History 18/140-006
Fall 2007
The World Since 1945
| Contact
Information | Course
Overview and Objectives |
Readings |
| Requirements
and Grading | Course
Guidelines | Schedule
of Classes and Assignments |
Instructor:
Dr. Brandon Hunziker (branhunz@email.unc.edu)
Webpage:
http://www.unc.edu/courses/2007fall/hist/140/006/
Lecture:
Stone Center 103, MW 12-12:50
Office
Hours: Hamilton Hall 515, Tues, 2-3 pm and Wed, 1-3 pm, or by
appointment.
Telephone: 962-2374
(email is always better)
Teaching
Assistants: Stephen Milder (smilder@email.unc.edu)
Michael Paulauskas (mpaulaus@email.unc.edu)
Course Overview and Objectives
This
course surveys some of the major events, issues, and trends - political,
economic, and cultural - that have shaped the history of both individual states
and the international system from 1945 to the present day. Because it would be impossible to cover
everything important that happened in the world during this sixty-year period
in one semester, we will concentrate on the following topics: the Cold War; decolonization in Africa,
the Middle East, and Asia; the collapse of Soviet-style communism and the
emergence of a new, less coherent, but more dynamic international system after
1991; the origins of current global conflicts, especially those involving
ethnicity, religion, and the Islamic world; and the consequences of economic
modernization and globalization.
As you will see, all of these topics overlap and influence each other in
numerous ways. Moreover, they all
continue to shape the world we live in today. In short, theyÕre all things that the informed global
citizen ought to know something about.
The
most important objective of this course, however, is not just to have you
master a body of information.
Instead, it is to teach you the value of thinking historically about the
world you live in. For example, without knowing some basic history and having
the skills to analyze it, you canÕt understand how the United States emerged as
the dominant world power after World War II and especially after the collapse
of the Soviet Union in 1991.
Likewise, you would be unable to grasp the reasons for the Arab-Israeli
conflict or the origins of the United StatesÕ current involvement in Iraq. And if you donÕt know the historical
and cultural context that produced Osama bin Laden, you really can't know who
he is, what he wants, and why he wants to kill you. In addition, you would have enormous difficulty explaining
to someone how the global economy has evolved over the past several decades, or
why China and India have recently emerged as economic powerhouses. These are
just some examples, but the point is that if you donÕt possess some basic
knowledge about recent world history and the ability to think about it
critically, you really canÕt understand much at all about this world, how it
works, and some of the most important issues that confront it. Consequently, your opinions about these
issues would almost certainly be uninformed. As citizens of an increasingly interconnected global
community, youÕd probably agree that this is not a position you want to find
yourself in. While this course
canÕt give you all of the answers you need or want, it will hopefully spark
your intellectual curiosity, make you ask questions, and encourage you to think
historically about the global issues that will shape your lives in the decades
to come.
In
addition to this larger objective, this course aims to improve your ability to
analyze primary and secondary sources critically, write clearly and coherently,
and articulate your thoughts confidently in front of others. These are skills that will benefit you
no matter what your chosen field of study or career may be.
Required Books: The following books are required reading for this course. They
are available for purchase at the UNC Campus Bookstore. You may, however,
find better deals from online booksellers. I recommend (but donÕt work
for!) Buy.com, Ecampus.com, and Amazon.com. Make sure that you get the
right edition by using the ISBN numbers provided below. To find the
lowest prices, click on the ISBN numbers on the web-based version of this
syllabus.
á
Donald Raleigh, ed., RussiaÕs
Sputnik Generation (023421842X)
á
Liang Heng, Son of
the Revolution (0394722744)
á
Khushwant Singh, Train
to Pakistan (0802132219)
á
Sandy Tolan, The
Lemon Tree: An Arab, a Jew, and the Heart of the Middle East (1596913436)
á
Peter Bergen, The
Osama bin Laden I Know (0743278925)
á
Pietra Rivoli, The
Travels of a T-Shirt in the Global Economy (0471648493)
Course Reader: In addition to the required books, you
will read several primary sources and articles from a course reader available
in PDF format. To
download the course reader (12 MB), click here. Your first assignment of
the semester is to print this course reader out, put it in a binder, and bring
it with you to your first recitation.
Your TAs will check to make sure that you have done this. If you do not complete this assignment,
five points will be deducted from your class participation grade. Another five points will be deducted
from your class participation grade for each time that you fail to bring
hardcopies of your readings (books and course reader documents) to
recitation. ItÕs hard to discuss
texts if you donÕt have them in front of you.
Recommended
Textbook: There is no required
textbook for this course. However, for those of you whoÕd like more
background information or want to reinforce material from lectures, I recommend
reading the corresponding pages from Michael HuntÕs The World Transformed:
1945 to the Present (0312245831),
which is also available for purchase at the bookstore. It is more
important, however, that you read the required books and other supplementary
readings for this course.
Reading the
News: As students at an elite university and future members
of the educated elite, you should be keeping up with current affairs, both
domestic and international. And while a few minutes with the Daily Tarheel or broadcast news outlets such as CNN and Fox
News may be all you can manage on some days, you should try to expose yourselves
to more sophisticated, elite newspapers such as The
New York Times, Washington Post, or Wall
Street Journal; thoughtful
opinion magazines like the The New Republic, Slate.com, The New Yorker, The Atlantic, The National
Review, or The Weekly Standard; and Òhard newsÓ services including the Associated Press (AP) or Reuters. Yahoo News and Google News provide easy access to a wide
range of Òhard newsÓ reports and analysis from wire services and thousands of
foreign, national, and local newspapers. Public Radio InternationalÕs program ÒThe WorldÓ offers some excellent, in-depth,
and historically informed reporting.
Keeping up with the news will make this course more enjoyable and
hopefully instill a good habit that will make you a more informed global
citizen for the rest of your life.
And if thatÕs not incentive enough, you canÕt really understand John
Stewart, Steven
Colbert, or The Onion, AmericaÕs finest news source, if you donÕt stay
informed.
How
Much Reading? There is a
substantial, but still manageable amount of reading in this course. Some
weeks will be lighter than others.
The longest readings (books) will fall on weeks 3, 4, 7, 10, 13, and 15,
so plan accordingly. You will almost certainly not be able to complete these
readings the night before your recitation section meets. It is absolutely essential, however,
that you complete all of the readings on time so that you can participate
actively in recitation.
Lectures:
All of the ÒfactsÓ you need
for exams will be presented in lectures, so I highly recommend that you attend
them all. Lecture outlines will be posted on the online version of this syllabus
(see webpage address above) the before class meets. I highly recommend that you download and print out these
outlines before class so that you
can spend more time listening and thinking than copying. In the past, students
have copied these notes into MS Word files to take notes with their laptops.
You cannot pass this class by relying on your textbook, Google, or Wikipedia.
Recitation: Recitation
is an integral component of this course.
It is where you and your classmates will ÒdoÓ history together by
critically discussing primary and secondary sources, freely exchanging your
thoughts, ideas, and questions, and, in the process, improving your ability to
articulate yourself in front of others.
It is here where you will actively create knowledge, not just absorb
it. You will be assessed according
to how well (qualitatively and quantitatively) you participate in weekly
discussions. In general, the more you offer your informed thoughts in
recitation about the subject material, the better you will do. So prepare well for recitation by
reading the assigned texts carefully, thinking of questions, ideas, and issues
they provoke, and coming ready to share them.
Reading Responses: You will submit ten (10) brief responses of
about 300-400 words each to questions on your major readings. (Click
here for Questions) To give you an idea of what 300-400 words looks like,
the paragraph you are reading now is exactly 365 words. The point of
these ÒhomeworkÓ assignments is to 1) make sure youÕre doing the reading and 2)
engaging with it critically. We do not expect you to write polished
essays here, but rather short responses informed by your critical engagement
with the assigned reading. In addition to answering the main question,
your responses may include your own general reactions to and opinions about the
reading. You might also want to
pose an additional question that you could then bring up in recitation. Your
response must, however, cite the text directly at least once with a short
quotation or a specific reference to something in it (an argument, fact,
example, etc). You will have
eleven opportunities to submit these responses, thus allowing you to miss
one. You will not receive extra
credit for doing all eleven, however. In order to avoid large amounts of paper
flowing from you to your TA and then back again, you will submit your responses
electronically to Blackboard by typing or cutting and pasting them directly
into the field provided. (See ÒAssignmentsÓ on Blackboard) I recommend that you keep a back-up of
all your responses. Each response will be due when your recitation
section meets. No late responses will be accepted, so make sure you get
them in on time. Your TA will then read it, occasionally offer some brief
feedback, and assign a grade on a scale of 1-10. In general, most of you
who do the reading and take these assignments seriously will receive 9 points
for each response. Exceptional responses will receive 10 points, while
sloppy, short, uninformed, last-minute BS jobs (you know what IÕm talking
about!) will receive 7 points or less. You should be able to complete each
assignment in 15-20 minutes. In
the past, students who completed all of their reading responses on time ended
up with a strong ÒhomeworkÓ grade that in most cases boosted their final course
grade.
Exams:
During the semester, you
will take two 50-minute written exams consisting of IDs and an essay. At the end of the semester, you will
take a 2-hour final exam, which will consist of map identifications, objective
questions, IDs, several cumulative short answer questions, and an essay. Review sheets and specific instructions
for all exams will be distributed in advance.
Memo
Assignment: You will write a 1500-word memo
addressed to the member states of United Nations General Assembly. This memo will analyze the history of
an important global issue and presents to the international community a series
of recommendations designed to address it. Click
here for specific instructions and potential topics. You are encouraged, however, to choose
your own topic in consultation with your teaching assistant or me. The memo will be due on April 28, but
you should begin thinking about a topic now.
Extra Credit Films: Three or
four times during the semester films relevant to our course will be shown in
the evening. Extra credit (up to
14 points for two films) will be awarded for attending and writing a short
response (300-400 words) to a question about the film. You must attend the
scheduled screening in order to receive extra credit. You may receive extra credit for two (2) films only. These extra credit films will allow you
to earn up to 2 extra points on your final course average – not a lot,
but perhaps enough to move you from a B+ to an A-.
Grading:
The assignments and participation in this course add up to 700 points.
Your final grade will be determined by the total number of points you earn
divided by 700 (see the scale below).
|
Assignments |
Points |
|
Total
Points |
Percentage |
Grade |
|
Reading Responses (10) |
100 |
|
648-700 |
92.5 - 100 |
A |
|
Exam #1 |
100 |
|
627-647 |
89.5 - 92.4 |
A- |
|
Exam #2 |
100 |
|
605-626 |
86.5 - 89.4 |
B+ |
|
Memo
Assignment |
100 |
|
578-604 |
82.5 - 86.5 |
B |
|
Final
Exam |
200 |
|
557-577 |
79.5 - 82.4 |
B- |
|
Class
Participation |
100 |
|
536-556 |
76.5 - 79.5 |
C+ |
|
|
700 |
|
508-535 |
72.5 - 76.4 |
C |
|
|
|
|
487-507 |
69.5 - 72.4 |
C- |
|
|
|
|
466-486 |
66.5 - 69.4 |
D+ |
|
|
|
|
424-465 |
60.6 - 66.4 |
D |
|
|
|
|
0-423 |
0 - 60.5 |
F |
Make-ups and Extensions: Make-ups and extensions will only be granted in the
event of an officially documented personal emergency (sickness, family
tragedies, etc.). Special events such
as interviews or athletic competitions will also be considered reasonable
grounds to make-up an exam, but not for an extension on the memo assignment or
another opportunity to submit a reading response. Such events must also be
documented. Reading responses may not be made-up. All exam make-ups will be held on Thursday, December 6 (a
reading day) at 9:00 a.m. in Stone Center 103. A hardcopy of your memo
assignment must be submitted at the beginning of class on Wednesday, November
28. Be sure to save your memo as
an MS Word document and keep it until the end of the semester. Ten points will be deducted from your
memos for each 24-hour period that they are late, beginning five minutes after
the start of class. If you know
that you will be unable an exam, please inform your teaching assistant and me
through email as far in advance as possible. The final exam will be held on Monday, December 10 at 12:00
p.m. in Stone Center 103. Please
do not plan to travel before then, as it is very difficult to schedule a
make-up final.
Some Basic Guidelines
Attendance and Tardiness:: Attendance
at lectures is not mandatory, although it will be hard to pass this class if
you do not attend them regularly.
Attendance at recitation section, however, is mandatory. Unexcused absences from recitation will
result in a 10-point deduction from your participation grade (about 1.4% of
your final grade). Please make
every effort to arrive on time for both lectures and recitations. If you are late (not more than 10
minutes) for lecture, please enter through the back door of the classroom and
take a seat closest to the door in the back row. Please do not walk in front of me if you arrive late or have
to leave the room. In general, you
should not come to class late or leave early because of other appointments or
obligations. You should consider this class an appointment that you have
scheduled three times per week for the rest of the semester. Either make that appointment or break
it, but donÕt come to it late or leave early because youÕve scheduled another
one for the same time.
Cell
Phones and Laptops: Please turn your cell phones off - not to vibrate, but off – before class begins. Now, the chances are pretty good that
cell phones will ring a few times in the course of the semester. If yours does, turn it off
quickly. No need to
apologize. However, if you are a
repeat offender, you may be asked to leave. You may, of course, use your laptop
to take notes. Do not, however,
use your laptop to email, surf the web, watch movies, instant message, or check
each other out on Facebook. If your teaching assistant or I catch you doing any
of these things, you will be asked to leave. There are few things I find more distracting or disrespectful
than a student gazing into a laptop screen or cell phone and doing things that
have nothing to do with the course.
If you want to do these things, please do them someplace where I wonÕt
disturb you with my lecture.
Classroom
Conduct: Please do not eat, sleep, read, do work for other classes,
or chat with your neighbor during class.
If you cannot control the urge to talk with your neighbor in class, I
suggest that you move to another seat.
Seriously – it can be hard not to talk to friends during a lecture. You may, of course, drink coffee or
other beverages during class, especially if they help you stay awake. Please do not start packing up your
things until I end the class, as it is very distracting both to me and other
students who are still listening.
Honor
Code: The UNC
Honor Code applies to all of your work and conduct in this course. Cheating, plagiarism,
or insensitive behavior (i.e. not respecting your classmates or instructors) of
any kind will not be tolerated. If you do not know what constitutes
cheating, plagiarism, or insensitivity, please reread the honor code or ask me,
as claiming ignorance is not a valid excuse. Internet plagiarism is a growing problem on college campuses
nationwide, and one your teaching assistants and I will do everything we can to
combat. If we have any reason to
believe that you may have plagiarized, we will carefully examine your work
using all of the tools available to us.
Our advice to you: donÕt even try it – itÕs really not worth
it. In fact, most of the
plagiarism IÕve seen has not been very good anyway!
Problems,
Concerns, and Difficulties: We
would like to talk to you about any concerns you may have about a grade, your
performance in the course, problems with the material, and especially how to
improve. We would ask, however, that you wait at least 24 hours before talking to us about any paper or exam that has
just been handed back. Any issue
that involves your teaching assistant (a grade, discussion section, etc.)
should be discussed first with him.
Remember, email can sometimes lead to unnecessary misunderstandings and
confusion. ItÕs sometimes best to
discuss things in person. When you
do write us emails, begin them with a ÒDearÓ or ÒHiÓ and end with a ÒSincerelyÓ
or ÒThanks,Ó followed by your name.
WeÕll extend the same courtesy to you.
Schedule of Classes, Readings, and Assignments
(This schedule, the readings, and
assignments are subject to change at the discretion of the instructor.)
I. Ideological Conflict on a Global Scale: The Cold War, 1945-1989
|
Week
1 |
Introduction
and the Cold War |
|
8/22 |
Introduction: Some Defining Forces of World History
since 1945 |
|
8/24 |
The
Cold War: Definitions, Origins,
and Early History, 1917-1962 No
Recitation this Week – Come to Lecture in Stone Center 103 at 12:00
p.m. |
|
Week
2 |
Cold
War Societies and Cultures |
|
8/27 |
The
Cold War at Home and Abroad, 1945-1975 |
|
8/29 |
Communism
in the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe, 1917-1956 |
|
8/31 |
Recitation: Containment, Red Scare, and American
Cold War Identity Read:
1) George
F. Kennan, ÒThe Long Telegram,Ó 2/22/1946 (located
in course reader)
2) Paul
Nitze, NSC-68
3) Nikolai Novikov, Telegram to Moscow, September 1946. Watch
(Online
- Click Here): ÒRed
NightmareÓ Hunt:
60-68, 306-311 |
|
Week
3 |
De-Stalinization: Possibilities and Limits |
|
9/3 |
Labor
Day – No Class |
|
9/5 |
The
ÒThawÓ Generation: Life after Stalin in the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe, 1956-1980 |
|
9/7 |
Recitation: Coming of Age in Post-Stalinist Russia Read:
Donald Raleigh, ed., RussiaÕs Sputnik Generation, Introduction, Ch. 1, 5, 6, 7 |
|
Week
4 |
The
Chinese Revolution |
|
9/10 |
The
Communist Revolution in China:
Origins and Triumphs, 1839-1956 Hunt:
111-122, 240-7 |
|
9/12 |
MaoÕs
ÒGreat Leap ForwardÓ and the ÒCultural Revolution,Ó 1956-1976 |
|
9/14 |
Recitation: Coming of Age in MaoÕs China Read: Liang Heng, Son of the Revolution |
|
Week
5 |
The
End of the Cold War |
|
9/17 |
DŽtente,
the Second Cold War, and Gorbachev Read: Excerpts from Mikhail GorbachevÕs UN General
Assembly Speech, 12/7/1988. Hunt: 303-334 |
|
9/19 |
The
Revolutions of 1989-1991 and the Fall of Communism in Europe In-Class
Video: ÒPeople PowerÓ |
|
9/21 |
|
Part II.
Decolonization and Conflict in the Third World
|
Week
6 |
The
Vietnam War, 1945-1975 |
|
9/24 |
VietnamÕs
Struggle for Independence, 1925-1964 Hunt:
122-129 |
|
9/26 |
Vietnam,
the United States, and the Limits of Containment, 1964-1975 Hunt: 170-182, 247-251 Extra
Credit Film: Peter Davis, ÒHearts and MindsÓ at 7:00 p.m. in Carroll 111. |
|
9/28 |
Recitation: The Vietnam War Read: 1) Ho Chi Minh, ÒVietnamese Declaration of
Independence,Ó 9/2/1945
2) Manifesto of the Laodong Party, February, 1951
3) Viet Cong Program, 1962 4) Lyndon B. Johnson, ÒPeace without
Conquest,Ó 4/7/1965
5) Letters between Johnson and Ho Chi Minh, February, 1967
6) MLK, ÒDeclaration of Independence from Vietnam,Ó 4/4/1967 |
|
Week
7 |
Decolonization
and Division in South Asia |
|
10/1 |
Indian
Independence, 1885-1948 Read: Mohandas Ghandi on Passive Resistance Hunt:
129-138 |
|
10/3 |
Optional Reading:
Hendrik Hertzberg, ÒIdentity Crisis,Ó The New Yorker, 6/17/2002. |
|
10/5 |
Recitation: GhandiÕs Dream Denied – The
Violence of Partition Read: Khushwant Singh, Train to Pakistan |
|
Week
8 |
Hope
and Despair in Africa |
|
10/8 |
|
|
10/10 |
Kleptocracy,
Failed State and Civil War in the Congo, 1962-2006 Read: Blaine Hardin, ÒA Black Mud From
Africa Helps Power the New Economy,Ó NYT Magazine, 8/21/2001. Listen:
NPR ÒThe WorldÓ Report on
Patrice LumumbaÕs Legacy (7/13/06) Hunt:
266-268 |
|
10/12 |
University
Day – No Recitation this Week |
|
Week
9 |
Latin
America, The United States, and the Cuban Revolution |
|
10/15 |
Latin
America and the United States, 1890-1989 Hunt:
259-266 |
|
10/17 |
The
Cuban Revolution, 1954-2006 Listen:
NPR
Report on the The 50th Anniversary of Cuban Uprising
(7/27/2003). Read: Jon Lee Anderson, ÒCastroÕs Last Battle,Ó The
New Yorker, 7/31/2006. Submit
memo assignment issue and preliminary bibliography on Blackboard. |
|
10/19 |
Fall
Break – No Recitation |
|
Week
10 |
Nationalism,
Religion, and Conflict in the Middle East |
|
10/22 |
The
Origins of Israel and the Arab/Palestinian-Israeli Conflict, 1895-1967 |
|
10/24 |
The
Arab/Palestinian-Israeli Conflict since 1967 Listen: NPR ÒThe World ReportÓ on
the Six Day War, Part I (6/4/2007) and Part II (6/4/2007) Hunt:
403-412 Extra
Credit Film: ÒDeath in GazaÓ at
7:00 p.m. in Stone Center 103 |
|
10/26 |
Recitation: The Search for Understanding in an
Intractable Conflict Read: Sandy Tolan, The Lemon Tree: An Arab, a Jew, and the Heart of the
Middle East |
III.
The Post-Cold War World
|
Week
11 |
New
World Orders and Disorders |
|
10/29 |
The "End of History" and
ÒUnipolarÓ Moment? America in
the World since 1990 |
|
10/31 |
Ethno-Nationalism,
Ethnic Cleansing, and Genocide in the Balkans, 1989-1999 Hunt:
375-379 |
|
11/2 |
Exam #2 |
|
Week
12 |
African
Tragedies, International Failures:
Rwanda and Darfur |
|
11/5 |
Hutus,
Tutsis and the Genocide in Rwanda, 1994 |
|
11/7 |
|
|
11/9 |
Recitation: Rape as a Weapon of War: Women, War, and Genocide in Africa |
|
Week
13 |
Globalization: Possibilities and Problems |
|
11/12 |
Globalization: Definitions, Driving Forces, Debates Hunt:
10-15, 297-302 |
|
11/14 |
|
|
11/16 |
Recitation: Understanding the Global Economy Read:
Pietra Rivoli, The Travels of a T-Shirt in the Global Economy |
|
Week
14 |
Developments
in the Middle East |
|
11/19 |
The
Failure of Secular Nationalism and the Islamic Alternative |
|
11/21 |
Holiday |
|
11/23 |
Holiday |
|
Week
15 |
Fundamentalist
Alternatives in Action |
|
11/26 |
The
Iranian Revolution, Khomeinism, and the Rise of Iran Hunt:
388-395 |
|
11/28 |
Jihadist
Ideology, Osama bin Laden, and the Origins of Al Qaeda Hunt: 464-467 Memo
Assignment Due |
|
11/30 |
Recitation: Osama bin LadenÕs Worldview Read: Peter Bergen, The Osama bin Laden
I Know, pp. xxvii-xxxvi,
1-310. |
|
Week
16 |
Modern
Iraq, US Foreign Policy, and the Future of Islam |
|
12/3 |
Iraq
in the Twentieth Century, 1916-1990 (Click here for Lecture) |
|
12/5 |
The
Origins and Consequences of the Iraq War Read: 1) Max Boot, ÒThe Case for American
Empire,Ó The Weekly Standard,
10/15/2001. 2) Optional:
Vali
Nasr, ÒThe Shia RevivalÓ. Lecture at the Carnegie Council,
10/18/2006. Not in course
reader. |
Final Exam:
Monday, December 10, 12:00
p.m. in Bingham Hall
Click Here for Final Exam Review Sheet