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166-061 Theories of the Cold War | |
Note | Formerly available as 166-446. Students who have completed 166-446 are not eligible to enrol in this subject. |
Availability | 4th year |
Credit Points | 12.5 |
Coordinator | Peter Shearman |
Prerequisites | Admission to fourth year Honours in Political Science. |
Semester | 2 (view timetable) |
Contact | A 2-hour seminar per week |
Subject Description | This subject examines the Cold War. What was it? How do we explain it? When and why did it start? When and why did it end? How did it end? Who won? Who lost? What can we learn from it? An examination will be made of how and why explanations over time shifted from orthodox accounts of Soviet communist expansionism to revisionist accounts of American capitalist neo-imperialism, to the more recent and contending post-revisionist theories. How useful are IR theories in helping us to understand or explain the Cold War? An assessment is made of the role of key personalities, from Stalin and Truman, to Reagan and Gorbachev. At the end of the subject students should be able to critically evaluate the contending theories regarding the origins, demise and consequences of the Cold War. |
Assessment | A research essay of 5000 words. |
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Status: Official 1999 Last Modified: Tuesday October 20 11:48 SGML to HTML Conversion: Information Technology Services Authorised by: Academic Registrar Email Enquiries: Course_Information@registrar.unimelb.edu.au