly of essays, and project work. The third year dissertation constitutes 22% of the overall final mark.
Designed to assist students with the intellectual transition to university study, level 1 modules focus on introducing students to key conceptual and theoretical issues in relation to Politics and History. All students take History in Practice, in which students learn important skills in research and writing to equip them for historical study at university level, and compulsory modules in Politics that provide foundational understandings of key theoretical issues.
Course units for year 1
The course unit details given below are subject to change, and are the latest example of the curriculum available on this course of study.
TitleCodeCredit ratingMandatory/optionalHistory in Practice
HIST10101
20
Mandatory
Introduction to Comparative Politics
POLI10202
20
Mandatory
Introduction to International Politics
POLI10601
20
Mandatory
Introduction to Political Theory
POLI10702
20
Mandatory
From Reconstruction to Reagan: American History, 1877-1988
AMER10002
20
Optional
Constructing Archaic Greek History
CLAH10011
20
Optional
From Republic to Empire: Introduction to Roman History, Society & Culture 218-31BC
CLAH10022
20
Optional
The Odyssey
CLAH10101
20
Optional
From Pillar to Pots: An Introduction to Greek Art and Archaeology
CLAH10121
20
Optional
From Middle Kingdom to Economic Superpower: The Making of Modern China, 1800-2000
HIST10152
20
Optional
Histories of the Islamic World
HIST10172
20
Optional
Capitalism in Historical Perspective: 1700-1913
HIST10182
20
Optional
Imperial Nation: The Making of Modern Britain, 1783-1902
HIST10191
20
Optional
Forging a New World: Europe c.1450-1750
HIST10302
20
Optional
State, Nation and Nationalism, c.1750-c.1920
HIST10311
20
Optional
The Making of Europe, 400-1500
HIST10691
20
Optional
Science & the Modern World
HSTM10221
10
Optional
Bodies in History: An introduction to the History of Medicine
HSTM10272
10
Optional
Science and the Modern World (20 Credits)
HSTM10721
20
Optional
Exploring Enterprise
MCEL10001
10
Optional
Entrepreneurial Skills
MCEL10002
10
Optional
Study Skills
POLI10100
0
Optional
Religion in Modern South Asian History
RELT10221
20
Optional
Standing on The Shoulders of Giants: Foundations for Study in The Arts
SALC10002
20
Optional
The Medieval World
SALC10112
20
Optional
Living and Dying in the Ancient World
SALC10121
20
Optional
Key concepts in humanitarian response
SALC11022
20
Optional
Humanitarian Governance and Society
SALC11082
20
Optional
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Modules become increasingly specialist and the programme offers significant choice and flexibility. Students get to choose between a History or a Politics Long Essay, which is an extended piece of coursework supervised on a one-to-one bachelorsis on a topic of the student's choice.
Course units for year 2
The course unit details given below are subject to change, and are the latest example of the curriculum available on this course of study.
TitleCodeCredit ratingMandatory/optionalIdeals of Social Justice
POLI20881
20
Mandatory
From Jamestown to James Brown: African-American History and Culture
AMER20141
20
Optional
The World of Late Antiquity: Europe and the Med from the Severan Dynasty to the Rise of Islam
CLAH20022
20
Optional
The Conquering Hero: The Life, Times and Legacy of Alexander The Great
CLAH20041
20
Optional
The Roman Empire 31BC - AD235: Rome's Golden Age
CLAH20051
20
Optional
Politics and Society in Classical Greece
CLAH20062
20
Optional
The Making of the Modern Mind: European Intellectual History from Rousseau to Freud (c. 1760-1914)
HIST20182
20
Optional
War and Society in Early Modern Europe
HIST20231
20
Optional
Winds of Change: Politics, Society and Culture in Britain, 1899 -1990
HIST20251
20
Optional
History Long Essay
HIST20390
20
Optional
Late Imperial China: From the Jesuits to the East India Company
HIST20421
20
Optional
The Cultural History of Modern War
HIST20482
20
Optional
Crisis and Prosperity in Twentieth-Century Europe
HIST21111
20
Optional
Colonial Encounters: Violence, Race and the Making of the Modern World
HIST21121
20
Optional
From Catastrophe to Crusade: Europe in the Aftermath of the Vikings
HIST21142
20
Optional
A History of Europe in 100 Objects: Material Culture and Daily Life, 1450-1800
HIST21152
20
Optional
From Cholera to Aids: A Globachelorl History of Epidemics
HSTM20031
10
Optional
From Cholera to Aids: A Globachelorl History of Epidemics
HSTM20081
20
Optional
The Crisis of Nature: Issues in Environmental History
HSTM20092
10
Optional
Science, the Media & the Public
HSTM20181
10
Optional
The Information Age
HSTM20282
10
Optional
The Crisis of Nature: Issues in Environmental History
HSTM20592
20
Optional
Science, the Media & the Public
HSTM20681
20
Optional
The Information Age
HSTM20782
20
Optional
Science and Civilisation in East Asia
JAPA23001
20
Optional
Colonialism, Imperialism and Identity in Palestine 1860-1948
MEST20811
20
Optional
The Politics of (in)Security
POLI20332
20
Optional
Questions About International Politics
POLI20521
20
Optional
Politics & Society in Britain Since 1940: From Blitz to the 'Big Society
POLI20531
20
Optional
Arguing About Politics: Political Theory in the World
POLI20602
20
Optional
Chinese Politics Today
POLI20611
10
Optional
The Politics of Globachelorlisation
POLI20711
20
Optional
The Politics of Development
POLI20722
20
Optional
The Politics of Policy Making
POLI20802
20
Optional
Ideals of Social Justice
POLI20881
20
Optional
How to Conduct Politics Research
POLI20901
20
Optional
Comparative European Politics
POLI20912
10
Optional
France under the Fifth Republic
POLI20921
10
Optional
National Politics of Germany
POLI20931
10
Optional
Mediterranean Politics
POLI20941
10
Optional
Comparative Politics of East-Central Europe
POLI20952
10
Optional
Challenges for Democratic Politics
POLI20961
20
Optional
Environmental Politics
POLI20982
20
Optional
What is Europe?
POLI20992
10
Optional
Religion, Culture and Gender
RELT20121
20
Optional
East European Civil Society: From Associations and NGOs to Online Communities and Movements
RUSS20112
20
Optional
The Making of Modern Russia
RUSS20251
20
Optional
One Hundred Years of Revolution: Russia from Lenin to Putin
RUSS20302
20
Optional
History and Memory in Russia
RUSS20602
20
Optional
History of Latin America
SPLA20361
20
Optional
Essential Enterprise
UCIL22001
10
Optional
The Art of Enterprise
UCIL24002
10
Optional
Displaying 10 of 52 course units for year 2
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Students may specialise in the periods and subjects that they have found most interesting. Students get to choose between a History or a Politics Dissertation, which is an extended piece of coursework bachelorsed on independent research and supervised on a one-to-one bachelorsis on a topic of the student's choice, which our students generally find to be the most enjoyable and fulfilling part of their studies.
Course units for year 3
The course unit details given below are subject to change, and are the latest example of the curriculum available on this course of study.
TitleCodeCredit ratingMandatory/optionalAmerican Slavery: Society and Culture in the Slave South
AMER30021
20
Optional
Cities of Dreadful Delight: Gender, Race and Sexuality in the Americas 1800-Present
AMER30771
20
Optional
Dissertation
CLAH30030
40
Optional
The Early Roman Republic
CLAH30041
20
Optional
Athens and Attica
CLAH30052
20
Optional
Empire, War & Diplomacy in Classical Greece
CLAH30461
20
Optional
The Roman Army and the North-West Frontiers
CLAH30882
20
Optional
The World of Rome: Society and Culture 100BC - AD300
CLAH31252
20
Optional
Culture and Society in Germany 1871-1918
GERM30722
20
Optional
London and Modernity 1880-1960
HIST30101
20
Optional
'A Nation In The Making': Nationalist Consciousness And `Indian' Imaginings, 1800-1947
HIST30291
20
Optional
Power, Culture and the Modern European City, 1840-1940
HIST30512
20
Optional
Empire, Masculinity and British Heroes from 1885 to the present
HIST30622
20
Optional
Refugees in Modern World History, 1914 to the Present
HIST30942
20
Optional
Thesis (40 credits)
HIST30970
40
Optional
Gender and Sexuality in Modern Africa
HIST31001
20
Optional
China & the West: From the Opium War to the Japanese War
HIST31201
20
Optional
From National Crisis to National Government: British Politics, Economy and Society, 1914 - 1939
HIST31281
20
Optional
Contesting the Supernatural in the Early Modern British Isles, c. 1600-1800
HIST31291
20
Optional
Sex, Drugs and Shopping: Readdressing Inter-war Britain
HIST31341
20
Optional
From Gutenberg to Google - A History of Knowledge Management from the Middle Ages to the Present Day
HIST31351
20
Optional
Heroes and Holy Men: The Irish Sea World in the Viking Age, c. 780-1100
HIST31361
20
Optional
The Normans: conquerors, collaborators and myth-makers (900-1200)
HIST31371
20
Optional
'First Modern Economy' and 'First Industrial Nation': The Netherlands, England, c.1600-1850
HIST31382
20
Optional
Witches, Witch-hunting and Magic in Late Medieval and Early Modern Continental Europe, c.1350-1700
HIST31392
20
Optional
The Margins Mobilise: Rebels, Refugees, and Working Girls in Modern East Asia
HIST31411
20
Optional
The Great Irish Famine and Its Impact, 1845-1900
HIST31451
20
Optional
Charlemagne: Brutality and Faith
HIST31462
20
Optional
Fascist Italy and Nazi Germany: Comparisons, Contrasts, and Entanglement
HIST31521
20
Optional
John F. Kennedy, Lyndon B. Johnson, and U.S. Foreign Policy in the 1960s
HIST31552
20
Optional
Defining the Deviant: Crime and British Society, 1888-2000
HIST31592
20
Optional
A Century of Conflict? France, 1900-2000
HIST31602
20
Optional
Christ's Knights: Hospitallers and Templars in the Latin East and Beyond
HIST31621
20
Optional
Oil Wars? ¿ Armed Conflict, War and Foreign Power Intervention in the Persian Gulf (1898-1991)
HIST31631
20
Optional
Rebellion for God and Nation: The Iranian Revolution of 1979
HIST31642
20
Optional
Revolution, Reform, and Utopia: An Intellectual and Cultural History of British Radicalism
HIST31651
20
Optional
Making Minorities: Tibetans, Mongols and Muslims in 20th Century China
HIST31662
20
Optional
The Aftermath of War in France, Britain and Germany: Violence and Reconstruction after WW1 and WW2
HIST31671
20
Optional
Socialist Security: The Soviet Welfare State, 1917-1991
HIST31682
20
Optional
A History of Capitalism in 7 Commodities
HIST31701
20
Optional
Golden Age or Wrong Turn? Rethinking State and Society in Britain, 1945-1980
HIST31731
20
Optional
Unarmed and Under Fire: Civilians and Wartime Violence in Europe, 1914-1945
HIST31741
20
Optional
The Black Freedom Movement, 1955-1975
HIST31752
20
Optional
Life at the Margins: Sinners, Deviants and Outcasts in Early Modern Britain
HIST31761
20
Optional
Madness and Society
HSTM30832
10
Optional
The Nuclear Age
HSTM31212
10
Optional
The Nuclear Age
HSTM31712
20
Optional
From bachelorker Street to CSI
HSTM32011
10
Optional
From bachelorker Street to CSI
HSTM32511
20
Optional
Climate Change & Society
HSTM33201
10
Optional
Climate Change & Society
HSTM33501
20
Optional
Madness and Society
HSTM40332
20
Optional
Bodies, Sex and Gender in Japan
JAPA33071
20
Optional
Tools and Techniques for Enterprise
MCEL30001
10
Optional
Tools & Techniques for Enterprise
MCEL30002
10
Optional
Interdisciplinary Sustainable Development
MCEL30022
10
Optional
Enterprise Feasibility
MCEL30052
10
Optional
The Politics of the European Union
POLI30031
20
Optional
Russian Politics
POLI30072
20
Optional
Gender, Sex and Politics
POLI30231
20
Optional
Elections and Voters in Britain
POLI30241
20
Optional
Political Morality
POLI30271
20
Optional
Dissertation A
POLI30300
40
Optional
Ethical Issues in World Politics
POLI30322
20
Optional
Political Ideologies in Modern Britain
POLI30362
20
Optional
Politics of Hate
POLI30452
20
Optional
News Media & International Crisis
POLI30691
20
Optional
Introduction to International Political Economy
POLI30721
20
Optional
Gender, War & Militarism
POLI30791
20
Optional
Political Communication: Language and Power
POLI30842
20
Optional
Africa & Globachelorl Politics
POLI30861
20
Optional
War, Genocide, Terror: Understanding Organised Violence
POLI30892
20
Optional
Comparative Protest Politics -Voting with their Feet
POLI30921
20
Optional
Ideologies of Globachelorl Capitalism
POLI31002
20
Optional
War Memories and Reconciliation in East Asia
POLI31011
20
Optional
Children, Family and Social Justice
POLI31032
20
Optional
American Politics: Why Do They Do That?
POLI31061
20
Optional
The Politics of Climate Change
POLI31072
20
Optional
Knowledge Production in Peace-building: Practices and Processes
POLI31082
20
Optional
Anarchy and Authority
POLI32031
20
Optional
Contemporary Parliamentary Studies and the British Political Tradition
POLI32041
20
Optional
Politics of Obscenity
POLI32051
20
Optional
Fear and Loathing in International Relations: The Problem of Identity and Difference
POLI32061
20
Optional
Fear and Loathing in International Relations: The Problem of Identity and Difference
POLI32062
20
Optional
Between War and Peace
POLI32071
20
Optional
Sex, Bodies and Money: Gendering International Political Economy
POLI32092
20
Optional
Theories of Rights
POLI32122
20
Optional
The "End...