The Cold War dominated international politics from the Second World War to the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991. Spreading their power over large parts of the earth, both the US and USSR became linchpins of far-flung systems of alliances. It has been argued that the great powers acted like a kind of policemen, imposing order in their spheres of influence through diplomacy or force.
The Soviet Union’s collapse was widely perceived as the start of a period of international instability. As has been observed by one historian: `Without the Cold War, the policemen's roles diminished. A conflict in a country or region not vitally affecting the interests of the West or East was likely to be allowed to find its bloody resolution.'
This course covers not only the major events of the Cold War, but also the acrimonious debate on its origins, characteristics and end. Students also examine the aftermath of the Cold War. This includes the ongoing debates between historians and political scientists such as Francis Fukuyama, Samuel Huntington and Robert D. Kaplan on the nature of the post Cold War world order, and on the merits of different approaches to the study of international relations.
Format
Presentation: Students give a presentation, conduct part of a seminar and lead class discussion on a particular subject. Students may work in groups of two.
Review: At the end of week six, students hand in their preliminary version of a review (2000 words) of part of We Now Know by John Lewis Gaddis. They discuss this study extensively during the seminars. The final version is due in week seven.
Essay: At the end of week fourteen, students hand in an essay (4000 words) on their research topic. The teacher assists students with choosing a topic and finding relevant literature, and discusses preliminary versions of this essay with students on an individual basis. Students will read about 600 pages for this essay. However, guidelines on these requirements may differ for every research topic, depending on the length and the difficulty of the selected texts. Additionally, students must use some primary source.
Exam: Concluding the course, students take a written exam in week 15.
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