Overview

Description

CALENDAR DESCRIPTION:

Investigates the construction of nation states in the Balkans and the Mediterranean with a focus on the ideas of the Nation and the Nation State. Examines specific cases such as Greece, Yugoslavia, Bulgaria, and the development of Israel. Students with credit for HIST 359 or HS 359 may not take this course for further credit.

COURSE DETAILS:

This course examines the establishment of the Balkan and Mediterranean nation states from the early 19^th to the 21^st century, the challenges they faced, their failures and successes. We will begin with an examination of the idea and theories surrounding Nationalism, the driving force behind the establishment or development of these states. We will then proceed with the establishment of the Balkan and Mediterranean states using specific examples such as Greece, Italy, and so on. We will examine the processes that led to the creation of the various Balkan and Mediterranean states, the policies and ideologies adopted once these states were formed, what sort of structures evolved over the course of the 19^th century, the challenges they faced, and their responses to such challenges. We will then examine the way these states navigated the momentous and violent events of the first half of the 20^th century (World Wars I and II, the Great Depression, the emergence of Communism, the Holocaust). We will then examine the emergence of new Mediterranean states following the decolonization of the region in the Middle East including Israel, Algeria, Egypt, and Cyprus. We will continue with the examination of the Cold War and how the various Mediterranean and Balkan states responded to the it, concluding the discussion with the Wars of Yugoslavia in the 1990s the efforts of Balkan and Mediterranean states to reframe their relationship with Europe, and the continuing or new conflicts in the region.

COURSE-LEVEL EDUCATIONAL GOALS:

1. Introduction, Nation States and Empires
2. What is the Nation?
3. "National Awakenings” and "National Revolutions" in the early 19th century
4. Building Nation States
5. From the Megali Idea to Zionism: the lure of nationalism
6. Italy and the Unification of the Nation
7. Irredentist Nationalism: Greece, Serbia, and Bulgaria in Macedonia
8. The Nationalist Tide: From the Balkan Wars to the End of World War I
9. Nationalism between the World Wars
10. World War II and the “Cleansing” of Nations
11. Nationalism, Colonialism, and Decolonization
12. From the Cold War to the end of Yugoslavia
13. Modern Nationalisms

Grading

Materials

REQUIRED READING NOTES: