PSIR105 MODERN WORLD HISTORY
| Course Code: | 3540105 |
| METU Credit (Theoretical-Laboratory hours/week): | 3 (3.00 - 0.00) |
| ECTS Credit: | 6.0 |
| Department: | Political Science and International Relations |
| Language of Instruction: | English |
| Level of Study: | Undergraduate |
| Course Coordinator: | Assist.Prof.Dr DEFNE GÖNENÇ |
| Offered Semester: | Fall Semesters. |
Course Objectives
This course is designed:
- To provide a general overview of the history from the beginning of European expansion to the present;
- To explain how the contact between civilizations shaped the development of the modern world;
- To place major events in a coherent chronological narrative that demonstrates an understanding of causal relationships between events and the significance of historical context.
Course Content
This course examines the rise and fall of great powers as political, military and economic entities. Since 1500, history has shown many comparable examples regarding the relation of economic and military overstretch of many great states like Ming China, Ottoman Empire, France, Great Britain, Austrian-Hungarian Empire, Prussia and the two great powers at the beginning of this century: the United States and Russia. All this will be considered in the framework of the -European Balance of Power- and the traditional -isolationist foreign policy- of the U.S. in the last century. The beginning of World War I and its implications on the world balance of power will be considered. The developments in Europe and U.S. since 1919 until today will be examined. World War I and the new political structure after 1918 will be considered from the point of global developments. World War II and the involvement of the U.S. in European affairs, the Cold War Sovietization of Eastern Europe and the emancipation of the Third World ocountries are also to be discussed. The relations among the industrial and non-industrial countries in political, economic and military fields will be explained with some comments on future prospects for global developments.
Course Learning Outcomes
After completing this course, the students are expected:
- To better understand the political, social, economic, religious and cultural dimensions of world history
- To demonstrate the ability to better analyze the origins and processes of the modern international order;
- To comprehend how particular events have influenced the larger historical trends and have changed the world in which we live in; -
- To be able to develop skills in critical thinking, analysis, reading, writing and discussing.