Introduction to British Civilization
Course material - 9 pages - Modern history
In this lecture, we'll be looking at some of the key dates in the history of the UK and looking at recent events that have illustrated the fragility of British nationhood and identity and the very real possibility of the UK as we know it today no longer existing in its present state.
American Cultural Aspects for Business
Course material - 11 pages - Modern history
America has been created from the East to the West. The West is a concept in history, for an American it is often associated with the idea of frontier. In the 19th century St-Louis (Missouri) was considered as the gate way to the West, when people went to the West they went directly to Oregon or...
History of the Constitution of the United States
Course material - 2 pages - Modern history
In May 1776, Congress passed a resolution advising the colonies to form new governments. By 1777, 11 states had drawn up their own Constitutions (which contained the ideas expressed in the Declaration of Independence). Those Constitutions were influenced by democratic ideas (role of Enlightenment...
The Wilsonian tradition and its limits (1914-1945)
Course material - 6 pages - Modern history
President Wilson (1913-1920) renounced isolationism, which was the American tradition since Monroe: in agreement with his progressive agenda, he believed the US had to act abroad. He promoted a new internationalist doctrine. But he failed to convince either the foreign partners of the US, or, at...
The United States and the World: The Sources and Tools of American Foreign Policy
Course material - 8 pages - Modern history
There is undoubtedly an American exceptionalism: the US considers itself since the 18th century to be different from Europe. It has seen itself from the beginning as a universal model: the “American way of life” (linking most strongly liberal democracy and free enterprise, two notions...
The United States and the World - The Reagan Revolution
Course material - 5 pages - Modern history
Ronald Reagan was elected president in November 1980. It was a return to more liberalism, to more individual responsibility, a move towards deregulation of the economy in a more and more globalized world. Reagan was convinced that this return to liberalism was the only way to overcome the...
The United States and the World: The US and the Cold War (1945-1980)
Course material - 5 pages - Modern history
The goal of this document is to stress the main thrust of American strategy in the Cold War in order to understand the legacy of the Cold War on American foreign policy today. The main structures of US foreign policy and foreign policy establishment and instruments, still in place today, were...
The United States and the end of the Cold War (1989-1990)
Course material - 4 pages - Modern history
President George H. Bush was elected in November 1988. He had to steer the end of the Cold War, 1989-1990. His team was different from Reagan's, although he had been his vice-president: there were no neo-conservatives; the new Administration was more adept of Kissinger's prudent line....
The United States and the World: Globalization in Historical Perspective
Course material - 8 pages - Modern history
The concept of globalization is not new: in his Communist Manifesto, in 1848, Karl Marx underlined that the bourgeoisie needed constantly expanding markets. Some distinctions are important. Globalization happens, or at least is discussed, in the context of several different fields, in which it...
The United States and the World - Russia and China
Course material - 7 pages - Modern history
At the beginning of his first term, President Bush neglected Russia and considered China as the next major geopolitical adversary. At the same time, American analysts were quite confident that Washington would be able to manage the "Geostrategic Triad" between Washington, Moscow and Beijing to...
Towards a Federation of Nation-States? - From the Milan summit to the Nice one (1985-2000)
Course material - 7 pages - Modern history
To try to describe the aim of the European Construction at the beginning of the 90ies, Jacques Delors, president of the European Commission from 1985 to 1995, invented the concept of a Federation of Nation-States. An oxymoron? What does national sovereignty become in such a system? But still it...
Towards a Kind of European Constitution? From the Saint-Malo Franco-British Meeting to the Lisbon Treaty (1998-2007)
Course material - 6 pages - Modern history
In 1998, Prime Minister Blair had to realize that the fact that GB did not participate in the Euro would actually marginalize her inside the European Union. He decided to recover the initiative, and to take up the subject of European defense, where GB could contribute in an important way, because...
Towards a European Confederation? From de Gaulle's Return to Power to the Milan European Summit (1958-1985)
Course material - 6 pages - Modern history
After the failure of the federal concept and the more prudent approach of the Rome Treaties, for about 30 years, the European Economic Community (EEC) seemed to develop more along the concept of a European Confederation, not a Federation, as envisioned by the Founding Fathers, Robert Schuman or...
The European Union and its International Role - Towards a European Federation? (From the European Conference in The Hague to the Rome Treaties, 1948-1957)
Course material - 6 pages - Modern history
Already during the war, many Resistance groups asked themselves how to stop the cycle of recurring European wars. After 1945, many groups and associations suggested going back to the European ideas of the 20s, which included the concept of a European Union (Briand Plan of 1930). They stressed...
The development and failure of the European system (1815-1945)
Course material - 7 pages - Modern history
There was a European system before the current European Union. Its roots went back to the 17th century and the Westphalian peace of 1648. It reached its maturity during the 19th century, after the Vienna Congress, and under the impression of 25 years of revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars. It was...
The Cold War (1947-1991)
Course material - 3 pages - Modern history
The expression used for the first time in 1947 and popularized by the journalist Walter Lippmann is the name given to the international relationships between 1947 and 1991. It was a military and ideological conflict concerning every aspect (economy, ideology, propaganda, science, conquest of...
History of the British economy
Course material - 2 pages - Modern history
After WW2, to give Britain the chance to rebuild itself economically and socially, the Labour government established the “Post-War consensus” based on the principles of the Beveridge Report from 1945 up to 1979, the two main political parties Labour and Conservative agreed to follow the...
Was there a Thatcher revolution (1979-1990) ?
Course material - 3 pages - Modern history
Britain's situation in 1979 : had been ruled by consensual politics effectively since 1945, with cross-party agreement on the welfare state. It was relatively prosperous in 1950-1960s, yet the 1970s saw Britain face economic and social difficulties, the "Winter of discontent." Thatcher was...
United States foreign policy
Course material - 5 pages - Modern history
A period of political isolation intervened between the end of WWI and the entrance of the US into WWII. In the 1930s new threats to world peace appeared through Japan's invasion of China; Italy's invasion of Ethiopia; the Spanish Civil War; Germany's occupation of Austria; and...
The waves of Jewish immigration at various times in history
Course material - 4 pages - Modern history
Jews had begun arriving in the New World long before the immigration waves of the twentieth century. As early as the 1700s, before America became the United States, before it became known as a haven for the tired, poor and oppressed, European Jews fled religious persecution to find solace here....
The Jewish question and the Nazi's rise to power
Course material - 3 pages - Modern history
Between the end of the 19th century and World War I, continental Europe was experiencing a series of changes that would culminate in the discussion of what roles Jews should play in European political, economic and intellectual society. The main reasons for the prejudice that Jews faced in this...
The American Civil War and the independence of the Southern States
Course material - 2 pages - Modern history
Although historians now agree that there were many causes for the American Civil War, one of these causes remains the desire of the Confederacy to defend the institution of slavery against what they perceived to be an attack by the Northern states. By electing Lincoln as President, the South...
The Great Depression in the United States
Course material - 1 pages - Modern history
The Great Depression, which lasted from 1929-1941, was an extremely important time period in the history of the United States. During this period, major demographic, economic, cultural, and even architectural changes took place. During the Great Depression, various of groups within the United...
