“By creating we think, by living we learn” Patrick Geddes
Europe is changing. “So what?” you might ask. “All this is very interesting, but why should I spend time at University studying the process and the arguments?” The answer is very simple; traditional subjects will no longer equip people to cope with a society which is not restricted by any of the old frontiers.
Employers everywhere are looking for people with initiative and an understanding of this new, wider European society and the skills to live and work in it. That's what our courses are about. We give you a thorough understanding of European culture, geography, history and economics, with a strong emphasis on recent events and their underlying causes. We take you to mainland Europe on an exchange visit through our Erasmus programme or to work.
Our aim right from the start was to look at the whole of Europe and to approach the subject in a genuinely interdisciplinary way, with teaching provided by staff expert in European topics but coming from a wide range of subjects. Our programme is still unique in Scotland, and among very few in the UK, in offering you the chance to study so many facets of Europe. We draw on staff who can offer you perspectives from History, Philosophy, Politics, Law, Geography, Languages, Economics, Education and Town & Regional Planning.
We have one of the few European Documentation Centres (EDC) in Scotland. The EDC is a deposit library for all the European Community papers. We make sure you will have the necessary skills to make use of the vast amount of material available in the EDC and more, because as an EDC we are on-line to the Commission's own databases in Brussels.
If you have questions or wish to speak with us, our contact details are on the Contemporary European Studies website.
European trips to Amsterdam, Cologne and annual visits to the European Parliament in Strasbourg have been some of the highlights of the European Society. The society exists for all students with an interest in Europe and provides a forum not only for debate and discussion on matters concerning Europe, but provides opportunities to visit Europe and organise social events. The Society invites MPs, MSPs and MEPs to visit the University to speak on European issues. We have affiliated to the Society a group of Law students having an interest in Europe, most of whom have been on an Erasmus exchange. Other activities include a Burns Night and Europe Day events.
| Core: Changing World Order Since 1945 - AG12024 | Semester 2 | Credits 20 |
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| This module seeks to provide an understanding of the ways in which geographers, historians and political scientists work, and to offer a multidisciplinary study of world order since 1945. It will examine some of the major debates concerning the world order since 1945 with particular reference to the origins and impact of the Cold War and the dynamics of the post-Cold War international system. | ||
| Core: Contemporary Challenges for Europe - EU21002 | Semester 1 | Credits 20 |
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| The module is divided into four sections with each focusing on a particular issue of importance to the development of Europe: an Introduction to Europe; Economic integration; Social and regional integration; Migration and national identity. | ||
Study Abroad students may take level 3 modules, however, evidence of prior knowledge may be required in the form of transcripts. To find out more about this contact us.
| Core: Key Themes in Contemporary Europe - EU30001 | Semesters 1 & 2 | Credits 30 |
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| This course forms the core of European Studies for all Level 3 students. Taught in an inter-disciplinary fashion, it focuses on the Contemporary Politics and Economics of European Development and on Difference and Diversity in Europe's Cultures and Societies. | ||
| A Vision of Europe - EU30004 | Year Long | Credits 30 |
| This module aims to provide a deeper understanding of the unity and diversity of modern European culture and society. We examine and compare the vision of society, as presented by each of a number of French-, German- and Spanish-language films of the 20th and early 21st Century, relating our study to the exploration of wider socio-political issues and major cultural trends in Europe during this period. | ||
| Contemporary Politics in Ireland - PO31008 | Semester 1 | Credits 30 |
| This module introduces students to politics in Ireland, focusing on questions of power and policy-making. A critical analysis of the political culture is attempted through an examination of questions and debates surrounding modernization, secularization, economic change and gender change. | ||
| Crime and Punishment in Europe 1750-1914 - HY31007 | Semester 1 | Credits 30 |
| This new module looks at crime, punishment and criminal justice in its social and political context. Examples are drawn primarily from England, Germany, France and Italy, with a strong emphasis on comparison of shared problems and experiences, national and regional peculiarities, and on change over time. | ||
| Economics of the European Union - EC30007 | Semesters 1 & 2 | Credits 30 |
| This course covers the major economic developments taking place within the European Union (EU) using a mixture of economic theory and empirical evidence. | ||
| Environmental Ethics - PI32002 | Semester 2 | Credits 30 |
| This course is concerned with how best to understand philosophically the moral relationship that exists between human beings and (the rest of) nature, given increasing worries about our treatment of the natural environment. | ||
| European Law and Institutions | ||
| The first part of the course will examine the evolution, constitutional structure and Institutions of the European Union and the Communities. The second part will examine issues relating to harmonisation and the limits of the internal market. | ||
| European Union Politics - PO32007 | Semester 2 | Credits 30 |
| This course explores the nature and development of the EU. It begins with an overview of the key historical junctures in the integration process and the basic institutional structure of the EU. It also examines the key theoretical issues and alternative explanations of integration in Europe. | ||
| In Search of Moral Reality - an Introduction to Ethical Theory - PI41011 | Semester 1 | Credits 30 |
| This course is a critical examination of some of the more interesting answers to these three questions: “Isn't ethics all relative and subjective?”; “How can we argue about ethics?”; “Why should I be moral anyway?”. It is an introduction to ethical theory. | ||
| Migration and Ethnicity - GE32001 | Semester 2 | Credits 30 |
| This course introduces students to the research frontiers of international migration studies. It illustrates the links between theory and method in human geography using labour migration as an empirical lens to illustrate the relationship. | ||
| Population Geography - GE31003 | Semester 1 | Credits 30 |
| This course deals with the contrasting philosophical approaches to population geography; spatial analysis of mortality trends over time; demographic perspectives on fertility; structuralist insights to interpreting population surplus; demographic, humanistic and structurationist perspectives. | ||
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Practical French 3 - PF30001 Practical German 3 - PG30001 Practical Spanish 3 - PS30001 Language and Culture in Context |
Semesters 1 & 2 | Credits 15 |
Topic areas include the arts (literature, film, and painting), contemporary social, cultural and ethical issues (e.g. migration, xenophobia, terrorism, non-traditional families, status of women, identity) and current affairs and events. |
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| Question of Vision - PI31004 | Semester 1 | Credits 30 |
| This course will address topics through a critical engagement with the aesthetics of Heidegger and Hans-Georg Gadamer. | ||
| Problems in Spanish History | ||
| The main aim of this module is to study the development of Spain between 1476 and 1840 by focusing on some key (debated) issues or problems and to enable students to understand the interaction between political and other developments within one state and society. | ||
| Russia and the Ex-USSR - PO32004 | Semester 2 | Credits 30 |
| The first part of the course will examine Soviet politics under Gorbachev, 1985-December 1991. The major topics covered are: perestroika, democratisation and nationalism. The second part of the course moves on to study Russian politics and society January 1992-present. | ||
| Russian History 862-1689 - HY31003 | Semester 1 | Credits 30 |
| This course is a general survey of Russian history from early times to 1689. Its principal aim is to introduce students to the major themes and issues in Russian history. | ||
| Society and Politics in France and Germany, 1814-1914 - HY31015 | Semester 1 | Credits 30 |
| This course will be organised around central themes which will be studied through cross-country comparison and include: France and Germany between War and Revolution, 1814-1848; Politics from below and the domestication of the dangerous classes, 1848-1890; Politics from above: Bonapartist Dictatorship, 1851-1890 and Towards mass-society, 1890-1914. | ||
| Spinoza's Ethics and the Denial of Free Will - PI32003 | Semester 2 | Credits 30 |
| This course will acquaint students with a philosophical text, Spinoza's Ethics, that is of importance historically and that has influenced contemporary debate on the problem of free will and on the metaphysical, moral and political consequences of denying free will. | ||
| The Aesthetics of the Sublime | ||
| This course will explore the role of the sublime in philosophical aesthetics and in the philosophical imagination in modernity, drawing on texts from the eighteenth to the twentieth centuries. | ||
| The Bodily Self: Nietzsche and Foucault - PI41005 | Semester 2 | Credits 30 |
| This course will examine the revaluation of the relationship between the human subject and the body offered in key texts by Friedrich Nietzsche and Michel Foucault. | ||
| Theorising Politics - PO32005 | Semester 1 | Credits 30 |
| This course builds on the skills nurtured by the Level 1 and 2 courses, and provides a more intellectually challenging agenda that focuses on classic texts and debates within various aspects of political studies. | ||
Study Abroad students may take level 4 modules, however, evidence of prior knowledge may be required in the form of transcripts. To find out more about this contact us.
| Core: Identities in Contemporary Europe - EU41003 | Semester 1 | Credits 30 |
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| The theme of this multidisciplinary module will be perceptions of political and cultural identity in Europe. The cases under consideration will vary from year to year, to reflect staff research interests and topicality. | ||
| Case Studies in Difference and Repetition - PI41009 | Semester 1 | Credits 30 |
| This module will allow students to design their own critical applications of Gilles Deleuze's radical philosophy that emphasizes difference over identity and that claims that all things acquire relative form and change only through repetitions of variations. | ||
| Dissertation | ||
| Writing a dissertation gives students the opportunity to study in depth and undertake original work on a theme chosen in consultation with their supervisor. | ||
| Clinical Creativity - Deleuze's New Philosophy of Literary Critique - PI41001 | Semester 1 | Credits 30 |
| This course will study Gilles Deleuze's 1993 book Essays Critical and Clinical in order to arrive at a critical understanding of this new departure in the philosophy of literature. | ||
| Conformism and Revolt in European Culture - EU42001 | Semester 2 | Credits 30 |
| This course aims to provide a comparative survey of intellectual attitudes and of the role and status of creative writing in post-war Europe. We analyse and compare works from several different literatures, exploring the relationships between the texts studied and the cultural, social and political currents and tensions prevailing in contemporary Europe. | ||
| Counter-Revolution in Ireland - HY42023 | Semester 2 | Credits 30 |
| This course will introduce an in-depth study of counter-revolution in post-1920 Ireland and examine the tension between revolution aspirations and post-revolutionary settlements. | ||
| Free Will Today | ||
| This course looks in detail at recent work on the perennial problem of free will. Much of the best of this work is collected in a single easily accessible and relatively cheap volume: Gary Watson, ed., Free Will (Oxford 2003: second edition). | ||
| Popular protest and political violence in Europe 1918-2001 - HY42007 | Semester 2 | Credits 30 |
| Political violence in 20th century European History is generally studied as generated from a specific historical context. However, the idea of 'Violent Social Revolution' or Fascism as a political philosophy of violence existed as a political undercurrent for decades and repeatedly emerged on the political scene. In this module, we will focus on the continuities and transformations of these themes. | ||
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Practical French 4 - PF40001 Practical German 4 - PG40001 Practical Spanish 4 - PS40001 Language and Culture in Context |
Semesters 1& 2 | Credits 15 |
Topic areas include the arts (literature, film, and painting), contemporary social, cultural and ethical issues (e.g. migration, xenophobia, terrorism, non-traditional families, status of women, identity) and current affairs and events. |
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| Russian Revolution and the Civil War, 1917-1921 | ||
| This two module special subject provides a detailed study of the Russian Revolution of 1917, and the subsequent civil war. | ||
| Understanding Dialogue and Interpretation - PI42003 | Semester 2 | |
| The objectives of the course will be to provide a comprehensive introduction to hermeneutic thought from Schleiermacher to the present, to identify the primary methodological issues in hermeneutics and to explore their intellectual setting. | ||
| Science, Religion and Philosophy - PI41002 | Semester 1 | Credits 30 |
| This course studies the impact that the development of science has had on both religion and philosophy in the thirteenth to the nineteenth centuries. | ||
| Scottish Politics - PO42003 | Semester 2 | Credits 30 |
| The Scottish Politics course provides a context within which contemporary political developments can be understood. This will involve a brief historical overview of how Scotland has been governed in the past. | ||
| Struggles for the Spanish and Swedish Empires 1660-1720 | ||
| This course focuses on the struggles for, on the one hand, Spain's European and world empire and, on the other hand, the Swedish empire in Germany and the Baltic. | ||
| Towns and Townscapes - Dundee within Europe, 1700-1900 - HY41020 | Semester 1 | Credits 30 |
| This course introduces students to European urban evolution between 1700 and 1900, and to that of Dundee and its parallels in particular, using an explicitly comparative approach. | ||
| Two Renaissance Novels: Arcadia (1593) and Don Quixote (1605, 1615) - EN41018 | Semester 1 | Credits 30 |
| This course introduces students to two seminal works in the history of the novel, Sidney's complete Arcadia and Cervantes' Don Quixote. | ||
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