Modern History & Politics: Course Structure

History & Politics: Course Structure

This joint degree has been established in the conviction that History and Politics can offer complementary approaches to past and present aspects of human activity. The degree not only enables students to set contemporary political problems in their historical perspective, but it also equips them to approach the study of the past with the conceptual rigour derived from political science.

In the first year the course centres on the history, political thought and political institutions of Britain and Europe. In the second and third years it is equally possible to concentrate on British and European themes. However, the presence of numerous options on the politics and history side on American, Asian, Commonwealth and African themes allows students to concentrate, if they wish, on extra-European papers as diverse as Modern Japan, Revolutionary Mexico or India, 1919–1939.

A special feature of the Oxford course is the chance to choose subjects very broadly across the two disciplines, so that it is possible to combine medieval historical options with the analysis of contemporary political systems. The expertise of a number of Oxford’s historians in the history of political thought, the thematic approach taken to the teaching of General History in the first year, and the emphasis placed on the interdisciplinarity in a number of the History papers strengthens the intellectual rigour of this course.

First Year (The Preliminary Examination)

Students will take four papers on which they will be examined at the end of the first year.
1.	Either one of the seven papers in British History, or one of the four papers in General History (primarily European). The British History periods are: I c.300–1087 II 1042–1330 III 1330–1550 IV 1500–1700 V 1685–1830 VI 1815–1924 VII Since 1900 Four General History (primarily European) History options are available: 370–900: The Transformation of the Ancient World 1000–1300 Medieval Christendom and its neighbours 1400–1650: Renaissance, Recovery and Reform 1815–1914: Society, Nation and Empire
2.	Theories of the State (Aristotle, Hobbes, Rousseau, and Marx)
3.	Either 'Quantification in History' or ‘Approaches to History’; or ‘Historiography: Tacitus to Weber’; or an historical text in a foreign language; or an Optional Subject in Modern History.
4.	Introduction to Politics: Analysis of Democratic Institutions.

There is also a requirement to undertake a course of eight lectures entitled ‘An Introduction to the Study of Politics: Methods and Approaches’.

Second and Third Years

Students build on their first-year work, bringing the disciplines together in a variety of fruitful ways. The Final Honours School in History and Politics consist of seven papers from the following eight. These must include paper 8, the compulsory thesis, which must be substituted for one of papers 1 or 2 or a politics option from papers 5, 6 and 7.
1&2.	Either a period of British History, not studied in the first year, and a period of General History (the eighteen General History periods are shorter than those studied in the first year, enabling students to tackle the subject in greater depth, and allow the students to cover Extra-European as well as European themes); or two British History papers; or two General History papers.
3.	Any two of the five Core Subjects in Politics: Comparative Government; British Politics and Government since 1900; Theory of Politics; International Relations; and Political Sociology.
4.	Any one of the following combinations: Either one Special Subject (a paper and an extended essay) in History and one Core or Further Subject in Politics not so far taken; Or one Further Subject in History and two Core or Further Subjects in Politics; Or one Further Subject in History, one Core or Further Subject in Politics and one Special Subject in Politics.
5.	A thesis in History in place of either the British or General History paper, or a thesis in Politics in place of any of the Politics options listed under 4.

Notes:

The Further Subjects in Politics include the following: Modern British Government and Politics; Government and Politics of the United States; Government and Politics in Western Europe; Russian Government and Politics; Politics in Sub-Saharan Africa; Politics in Latin America; Politics in South Asia; Politics in the Middle East; International Relations in the Era of the Two World Wars; International Relations in the Era of the Cold War; Political Thought: Plato to Rousseau; Political Thought: Bentham to Weber; Marxism; Sociological Theory; The Sociology of Industrial Societies; Labour Economics and Industrial Relations; The Government and Politics of Japan; Social Policy; Comparative Demographic Systems; Quantitative Methods in Politics and Sociology; Politics in China; The Politics of the European Union

The following three examples may give you an idea of the variety of possible combinations. One course is predominantly medieval; one international relations; and one sociological.

I	II	III
General History, 370–900	History of the British Isles, 1685–1830	General History, 1400–1650
Einhard and Asser (foreign text)	Approaches to History	Tocqueville (foreign text)
Theories of the State	Theories of the State	Theories of the State
Political Institutions	Political Institutions	Political Institutions

History of the British Isles, 1042–1330	Europe and the Wider World 1815–1914	History of the British Isles, Since 1900
General History IV, 900–1122	A History Thesis	General History, 1941–1973
Theory of Politics	International Relations	A Politics Thesis
Political Sociology	Comparative Government	British Politics and Government in the Twentieth Century
The Carolingian Renaissance	India, 1919–1939 (paper and extended essay)	Political Sociology
Classical Political Thought to 1800	India, 1919–1939 (paper and extended essay)	Sociological Theory
A Politics Thesis	International Relations in the Era of the Cold War	Political Theory and Social Science

Further information can be found on the Oxford University Admissions Website