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Decolonization, Internationalism & the Making of a New World Order after World War 2 - HIS00080C

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  • Department: History
  • Module co-ordinator: Prof. Sanjoy Bhattacharya
  • Credit value: 20 credits
  • Credit level: C
  • Academic year of delivery: 2021-22
    • See module specification for other years: 2022-23

Module summary

This module will examine the important subject of decolonisation, which reshaped political maps from 1945 onwards. These processes also forged a new era of international relations, which was powerfully represented by the redefinition of the governance of multi-country health and development projects. The seminars will adopt a consciously non- Euro and US-centric perspective, which will allow students to study the many actors, voices, ideas and pressures that strengthened anti-colonial nationalisms, internationalist movements and new, territorial nationalisms. The module will provide a decolonised and cutting-edge study of the many drivers of the end of European empires after the Second World War, especially the roles played by actors from newly freed territories within international bodies like the United Nations (and its specialist agencies). Seminars will draw on examples from around the world, giving students the opportunity to develop expertise on particular countries or, if they prefer, take a wider international, multi-sited approach to understanding the making of a new world order.

Different concepts of post-war anti-colonialism, internationalism and non-alignment will be problematized throughout the seminars, so that students can critically consider the many components, meanings and effects of these political projects. The seminars will explain how cooperation and competition between newly independent countries created international spaces that excluded western European imperial powers. In this way, the module will draw out the roles played by a number of little known (but, not unimportant) political organisations, cultural movements and faith-based associations in promoting new medical, scientific and developmental exchanges. The study of such joint diplomatic action, and its roles in forcing changes within United Nations governance at different administrative levels, is a relatively unexplored field of historical enquiry. This module will encourage discussions about the new research approaches that made such work possible, explain assumptions and subjectivities in older historiography, describe the many kinds and sources of research materials, and help students develop original topics for study.

Module will run

Occurrence Teaching period
A Spring Term 2021-22

Module aims

The aims of this module are:

  • To give an intensive introduction to an unfamiliar period and/or approach to the study of history;

  • To offer experience in the use of primary source materials;

  • To develop skills in analysing historiography; and

  • To develop core skills such as: bibliographical search techniques; source analysis; essay writing; giving presentations; and, undertaking independent research.

Module learning outcomes

Students who complete this module successfully will:

  • Acquire an insight into an unfamiliar period and/or approach to history through intensive study of an aspect of the period and/or an approach to it;

  • Gain experience of analysing primary source materials;

  • Be able to evaluate an historical explanation;

  • Have further developed work undertaken in the Autumn Term lecture courses and skills portfolios, including historical analysis, note-taking, using primary sources, presenting to groups, and leading discussions in seminars;

  • Be able to construct a coherent historical argument in oral and written forms

Module content

Teaching will be in weekly 2-hour seminars taught over nine weeks, plus an overview and revision session in Week 2 of Summer Term. Each week students will do reading and preparation in order to be able to contribute to discussion.

The provisional outline for the module is as follows:

  1. General briefing

  2. Concepts of planned exit, disorderly retreat and much more

  3. World War 2 - The trigger for decolonisation?

  4. United Nations, anti-imperialism and decolonisation

  5. The Cold War: Manifestations and variations

  6. Allies at war: Strategic aftershocks post-World War 2

  7. The many guises of non-alignment

  8. New nationalisms and the remaking of empires

  9. The hidden voices of imperialism, internationalism and decolonisation

Assessment

Task Length % of module mark
Online Exam - 24 hrs (Centrally scheduled)
24-Hour Open Exam		 8 hours 100

Special assessment rules

None

Additional assessment information

Formative work:

During the Spring Term students will prepare a presentation in pairs or small groups. Tutors will determine the formative work for the course: all groups will present either on a primary source or on an assigned historiographical question. Formative work will be completed in one or more sessions at the tutor’s discretion.

Summative assessment:

An open exam in the Common Assessment Period, comprising one essay question chosen from five options.

Reassessment

Task Length % of module mark
Online Exam - 24 hrs (Centrally scheduled)
24-Hour Open Exam		 8 hours 100

Module feedback

The formative assessment is a group presentation and verbal feedback will be provided by the tutor in class followed by a written summary to each student within 10 working days. Students will have a 15 minute one-to-one tutorial to discuss the formative assessment and prepare for the summative assessment. For more information, see the Statement on Feedback.


For the summative assessment task, students will receive their provisional mark and written feedback within 20 working days of the submission deadline. The tutor will then be available during student hours for follow-up guidance if required. For more information, see the Statement on Assessment.

Indicative reading

For term time reading, please refer to the module VLE site. Should you wish to do any preliminary reading, you could look at the following:

Dora Vargha, Polio Across the Iron Curtain: Hungary’s Cold War with an Epidemic, Cambridge University Press, 2018 (open access book here).

Paul Wenzel Geissler (ed.), Para-States and Medical Science: Making African Global Health, Duke University Press, 2015 (open access chapters here).


The information on this page is indicative of the module that is currently on offer. The University is constantly exploring ways to enhance and improve its degree programmes and therefore reserves the right to make variations to the content and method of delivery of modules, and to discontinue modules, if such action is reasonably considered to be necessary by the University. Where appropriate, the University will notify and consult with affected students in advance about any changes that are required in line with the University's policy on the Approval of Modifications to Existing Taught Programmes of Study.