HR945-7-SP-CO:
The Cold War and the Remaking of British Citizenship, 1945-89
PLEASE NOTE: This module is inactive. Visit the Module Directory to view modules and variants offered during the current academic year.
2023/24
Philosophical, Historical and Interdisciplinary Studies (School of)
Colchester Campus
Spring
Postgraduate: Level 7
Inactive
Monday 15 January 2024
Friday 22 March 2024
20
29 May 2019
Requisites for this module
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This module will explore how the cold war shaped the concept and practice of citizenship in Britain after 1945, allowing students to analyse how the conflict led to new understandings of the citizen's relationship with the state and the wider community.
The experience of total war transformed the relationship between citizen and state in twentieth-century Britain. The first and second world wars saw a massive expansion of state power into everyday life: men and women were mobilised to serve in the armed forces and as workers in the domestic war economy.
Alongside increases in the 'obligations' placed on citizens there was also an expansion of 'rights', from the expansion of the franchise from 1918 to the implementation of the welfare state after 1945. The cold war also had a profound impact on British citizenship. The state compelled young men to serve in the military until the early 1960s; it stigmatised members of the Communist Party of Great Britain, declaring communists to be unthinking agents of an enemy power.
Cold war citizenship was not simply a top-down affair imposed by the state, however. Ordinary people articulated their own visions of citizenship based on resistance to the cold war orthodoxy, whether as Marxists or peace activists.
Students will explore the central importance of the cold war in understanding domestic British history and ways of historicising citizenship in post-1945 Britain that emphasise its cultural and social aspects.
Students will gain a good understanding of English/British politics and government between 1500-1700.
General reading list:
M. J. Braddick, State Formation in Early Modern England c.1550-1700 (2000).
Susan Brigden, New Worlds, Lost Worlds. The Rule of the Tudors 1485-1603 (2000).
Patrick Collinson (ed.), The Sixteenth Century, 1485-1603 (2001).
Steven G. Ellis with Christopher Maginn, The Making of the British Isles. The State of Britain and Ireland 1450-1660 (2007).
S. J. Gunn, Early Tudor Government 1485-1558 (1995).
John Guy, Tudor England (1988).
Mark Kishlansky, A Monarchy Transformed. Britain 1603-1714 (1996).
Diarmaid MacCulloch, The Later Reformation in England, 1547-1603 (1990, 2001).
Peter Marshall, Reformation England 1480-1642 (2003).
John Morrill (ed.), The Oxford Illustrated History of Tudor and Stuart England (1996).
Conrad Russell, The Crisis of Parliaments. English History 1509-1660 (1971).
1 x 2 hour seminar per week
This module does not appear to have a published bibliography for this year.
Assessment items, weightings and deadlines
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Exam format definitions
- Remote, open book: Your exam will take place remotely via an online learning platform. You may refer to any physical or electronic materials during the exam.
- In-person, open book: Your exam will take place on campus under invigilation. You may refer to any physical materials such as paper study notes or a textbook during the exam. Electronic devices may not be used in the exam.
- In-person, open book (restricted): The exam will take place on campus under invigilation. You may refer only to specific physical materials such as a named textbook during the exam. Permitted materials will be specified by your department. Electronic devices may not be used in the exam.
- In-person, closed book: The exam will take place on campus under invigilation. You may not refer to any physical materials or electronic devices during the exam. There may be times when a paper dictionary,
for example, may be permitted in an otherwise closed book exam. Any exceptions will be specified by your department.
Your department will provide further guidance before your exams.
Overall assessment
Reassessment
Module supervisor and teaching staff
Dr Matthew Grant, email: m.grant@essex.ac.uk.
Dr Matthew Grant
Graduate Administrator, Department of History, Telephone: 01206 872190
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No external examiner information available for this module.
Available via Moodle
Of 20 hours, 20 (100%) hours available to students:
0 hours not recorded due to service coverage or fault;
0 hours not recorded due to opt-out by lecturer(s).
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