131-011 Reason and the State

166-008 Managing Identity in Contemporary Europe is strongly recommended and, along with this subject, forms the recommended path for entry to the major in European studies. See European studies.

This subject examines the emergence of modern Europe from complex historical processes. At the beginning of the 20th century, the future appeared to be one of unlimited progress. However, World War I, fascism and the Holocaust, the failure of the democratic states and the use of the atom bomb marked the end of European world hegemony and, for many intellectuals, the end of the promise of Enlightenment. Europe was thus ushered into a period now referred to as postmodernity. Students should complete this subject with an understanding of the rise of the modern and its replacement by the postmodern, of the creation of the modern nation-state and the origins of the European movement. Students should develop an ability to critique these constructions and an analysis of how Europeans came to accept the need for European unity.

Class participation and written work totalling 4000 words.

A subject reader will be available.

• M Perry et al, Western Civilisation: Ideas, Politics & Society Vol. II From the 1600s. 6th ed, Houghton Mifflin Boston, 2000.