This course focuses on issues of state formation and nationalism since the 12th century in (Western-) Europe, concentrating on developments in the Low Countries, Germany, France and Britain.
Schedule
Semester I, see timetables.
Onderwijsvorm
Literature Seminar; attendance is compulsory ( see the rules and regulations of the Department of History, art. 2).
Course objectives
Students acquire a thorough knowledge of the history of states and nations in Europe.
Required reading
Week 1: Prof. Dr. W. Blockmans:
Benedict Anderson, Imagined Communities. Reflections on the origin and Spread of Nationalism (Revised edition. New York: Verso, 1991).
Charles Tilly, Coercion, capital, and European States, AD 990-1992 (Oxford: Blackwell; 2e ed. 1992).
Wim Blockmans, ‘Europe’s history of integration and diversity’, European Review, 14 (2006) 241-256.
Week 2: Dr. R. Stein:
J. Israel, The Dutch Republic; its rise, greatness and fall 1477-1806 (Oxford 1995): Chapter 2, ‘On the threshold of the modern era’, p. 9-40; Chapter 4, ‘Territorial consolidation’, p. 55-73.
R. Stein and J. Pollmann eds., The dynamics of identity in the Low Countries, 1300-1600, towards a comparative perspective (Brill: Leiden 2009): ‘Introduction’ (Stein), ‘The dynamics of national identity in the later Middle Ages’ (Hoppenbrouwers), ‘The urban network in the Low Countries’ (Stein) and ‘Patriotism and liberty in the Low Countries’ (Duke).
Week 3: Prof. Dr. J. Pollmann
Simon Schama, The Embarrassment of Riches. An interpretation of Dutch culture in the Golden Age (London 1987), chapter 2, pp. 51-125.
Judith Pollmann. ‘No Man’s Land. Reinventing Netherlandish Identities, 1585-1621’ in: Robert Stein and Judith Pollmann eds., Networks, Regions and Nations. Shaping Identities in the Low Countries, 1300-1650 (Leiden, forthcoming).
J.L. Price, Holland and the Dutch Republic in the seventeenth century (Oxford 1994).
Week 4: Dr. H.J. Storm
Eric J. Hobsbawm, Nations and nationalism since 1780. Programme, myth, reality (Cambridge 1990).
Anthony D. Smith, The Ethnic Origins of Nations (Oxford: Blackwell Publishers, 1998) Introduction, Chapter 1 and Chapter 8.
Week 5: Dr. P. Dassen
A. Labrie, ‘Kultur and Zivilisation in Germany during the nineteenth century’, Yearbook of European Studies 7 (1994) 95-120.
D. Blackbourn, History of Germany 1780-1918. The Long Nineteenth Century (2nd ed., Oxford 2003) from chapter 4 onwards (p. 133-374)
Week 6: Dr. J. Augusteijn
G. Esping-Anderson, The three worlds of welfare capitalism (Princeton University Press 1990) p. 1-138.
Rodney Lowe, ‘Torn between Europe and America. The British Welfare State from Beveridge to Blair’ in: Anneke Ribberink and Hans Righart eds., The Great, the New and the British (Utrecht 2000).
John Gelissen, Worlds of Welfare, Worlds of Consent? Public Opinion on the Welfare State (Tilburg 2001) Chapter 2, pp. 21-50.
Week 7: Prof. Dr. W. Blockmans
Concluding overview and discussion
Recommended reading (for the historical background)
- Hagen Schulze, States, nations and nationalism: From the Middle Ages to the Present (Oxford: Blackwell 1998) or German original.
Examination
Participation (10 %) and paper (90 %)
Paper of 4.000-5.000 words based on about 500 pages extra literature (deadline 23 November 2009)
Information
With coördinator: H.J.Storm@hum.leidenuniv.nl.
Blackboard/webpagina
No.
Comments
This literature seminar is part of the Europaeum-programme European History and Civilisation and is only open to students participating in this specialisation.
The books and articles of the required reading will be available at the History section of the University Library (werkgroepenkast!)
Application for courses
MA course enrolment forms can be downloaded here.