Political History of the Modern and Contemporary Period

Code:

HISTO050

Acronym:

HPEC

Instance: 2010/2011 - 1S

Active?	Yes
Responsible unit:	Department of History, Political and International Studies
Course/CS Responsible:	Bachelor in History

Cycles of Study/Courses

Acronym	No. of Students	Study Plan	Curricular Years	Credits UCN	Credits ECTS	Contact hours	Total Time
HISTO	56	Study Plan - Hist. w/ Minor in Geography	3	-	6	52	162
		Study Plan - History	3	-	6	52	162
LA	5	Study Plan - Applied Languages: Business Relations	2	-	6	52	162
			3
LRI	14	Study Plan	2	-	6	52	162
			3
		Study Plan - Minor in History	3	-	6	52	162

Teaching language

Portuguese

Objectives

By the end of the semester, students should be able to:
1. Recognise the process of mass politics in contemporary societies and its main consequences in the management of political systems;
2. Identify and characterise the major political movements in the contemporary times: liberalism, conservatism, socialism, anarchism, nationalism, fascism, political Christianity;
3. Understand the transition from oligarchic liberal systems to mass mobilisation political systems;
4. Explain the emergence of the nation as a structuring concept of contemporary political systems;
5. Identify the main trends of the working class movement and its political-organisational diffusion;
6. Contextualise the emergence of fascism in the crisis of liberalism.

Program

1. INTRODUCTION: introductory reflection on the role of the course subject within the degree, students’ expectations and the historical meaning of contemporaneity.
2. THE LIBERAL REGIME, FROM REVOLUTION TO CRISIS:
2.1 French-based revolutionary liberalism;
2.2 From oligarchic liberalism to formal democracy.
3. THE NEW POLITICAL SYSTEMS OF THE MASS PERIOD:
3.1 Nationalisms and “national construction” (19th century and the 1st half of the 20th century).
3.2 Socialisms and the working class movement (from the utopias of the 19th century to the end of the 20th century).
3.3 Fascisms and the new right-wing dictatorships in the 20th century.
3.4 Social democracies post-1945.
4. END OF THE CENTURY NEO-LIBERALISM: from the apparent triumph to crisis – open issues.

Teaching methods and learning activities

The theory-practical classes consist of a set of coursework activities that include the presentation of information eventually included in photocopied texts previously made available to students, usually through multimedia presentations; analysis of written documents or films, possibly of information collected in field trips, that can also be analysed/viewed/done in the tutorials; and open discussion of the issues under study.
In tutorials, students must choose between preparing:
1. For the 1st type of assessment (see “Special exams and assessments”), a book review (or reading report) of a book, article, chapter of a collective work or a documentary or fiction film relevant to the theme, proposed by students and approved by the lecturer;
2. Bibliographic and/or documentary research to solve a theoretical problem proposed by the student, including a project to be submitted for the lecturer’s approval.
Depending on class size, students may be split into homogeneous groups, consisting of those that in the first two weeks of classes opted for either of the assessment types.

Software

Data Show

keywords

Humanities > History > Social history
Social sciences > Political sciences > Policy studies
Humanities > History > Contemporary History
Humanities > History > Political history

Evaluation Type

Distributed evaluation with final exam

Assessment Components

Description	Type	Time (hours)	Weight (%)	End date
Attendance (estimated)	Participação presencial	52,00
	Trabalho escrito	7,00		2010-12-18
	Exame	2,00		2011-02-12
	Trabalho escrito	25,00		2011-02-12
	Total:	-	0,00

Amount of time allocated to each course unit

Description	Type	Time (hours)	End date
	Estudo autónomo	76	2011-02-12
	Total:	76,00

Eligibility for exams

A minimum score of 10 out of 20, in accordance with the provisions established in the Subject Factsheets and in Assessment Regulations.
The assessment period for each student (Normal, Resit or Special) will be the one in which the assessment was last sat (final exam + presentation of a book review or an assessment report; oral discussion/public discussion on the assignment and/or documentary research (depending on the case) which the student must carry out in accordance with the Subject Factsheet.
See “Special exams and assessments”.

Calculation formula of final grade

In the 1st type of final assessment:
50% = book review or reading report including the preparatory activities in tutorials)
50% = Final exam

In the 2nd type of final assessment, two alternatives are available:
1. If the lecturer or master student requests the discussion of the research assignment:
25% = completion of planned tasks for the tutorials;
40% = written assignment on the document and/or bibliographic research;
35% = oral discussion of the written assignment on the document and/or bibliographic research.
2. If no work discussion is required:
25% = completion of planned tasks for the tutorials;
75% = written assignment on the document and/or bibliographic research.

See “Special exams and assessments”.

Examinations or Special Assignments

During the first two weeks of classes – i.e., on 27 September 2010 -, students must choose (and put it in writing, sent by e-mail, or hand-delivered to the lecturer) one of the two final assessment types:
1st - A final exam (open book exam) + a book review or a reading report (preparatory activities in tutorials); the lecturer or the student may request the oral discussion of the latter.
2nd - A written assignment on the document and/or bibliographic research (for all purposes, it counts as a final exam). The lecturer or student may request that it be discussed orally in a session fixed by the student according to the lecturer’s timetable.
In both assessment types, the lecturer or the student may request the discussion of any of the examinations. In these cases, this will take place during the assessment period in which the book review or the essay are handed in, and must be requested by either the lecturer or the student before the academic services receive information on the final assessment. Therefore, this is not an automatic process. If the student requests the discussion after the grades are released, the discussion will only take place in the next assessment period.

All students enrolled, regardless of their status (including those exempted from a minimum attendance of 75% of coursework activities), are bound to the same assessment types.
See the documents linked to the module description regarding the description, timing and assessment of each assessment component!

Special assessment (TE, DA, ...)

No “special assessment” will be allowed. Working students and other students exempted from a minimum attendance of 75% of classes (TP classes and tutorials) are bound to the same assessment types as students who must comply with this requirement.
Arrangements will be made regarding assessment types suited to students with special education needs.

Classification improvement

Improvement of grades will focus on the assessment components that the student chooses for that purpose - i.e., all components or only some components taken in the assessment type chosen (final exam + a book review, or, in the case of bibliographic research assignment, the written assignment or its oral discussion, depending on the cases).

Observations

1. All written assessment tests may be of open book type (bibliography and study materials), which means that they will focus mostly on solving practical problems.
2. Book reviews and bibliographic research assignments may be done in groups of two students (and never more than two), even though the assessment will always be personalised.
3. Theory-practical classes will be taught in Portuguese. Tutorials and assessments may be instructed in English, French, Spanish or Italian, depending on the needs of foreign students.