Undergraduate Course: The Rise of the Right in the United States, c.1945-c.1990 (HIST10306)
Course Outline
| School | School of History, Classics and Archaeology |
College | College of Humanities and Social Science |
| Credit level (Normal year taken) | SCQF Level 10 (Year 4 Undergraduate) |
Availability | Not available to visiting students |
| SCQF Credits | 40 |
ECTS Credits | 20 |
| Summary | The course investigates political conservatism in the United States during the era of the Cold War. It analyses the activities of the Republican Party in power and in pursuit of power, with special attention to the administrations of Dwight Eisenhower, Richard Nixon and Ronald Reagan. There are also explorations of conservative ideas and conservative movements. |
| Course description |
The course employs a broad definition of the Right in American politics in order to investigate an array of developments in the United States since World War II, all involving the emerging success and influence of political conservatism. First, it pays special attention to the activities of the Republican party in pursuit of office and in power. Second, it examines racial conservatism among southerners in the Democratic party and later in the Republican party. Third, it looks at a variety of movements on the Right outside the parties, including some considered extremist and some within the political mainstream; examples of these organisations are the John Birch Society and Moral Majority. Fourth, it investigates the work of contemporary political theorists of the Right and their significance to practical politics. Fifth, it analyses political change at the grassroots level. In order to investigate conservatives and conservatism in the United States during the post-World War II decades, the course investigates the rich historiography that is relevant to this subject, as well as exploring a wide range of primary sources.
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Entry Requirements (not applicable to Visiting Students)
| Pre-requisites |
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Co-requisites | |
| Prohibited Combinations | |
Other requirements | A pass in 40 credits of third level historical courses or equivalent.
Before enrolling students on this course, Personal Tutors are asked to contact the History Honours Admission Administrator to ensure that a place is available (Tel: 50 3780). |
Course Delivery Information
| Not being delivered |
Learning Outcomes
On completion of this course, the student will be able to:
- Demonstrate, by way of coursework and examination as required, command of the body of knowledge considered in the course;
- Demonstrate, by way of coursework and examination as required, an ability to read, analyse and reflect critically upon relevant scholarship;
- Demonstrate, by way of coursework and examination as required, an ability to understand, evaluate and utilise a variety of primary source material;
- Demonstrate, by way of coursework and examination as required, the ability to develop and sustain scholarly arguments in oral and written form, by formulating appropriate questions and utilising relevant evidence;
- Demonstrate independence of mind and initiative; intellectual integrity and maturity; an ability to evaluate the work of others, including peers.
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Reading List
Donald T. Critchlow, The Conservative Ascendancy: How the GOP Right Made Political History (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 2007)
David R. Farber, The Rise and Fall of Modern American Conservatism: A Short History (Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 2010)
Godfrey Hodgson, The World Turned Right Side Up: A History of the Conservative Ascendancy in America (Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1996)
Allan J. Lichtman, White Protestant Nation: The Rise of the American Conservative Movement (New York: Atlantic Monthly, 2008)
Robert Mason, The Republican Party and American Politics from Hoover to Reagan (New York: Cambridge University Press, 2012)
Lisa McGirr, Suburban Warriors: The Origins of the New American Right (Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 2001)
Kim Phillips-Fein, Invisible Hands: The Making of the Conservative Movement from the New Deal to Reagan (New York: Norton, 2009)
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Additional Information
| Graduate Attributes and Skills |
Not entered |
| Keywords | Rise of the Right |
Contacts
| Course organiser | Dr Robert Mason
Tel: (0131 6)50 3770
Email: |
Course secretary | Miss Alexandra Adam
Tel: (0131 6)50 3767
Email: |
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