Lecture 1 Overview GV102 European Politics

1
Lecture 1 Overview GV102 European Politics
Today I. Course organisation II. Introduction
to European Politics
2
Course organisation

• Course supervisor
• Kai Arzheimer
• Office hours Wednesday 10.30-11.30 (room 5.006)
• Class teachers
• Nick Allen
• Ben Stanley

3
Student workload

• Attending the lectures
• Course reading
• Preparing for classes and actively participate
• 1. TWO essays of about 2,500 words each
  (deadlines week 7, 23)
• 2. TWO end-of-term class tests of about 45
  minutes duration (week 11, 25)
• 3. One three-hour end-of-year examination

4
Rules

• Late submission of essay zero tolerance
• No extensions
• extenuating circumstances (circumstances beyond
  the student's control, of a medical, practical or
  personal nature, see http//www2.essex.ac.uk/acad
  emic/students/ug/crswk_pol.htm)

5
Zero Tolerance

• All coursework submitted after the deadline will
  receive a mark of zero. 
• The mark of zero shall stand unless the student
  submits satisfactory evidence of extenuating
  circumstances that indicate that the student was
  unable to submit the work prior to the deadline
• There is only one deadline 8.45 a.m. on the day
  of the lecture during submission week (electronic
  submission) a hard copy has to be handed in to
  the class teacher in the same week.
• No extensions will be granted  A student
  submitting coursework late will have the
  departments and the Universitys arrangements
  for Extenuating Lateness drawn to their
  attention.
• http//www2.essex.ac.uk/academic/services/students
  /ztm.htm

6
Rules

• Late submisson of essay zero tolerance
• No extensions
• extenuating circumstances (circumstances beyond
  the student's control, of a medical, practical or
  personal nature, see http//www2.essex.ac.uk/acad
  emic/students/ug/crswk_pol.htm)
• Plagiarism (http//www.essex.ac.uk/plagiarism/)
• Study Skills Officer Dr Theresa Crowley
  crowtx_at_essex.ac.uk

7
Study Skills Support

• The Department provides study skills support
  that is available for all students who feel they
  may benefit from advice and instruction to assist
  them in developing and improving the study skills
  required to study politics.
• First-year students in particular are strongly
  recommended to use the support, which is
  available in two forms individual study skills
  appointments (usually 30 minutes) and group
  sessions.
• Please see note outside 5.306 for details

8
Course reading

• Merriman, J. 2004. A History of Modern Europe,
  Vol. 2 From the French Revolution to the
  Present. Norton Co. 2nd ed.
• Briggs, A., and Clavin, P. 2003.
• Modern Europe 1789-present. Longman.
• Crampton, R. 1994. Eastern Europe in the
  Twentieth Century. Routledge.

9
Course material

• PowerPoint slides will be placed onto the Course
  Material Repository (CMR)
• http//courses.essex.ac.uk/gv/gv102/
• After the lecture
• To print out slides open document
• FILE PRINT PRINT WHAT HANDOUTS SLIDES PER
  PAGE 3
• OK

10
Course objectives
International (American?) Crisis Nation-State
to the rescue
Alistair Darling unveils 500billion rescue
package
Ireland guarantees all bank deposits
Spain to boost deposit guarantee, create fund
Germany Guarantees Private Deposits in Bid to
Calm Bank Panic
Europe Fails to Find Coordinated Response to
Financial Crisis
11
Course objectives

• knowledge on the political development of states
  in Europe.
• an understanding of the influence of historical
  experience
• institutions and political practices
• concepts that have shaped the development of
  European liberal-democratic nation states
• applying the basic language of political analysis

12
Course contents I

• Introduction and Overview
• The Impact of the French Revolution
• Ideologies of Modern European Politics
• 19th century State Building in Western Europe
• Economic and Social Upheaval
• International Legitimation of the Democratic
  Nation State and its Struggle in the Interwar
  Period
• Fascism, Holocaust and the Second World War
• Post-1945 Settlements and the Transformation of
  Liberal-Democratic States into Welfare States
• European integration From Common Market to
  European Union
• Class Test

13
Course contents II

• Empires and Nations in the Long Nineteenth
  Century
• The Russian Revolutions and the Development of
  the Soviet State
• The Emergence of New States and the Failure of
  Democracy in Inter-War Eastern Europe
• The Nature of the 'Communist State
• The Contradictions of the Communist System
• The End of Communism
• The Yugoslav Tragedy
• New Democracies in Central and Eastern Europe
• Troubled Transitions
• Class Test
• New International Relations
• Trajectory of Modern Democratic European States

14
Introduction to European Politics

• Structure
• Europe a continent?
• Geography and climate
• History
• Cultural diversity languages and religion
• Shifting political boundaries
• War, rebellion, revolution
• Europes unity
• Early notions of democracy and the state

15
Europe Specifications
A continent? The great plains Boundaries to the
East and South Europe a cultural term?
16
Europe at its furthest extent
17
European History

• 5 mio Peninsula (subcontinent)
• 1 mio First human presence
• 10000 Egypt civilization
• 2500 Minoan civilization
• 700-600 Greek, Roman and Jewish civilization
• 0 Birth of Christianity
• 400 Christianity sole religion in Roman Empire
  
• 732 Battle of Tours, Europe Frankish/Christian
• 1054 (Great) Schism (split orthodoxy)
• Christianization in Europe complete
• 1453 End of the Eastern Roman Empire
• 1492 Columbus the world becomes Europeanized
• 1517 Reformation (split reformist church)
• 17th century beginning of industrialization
• 1789 French Revolution
• 19th century democratization and nationalism
• 20th century totalitarianism and
  supranationalism

18
Europes divisions
Languages in Europe
Languages Indo-European Ugrio- Finnic,
Slavonic Religion Catholicism, Protestantism,
Orthodoxy, Islam Ethnicities a multiplicity of
tribes and peoples (influences from Middle-East,
Asia, Northern Africa) EcononomicNorth/South
(Industrialisation) East/West (capitalism/post
communism) Political EU/non-EU
19
Europes divisions
Languages in Europe
20
Religions in Europe
21
Political boundaries

• pre-1800 overlapping entities
• 1804-1814 Napoleonic Empire nationalism
• 1815 congress of Vienna restoration
• 1871 unification of the German territories
• 1919 demise of the empires
• 1945 division of Europe
• post-1989 European re-unification?

22
Holy Roman Empire overlap!
23
Europe in 1700
24
Europe in 1800
25
Europe in 1900
26
Europe in 2000
27
Europe in 1989
28
Political boundaries

• pre-1800 overlapping entities
• 1815 congress of Vienna restoration
• 1871 unification of the German territories
• 1919 demise of the empires
• 1945 division of Europe
• post-1989 European re-unification?

29
War, rebellion, revolution

• European history a history of wars
• War perceived as continuation of politics by
  other means (Clausewitz)
• Main reason to gain or prevent hegemony, limited
  resources
• Historian David Kaiser No war ever achieved its
  initial goal
• 1945-1990 one of the longest periods of peace in
  Europe

Failed attempts to peacefully organize the
European state system 1648 Westphalian
Treaty 1731 Treaty of Utrecht 1815 Congress of
Vienna 1919 League of Nations, Treaty of
Versailles 1943-45 Teheran, Yalta,
Potsdam 1949 Council of Europe
30
Europes Unity

• The idea of Europe
• Pope Pius II (1405-1464) our house Europe
• Europe as the secular counterpart to
  Christianity (Enlightenment)
• William Penn (1644-1718) universal toleration
  and a European Parliament
• Abbe St. Pierre (1658-1743) a confederation of
  European powers
• Voltaire (1694-1778) a European federation based
  on the rule of law
• J.-J. Rousseau (1712-1778) There are no longer
  Frenchmen, Germans, and Spaniards, or even
  English, but only Europeans.

31
Early notions of democracy and the state

• In European history we find
• the birthplace of democratic thought
• first democratic systems
• The concept of nation-state
• The model for the modern liberal-democratic state
• The lab for political integration

The birth of mass democracy is unquestionably the
most formidable change in the political history
of humanity, when for the first time in an
unprecedented but (I believe) successful
experiment equal and free citizens were
involved and participated in political decision
making. D. Caramani
32
Summary

• Europe cultural boundaries
• Historically, a hotspot of political conflict and
  violence
• From the 16th to the mid-20th century, the
  political, economic and cultural centre of the
  world
• Even today, a lab for political ideas
• Next week The impact of the French Revolution