Module Code and Title            : WHS306 Contemporary Issues Since 1945

Programme                             : BA in History and Dzongkha

Credit Value                            : 12

Module Tutor                           : To be recruited

General Objectives

This module is introduced in this Programme with a view that it will help the students to equip themselves intellectually with the latest updates of world events. It is an attempt to connect the students who study the past with the events of this century. Since the module includes the most important world issues, it will help the students to have better idea on the period in which they live and the issues they face.

Learning Outcomes

On completion of the module, students will be able to:

1.    critically analyse the various events that that took place in the Middle East  since 1946

2.    examine the role  played by Mao and other communist leaders  for the rise and growth of Communism in China

3.    differentiate the  roles of G8 and G15 Nations in the development of Global economic welfare

4.    evaluate the policies and achievements of BRICS nations

5.    critically review the importance of  Stockholm  conventions  and its deliberations

6.    describe the  significance  of RIO Summit  and its results

7.    analyse the impact of Kyoto  Summit  in implementing the Environmental protection

8.    examine the  progress of  Environmental  awareness through  various conventions

Learning and teaching approach

Assessment approach:

The students will be assessed on a continuous basis as given below:

A. Assignment 1: 15% of internal assessment

The first assignment will have to be written individually consisting of 15%

B. Assignment 2 : 15% of internal assessment

The students will have to write a second assignment as group work and 5% of the 15% will be kept for Viva Voce

C. Class Test : 5 % of internal assessment

A class test will be conducted which will comprise 5% of the internal assessment

D. Presentation: 15% of internal assessment

For this module, students will have to make a presentation each on a topic assigned by the tutor.

E. Semester-end Examination: 50%

Semester end Examination will be of 50% for this module

Overview of the assessment approaches and weighting

Prerequisite: Should have completed WHS305: Twentieth Century World

Subject Matter

Unit 1: The Middle East

• Origin of Tension in the Middle East
• The war of Independence (Israel) of 1948
• Consequences of the war till 1967
• Political and social issues in Arab –Israel relations
• War and Peace

Unit II: Crisis in the Middle East

• Causes, course and consequences of the war of 1967 Formation of PLO and Yasser Arafat Yongkipur war (1973) and Camp David treaty
• Role of Super powers in the issue
• The occupied territories and Lebanon
• Attitudes of Israeli Labour and Liquid parties towards occupied territories
• Israeli settlements in the occupied territories
• Israeli invasion of Lebanon in 1978 and 1982
• The Peace process
• The Palestinian resistance and Israeli response
• Success and set backs of the peace process
• Assassination of Istak Rabin and the election of Netanyahu
• Yitzhak Rabin and the failed mission

Unit III:  China and communism

• Communist Revolution in China (1949)
• Long March and the Rise of Mao
• ‘Great Leap forward’ and ‘Hundred flowers bloom’ policies
• Cultural Revolution and consolidation
• The era of Deng Xiao Ping and policy shift in China
• Emergence of China as Asian power with special reference to the period of Hu Jinato

Unit IV: Attempts towards Global economic welfare

• G8 Nations and their role in global welfare and their achievements
• G15 nations and their relevance
• BRICS nations: Policies and achievements
• Globalization and its effects in various fields

Unit V:  Awareness on Environmental protection

• Stockholm Convention and its deliberations
• Rio Summit and its results
• Kyoto Summit and its impact
• Polluter pays principles and carbon credit.

Reading list

Essential reading:

Bill, J. A., & Springborg, R. (1994). Politics in the Middle East (pp. 150-75). New York:      Harper Collins.

Cleveland, W. L., & Bunton, M. P. (2004). A history of the modern Middle East (Vol. 3).     Boulder: Westview Press.

Harvey, D. (2005). A brief history of neoliberalism. Oxford University Press.

Lawrance, A. (1998). China under communism. Psychology Press.

L.Norman.(2011). Mastering Modern World history. New Delhi: Macmillan Publishers India Ltd..

Maguire, S., & Hardy, C. (2006). The emergence of new global institutions: A discursive   perspective. Organization Studies, 27(1), 7-29

Additional reading:

Agrawala, S. (1998). Structural and process history of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate    Change. Climatic Change, 39(4), 621-642.

Atale, N. (2012). A Decade of BRICS: Prospects and Challenges for Next Decade. Indian            Journal of Management, Forthcoming.

Carter.  V. F., & R. John. (2003). Twentieth-Century World (5^thed).  Boston: Houghton Mifflin

Dessai, S., Lacasta, N. S., & Vincent, K. (2003). International political history of the Kyoto

Ding, X. L. (2006). The Decline of Communism in China: Legitimacy Crisis, 1977-1989.    Cambridge University Press.

Luckhurst, J. (2013). Building cooperation between the BRICS and leading industrialized states.   Latin American Policy, 4(2), 251-268.

Meynell, H. (1960). The Stockholm conference of 1917. International Review of Social History,   5(01), 1-25

Nilsen, A. G. (2013). Book review: The Poorer Nations: A Possible History of the Global South,    by Vijay Prashad. Capital & Class, 37(3), 516-518.

Ottaway, M., & Carothers, T. (2004). Middle East Democracy. Foreign Policy, 22-29.

Paul, B. D. (2008). A history of the concept of sustainable development: Literature review. The    Annals of the University of Oradea, 17(2), 581.

Porras, I. M. (1992). The Rio Declaration: A New Basis for International Co-operation. Review     of European Community & International Environmental Law, 1(3), 245-253.

Protocol: from The Hague to Marrakech and beyond. International Review for Environmental       Strategies, 4(2), 183-205.

Strong, M. F. (1993). Beyond Rio: prospects and portents. Colo. J. Int'l Envtl. L. & Pol'y, 4, 21.

Tauris.. Goldschmidt, A., & Davidson, L. (1991). A concise history of the Middle East (Vol.           8). Westview Press

Zubaida, S. (2009). Islam, the people and the state: Political ideas and movements in the Middle  East.

Date: May, 2015