131-011 The Making of Modern Europe: Reason and the State

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Prerequisites

166-008 The Making of Modern Europe: Managing Identity in Contemporary Europe is strongly recommended.

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Subject Description

The subject examines the emergence of modern Europe from complex historical processes, its replacement by the post-modern and also the creation of the modern nation-state and the origins of the European movement. The end of World War II marked the end of European world hegemony and, for many intellectuals, the end of the promise of Enlightenment, the idea that the agency of human reason could improve the lot of the individual and society itself. This idea was enshrined in the nation states that emerged out of the crucible of the Napoleonic Wars. France, Germany, and Italy all developed liberal democratic constitutional regimes. At the beginning of the twentieth century, the future appeared to be one of unlimited progress. World War I, Fascism and the Holocaust, the failure of the democratic states and the use of the atom bomb all gave rise to a new pessimism. Europe was therefore forced not only to confront a society in ruins, but also to re-examine those Enlightenment ideals that had promised so much. Europe was thus ushered into a time now referred to as post-modernism.

Assessment

Written work totalling 4000 words.