MA Modern European History: The University of Manchester

Course description

The dramatic transformation of the European map since 1989, and the associated resurgence of 'identity politics', remind them of the importance of history in making sense of modern Europe and its peoples. This MA programme offers a long-term perspective onto the evolution of modern Europe, from about the time of the French Revolution to the present. It draws on their noted strengths in European political, intellectual, cultural and economic history, and places particular emphasis on how these different methodologies can be used to explore European collective identities, such as class, gender, religion, locality, and ethnicity. Most of their courses also adopt a transnational perspective, exploring patterns of development and trajectories of influence across national boundaries.

Central to the programme is its core course, Key Concepts in Modern European History. This unit brings all students on the MA programme together for weekly seminars exploring some of the central concepts and issues in the historiography of modern Europe. Seminars focus on a selection of key historical concepts, exploring theoretical writings and then testing these against particular case studies. The concepts vary from year to year, but typically include: the idea of Europe; nation and nationalism; modernity and modernization; and memory and identity

Module details

Typical compulsory and optional course units include:

• Key Concepts in Modern European History
• Research Training (including optional Foreign Language courses)
• The City as History: Urban Space in Modern Europe; European Liberalism
• European Labour Movements
• Social Upheaval in War and Peace: Russia 1890-1950
• Spain since the end of the Franco Dictatorship
• Memory and War
• The (Ir)Resistable Rise of the American Empire
• Colonial and Postcolonial Experiences: Theory and Historiography
• The Humanitarian Subject
• History and Postmodernism

Recent dissertation titles include:

• Red Vienna: Utopianism and Compromise
• Christian Democratic Parties and the Beginnings of European Integration
• Ideology and the Armenian Genocide

Career opportunities

This non-vocational Masters degree teaches and develops a wealth of transferable skills, and thus enables students to keep open a very wide range of career options. Recent graduates have gone on to vocational MAs (e.g. in Urban Planning), to PhDs in history, to teaching, or to work in government, commerce or industry.

Entry requirements

Academic entry qualification overview: An Upper Second class honours degree, or the overseas equivalent.

English language: Non-native speakers of English should have at least a score of IELTS 7.0 or TOEFL 600 (paper based) or 250 (computer based).