Postgraduate Course: Approaches to Modern British Political History (PGHC11351)
Course Outline
| School | School of History, Classics and Archaeology |
College | College of Humanities and Social Science |
| Credit level (Normal year taken) | SCQF Level 11 (Postgraduate) |
Availability | Available to all students |
| SCQF Credits | 20 |
ECTS Credits | 10 |
| Summary | This course supplements the School's existing graduate options for the History and Scottish History MSc programmes and it strengthens the political history component of the Modern British and Irish History MSc programme. Structured around historiographically significant themes, this course does not offer a chronological overview of British politics, but rather engages with crucial questions of recent scholarship. In this sense, it is particularly appropriate for the graduate level.
Students will develop a critical appreciation of the different ways in which historians have approached some of the key themes and features of British politics across a 'long' nineteenth century (c. 1780 - c. 1914). The course concentrates on theoretically and methodologically significant texts and is structured around themes, such as: the nature of party; leadership and the role of ideas in politics; and the study of elections and popular politics. It will end with a consideration and critical evaluation of the diverse body of scholarship which has been taken to constitute 'new political history'.
A key part of the course will be the study and evaluation of a range of primary sources available to historians including: contemporary newspapers, periodicals and political cartoons; politicians' correspondence and personal papers; and parliamentary debates and other official publications. As the course is based around discussions of significant themes, students will be expected to acquire the contextual and foundational knowledge of the period themselves, though the course organiser will identify appropriate resources.
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| Course description |
Students will develop a critical appreciation of the different ways in which historians have approached some of the key themes and features of British politics across a 'long' nineteenth century (c. 1780 - c. 1914). The course concentrates on theoretically and methodologically significant texts and is structured around themes, such as: the nature of party; leadership and the role of ideas in politics; and the study of elections and popular politics. It will end with a consideration and critical evaluation of the diverse body of scholarship which has been taken to constitute 'new political history'.
A key part of the course will be the study and evaluation of a range of primary sources available to historians including: contemporary newspapers, periodicals and political cartoons; politicians' correspondence and personal papers; and parliamentary debates and other official publications. As the course is based around discussions of significant themes, students will be expected to acquire the contextual and foundational knowledge of the period themselves, though the course organiser will identify appropriate resources.
D. Indicative Teaching Programme
1. Liberal and Marxist Inheritances
2. 'The Politicians that Mattered'
3. Politics and Ideas
4. Sources: Reading Politicians' Letters
5. Parties and Elections
6. Popular Politics
7. Sources: Newspapers and Print
8. Towards a 'New Political History'?
9. Case Study: Reforming the Reform Acts
10. Beyond the Text: The Material Culture of Politics
11. Conclusion and Student Presentations
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Entry Requirements (not applicable to Visiting Students)
| Pre-requisites |
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Co-requisites | |
| Prohibited Combinations | |
Other requirements | None |
Information for Visiting Students
| Pre-requisites | None |
Course Delivery Information
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| Academic year 2015/16, Available to all students (SV1)
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Quota: None |
| Course Start |
Semester 1 |
Timetable |
Timetable |
| Learning and Teaching activities (Further Info) |
Total Hours:
200
(
Seminar/Tutorial Hours 22,
Programme Level Learning and Teaching Hours 4,
Directed Learning and Independent Learning Hours
174 )
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| Assessment (Further Info) |
Written Exam
0 %,
Coursework
100 %,
Practical Exam
0 %
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| Additional Information (Assessment) |
Following School practice in the assessment of MSc courses, assessment will involve a paper of 3000 words. The essay will count for 80% of the final mark. Non-written skills will also be assessed, providing 20% of the final mark (10% for a presentation; 10% for contribution to classroom discussions). |
| Feedback |
Not entered |
| No Exam Information |
Learning Outcomes
After successfully completing the course, students will be able to:
o demonstrate an in-depth knowledge of the most important issues and themes connected to the study of politics in Britain c. 1780 - c. 1914;
o independently identify and pursue research topics connected to the themes of the course;
o exhibit an understanding for different conceptual approaches to the study of history;
o analyze and contextualize primary source material;
o arrive at independent, well-argued, well-documented and properly referenced conclusions in their coursework essay;
o demonstrate their skills in group discussion and oral presentations;
o demonstrate their written skills, their analytical and theoretical skills in coursework;
o prepare and present their work in seminars.
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Reading List
Indicative Bibliography
M. Bentley, Politics without Democracy: Perception and Preoccupation in British Government (2nd edn, 1996).
M. Bentley and J. Stevenson (ed.), High and Low Politics in Modern Britain: Ten Studies (1983).
E. Biagini, Liberty, Retrenchment and Reform: Popular Liberalism in the Age of Gladstone, 1860-1880 (1992).
E. Biagini and A. J. Reid (ed), Currents of Radicalism: Popular Radicalism, Organised Labour and Party Politics in Britain (1991).
M. Chase, Chartism: A New History (2007).
P. Clarke, Lancashire and the New Liberalism (1971).
S. Collini, S. Winch and J. Burrow, That Noble Science of Politics: A Study in Nineteenth-Century Intellectual History (1983).
A. B. Cooke and J. Vincent, The Governing Passion: Cabinet Government and Party Politics in Britain, 1885-6 (1974).
M. Cowling, 1867: Disraeli, Gladstone and Revolution. The Passing of the Second Reform Bill (1967).
J. Epstein and D. Thompson (ed.), The Chartist Experience: Studies in Working Class Radicalism and Culture, 1830-1860 (1982).
P. Joyce, Visions of the People: Industrial England and the Question of Class, 1840-1914 (1991).
M. Finn, After Chartism: Class and Nation in English Radical Politics, 1848-74 (1993).
A. Gambles, Protection and Politics: Conservative Economic Discourse, 1815-1852 (1999).
H. J. Hanham, Elections and Party Management: Politics in the Time of Gladstone and Disraeli (1959).
C. Hall, K. McClelland, J. Rendall, Defining the Victorian Nation: Class, Race, Gender and the Reform Act of 1867 (2000).
R. Harrison, Before the Socialists: Studies in Labour and Politics 1861-1881 (1965).
A. Jones, The Politics of Reform 1884 (1972).
J. Lawrence, Speaking for the People: Party, Language and Popular Politics in England, 1867-1914 (1998).
J. Lawrence and M. Taylor (ed.), Party, State and Society: Electoral Behaviour in Britain since 1820 (1997).
M. McCormack (ed.), Public men: masculinity and politics in modern Britain (2007).
P. Mandler, Aristocratic Government in the Age of Reform: Whigs and Liberals, 1830-52 (1990).
H. Pelling, Social Geography of British Elections, 1885-1910 (1967).
D. Tanner, Political Change and the Labour Party, 1900-1918 (1990).
M. Taylor, The Decline of British Radicalism, 1847-1860 (1995).
J. Vernon, Politics and the People: A Study in English Political Culture, 1815-67 (1993).
J. Vernon (ed.), Re-reading the Constitution: New Narratives in the Political History of England's Long Nineteenth Century (1996).
J. Vincent, The Formation of the Liberal Party, 1857-1868 (1966).
J. Vincent, Pollbooks: How Victorians Voted (1967).
D. Wahrman, Imagining the Middle Class: The Political Representation of Class in Britain, c. 1780-1840 (1995).
A. Windscheffel, Popular Conservatism in Imperial London, 1868-1906 (2007).
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Additional Information
| Graduate Attributes and Skills |
Not entered |
| Keywords | AppsToMBPolHist Approaches Modern British Political History |
Contacts
| Course organiser | Dr Gordon Pentland
Tel: (0131 6)50 8354
Email: |
Course secretary | Mrs Lindsay Scott
Tel: (0131 6)50 9948
Email: |
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