Module Identifier MW31220  
Module Title WALES SINCE 1945  
Academic Year 2002/2003  
Co-ordinator Professor Aled G Jones  
Semester Semester 1  
Pre-Requisite MW10120 , WH10220  
Mutually Exclusive WH31230 , CF31220  
Course delivery Lecture   18 Hours  
  Seminars / Tutorials   10 Hours Seminar.  
Assessment Semester Exam   2 Hours   60%  
  Semester Assessment   Essay: 2 x 2,500 word essays   40%  

Learning outcomes

On completion of this module, students should be able to:
a) Demonstrate familiarity with a substantial body of historical knowledge in the field of modern and contemporary Welsh history
b) Engage in source criticism, discussion and understanding of a range of political, social and cultural issues relating to the history of modern Wales
c) Demonstrate familiarity with a wide range of historical techniques relevant to the investigation of government, political parties, pressure groups and social movements.
d) Gather and sift appropriate items of historical evidence from secondary and statistical sources
e) Read, analyse and reflect critically on secondary and primary texts, in particular books and articles, but also newspapers, pamphlets, printed correspondence and Parliamentary papers
f) Explore the relationships between history and other disciplines, particularly political science, sociology and language theory
g) Develop the ability to evaluate strengths and weaknesses of particular historical arguments and where necessary challenge them.
h) Develop oral (not assessed) and written skills which will have been improved through seminar discussions and essays
i) Work both independently and collaboratively, and to participate in group discussions (not assessed).

Brief description

This option module will enable students to explore the major social, cultural and political changes that have taken place in Wales since the end of the Second World War. At one level it will address the ways in which one region of the United Kingdom was transformed by structural economic change, and how its people responded to that process. At another, it will examine the means by which political and cultural institutions moulded new, and at times contradictory, forms of national identity. Finally, concepts of political representation and leadership will be placed in the context of current historical and sociological writing on modern Wales.