IPM3430 - THEORIES OF THE COLD WAR

Module Identifier	IPM3430
Module Title	THEORIES OF THE COLD WAR
Academic Year	2001/2002
Co-ordinator	Professor Mick Cox
Semester	Semester 1
Course delivery	Seminar	1 x two hour seminar per week over one semester
Assessment	Essay	1 x 4,000 words	50%
	Exam	3 Hours To be examined in Semester Two.	50%

Objectives

By the end of this module you should:

be familiar with the main schools of Cold War analysis
be able to understand the respective strengths and weaknesses of these different schools
have the ability to explain the relationship between the writing of Cold War history and the main phases of the Cold War.
be equipped to assess the impact of the end of the Cold War upon our understanding of the Cold War

Aims

The Cold War has generated a vast and highly polemical historiography notably but not only in the United States of America where historians have long disputed the original causes of the East-West conflict, its wider implications for the world order, and the principle reasons for the conclusion of the antagonism in the late eighties. Indeed, in recent years, these debates have been given new meaning precisely because of the end of the Cold War and the release of large amounts of previously classified material; both from the 'other side' as well as from western archives. In this module we shall be examining the main currents of opinion in this ongoing debate. In the process we shall look at, inter alia, the strengths of and the perceived weaknesses of the different schools of thought; why certain schools achieved intellectual success at certain times but not at others; the complex relationship between ideology and the writing of history; and the more general role and responsibility of the historian in a world where historical ideas have frequently been deployed both to legitimize and deligitimize different political and strategic practices.