The European Union is the world's most progressive supranational power. In this unit we discuss contemporary Europe, focusing on the regions and ethno-national identities. We look at the EU and the socio-cultural and political forces both holding it together and pulling it apart. We study contemporary materials including films and novels in order to enter into the realities of life in Europe now. No language other than English is required.

Over the past two decades the face of Europe has changed dramatically. In this unit we examine the new ways in which European nations and the European Union negotiate issues of co-operation and co-existence, focusing on aspects of civil society, social change and cultural diversity. Case studies include the implications of Brexit, the re-emergence of the far right, immigration and multiculturalism, generational change, and other latest developments in Europe.

The European Union is currently the world's largest economy and a major player on the international stage in humanitarian policies. It is also the world's most complex supranational political organisation consisting of 28 nation-states, each with its distinct culture, political life and social reality. This unit explores the European Union through the study of its integration processes, bodies of governance, and the main policies instituted over the last seven decades with the ultimate goal of a European federation.

This unit will focus on mobilities, migrations and political asylum in the European Union. It will consider both intra-EU migrations and migrations to and from the EU and associated countries, as well as the increasingly vexed issue of political asylum. The unit will study the impacts of skilled mobilities, gender, ethnicity, sexual orientation, culture, language and religion in migration patterns, as well as the impact of internal and external geopolitical tensions such as East/West divides, wars and terrorism.

Cinema was born on the eve of a century of conflict in Europe. Celebrated as an avant-garde art form, it was also used for political propaganda and popular entertainment during the 20th century. Most recently European cinema has taken on another function, contributing to the creation of modern European identities through critical self-representation. This unit focuses on a range of recent films in order to study social and cultural change in the new Europe of the past two decades.

This unit will introduce you to the nature of regional identities in Europe and the role of regional institutions within the EU and the individual nation-states. It examines regionalism and nationalism at levels below the nation-state and considers the relationships between central and regional powers in case studies.

Europe and the Balkans focuses on the development of the Balkans as a geo-political space in the broader context of Europe. The unit begins with a critical overview of the terms and definitions used for this part of South-Eastern Europe, and continues with detailed analysis of individual cultural, social and political identities, particularly in the 20th century. Literature and film are used as the primary means of understanding the main issues determining ethnic and national identities.

This unit will examine the impact of the Romantic Movement across Europe by examining the historical and cultural connections between three European countries (Germany, England and France) during the late eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. We will consider the different national contexts separately, look at their influence on each other and at the influence of Romantic thought throughout European society, identifying ways in which Romantic ideas and values revolutionised social, cultural and aesthetic ideas, transformed worldviews and shaped the future of Europe.

The new millennium witnessed a 'return to religion' in European political, social and cultural life. Europe's Religions explores this development through an examination of the dynamic interaction between the three monotheistic religions in the European context. We focus on the relation between religion and political power that has so deeply contributed to the shaping of European civilisation. Investigating where and how religious and political ideologies meet, the unit illuminates the persistent influence of religious ideas in the contemporary European landscape.

This online unit taught completely in English complements your French language studies, offering an overview of the cultural diversity in the French-speaking world. You will acquire the foundations of Francophone culture through modules designed around themes such as popular culture; race, gender and identity in the French diaspora; politics; history; literature; cinema; contemporary French society.

This unit of study will explore German film from the perspectives of film theory and historical culture. Discussions will situate films within the German political and cultural context of their time and study them from the perspective of contemporary cross-cultural critique. The unit may concentrate on the works of a specific director, a period or a genre, or deal with key social and political issues within a selection of German films.

This unit explores the story of Jews under Muslim and Christian rule in Europe, including Christian antisemitism, anti-Jewish decrees, expulsions, the Crusades and the expulsion from Spain. It further explores new centres of Jewish life, especially in Eastern Europe, namely Poland, and concludes with the dawn of emancipation and the re-establishment of Jewish communities in the Netherlands and England.

This online unit is a broad-based introduction to the culture and society of Italy, from the Middle Ages to the present day. Students will study major cultural, social and political trends, events, debates and personalities which help place aspects of Italian culture in their historical perspective through fiction, films, essays, newspaper articles, and television. The sources and meanings of national symbols, monuments, myths and manifestoes are also explored.

Spanish society has changed dramatically over the last half century. The restrictions on personal freedoms that were part of the Franco regime have been lifted to reveal a liberal, tolerant European society that nevertheless still shows some elements of its conservative heritage. This unit (taught in English) explores contemporary Spanish society and culture to show the reasons for the changes, and their effects. The areas under discussion will be family, sexuality and gender; class, money and consumerism; and mass/popular culture.

The fate of the European Union hangs in the balance. But the crisis is about more than economics. Do Europeans feel ""European""? Or is Europe just a collection of states with a history of close interactions and devastating wars? Will Europe overcome its dilemmas? How are contemporary social theorists responding to the political, social and cultural questions raised by the crisis? We probe these issues in order to deepen our understanding of Europe in the context of contemporary social theory.

The term, ¿civilisation¿ has aroused powerful responses since its emergence in the 18th century as a means of identifying large-scale human cultural identities. When US political scientist Samuel Huntington introduced the idea of the 'clash of civilisations' as the key to international relations in the 21st century, a storm of controversy arose. How do we compare and contrast societies, civilisations and cultures? What is ¿civilisation¿? Is it valid to judge one culture or civilisation by the standards of another? Is objectivity possible? In this unit we familiarise ourselves with, and critically question, influential modes of comparative analysis with respect to global regions, civilisations and cultures.

Europe leads the global response to climate change and has sought, for some time, to create a single energy market. This unit explores the political economy and socio-cultural history of European environmental and energy issues. Europe's evolving energy dependencies and ecological degradation are examined with reference to European and national institutional and policy responses, the roles and activities of big business and social movements, and social consequences such as energy poverty and unequal ecological spatial impacts.

Contemporary Europe is marked by political extremism, notably the increased legitimation of far- to extreme-right party families at national and European levels, and Islamist terrorism. However, many, even most, of these movements have emerged from longstanding activist or intellectual traditions. Moreover, political extremism has not always been confined to the right: radical left movements have also marked contemporary European history. In this unit we study these various political extremisms, and responses by national governments and the European Union.

Literature played an important role in 20th century European socialism as a force of public education, a medium of ideology, and a means of communicating dissident ideas. In this unit we study the policy of socialist realism and the literary cultures that developed in the socialist and dictatorial environments of Central and Eastern Europe. Attention will be paid to the role of the intelligentsias, to censorship, and to problems of dissidence and free expression in authoritarian, closed, and totalitarian societies.

Can the imagination can be a tool for social change? This idea has been influential in Europe. Writers and thinkers since the beginning of modernity have imagined ideal solutions to the problems of social and political change, conflict and war. In this unit we study the speculative, ideal, and futuristic imaginative constructs which have influenced the development of European modernity. Texts such as More's Utopia, Marx's Communist Manifesto and the modern dystopias of politics and the scientific imagination have changed the way we think and live.

This unit studies Machiavelli as a political strategist, writer, philosopher and observer of his time. Discussion of his and other Renaissance authors' works will demonstrate the social and cultural conditions of literary production, the ideas and debates surrounding philosophy and politics, and topics including sexuality, ethics, the self, and the classical tradition during the Italian Renaissance.

This unit studies Dante's Divine Comedy as an enduring work of poetry, a major text of the European literary tradition, and the most comprehensive synthesis of Medieval culture. We will look at how literature works in relation to the language and the rhetorical tradition in which it is expressed on the one hand, and, on the other, the historical, philosophical and theological cultures it expresses and interprets.

This unit provides an in-depth study of the Holocaust. Special emphasis will be placed on the development of Nazi ideology, in particular racial antisemitism, and the gradual implementation of this policy towards the Jews and other victim groups from 1933 to 1945. Other themes focus on the responses of the victims and the role of the by-standers, as well as post-war politics of memory and other issues, including Holocaust denial and war crimes prosecution.

This unit explores the history of European Jewry from the late eighteenth century until the eve of WW2. During this period ancient traditions met the modern forces of enlightenment and emancipation, industrialisation, democratisation and nation building. External pressures provoked profound internal responses as the challenges and opportunities of modernity radically reshaped Jewish thought and life. Students will develop an understanding of the intricacy of relations between Jews and non-Jews and an appreciation of the mosaic of European Jewish life destroyed during the Holocaust.

Few historical events have inspired as many literary and artistic interpretations as the Holocaust. This unit will explore and critically assess how a broad range of forms, including but not limited to literature, film, fine arts, museums and memorials represent the Holocaust. In addition to a critical evaluation of these diverse artistic representations, the historical development of these forms will be considered as well as their national and transnational contexts.

This course aims to examine the marginalised attempts to modernise Greek literature of the beginning of the 20th century as an alternative to what is considered to be the dominant discourse of Greek modernism, i.e the so-called generation of the 1930s. This will involve the study of C. P. Cavafy, K. G. Karyotakis and some of the minor poets of the same period as well as new trends in Greek criticism put forward by younger critics such as T. Agras and Kl. Paraschos.The course will also attempt to draw parallels to the appropriate European context and to take into account relevant developments in Greek political life.

Focusing on a selection of modernist poets, including G. Seferis and O. Elytis, this unit explores the profound change brought to Greek literary life during the 1930s. Together with the analysis of specific poems, it will also examine the epistemological, historical and social factors which facilitated this change and it will explore the reasons behind the belatedness of Greek modernism by comparing it to its broader European counterpart.

This unit explores the political life in Greece after the establishment of the Modern Greek state (1828). It examines the main political parties, ideas, practices and personalities that shaped modern Greek state and nation-building from the inception of the Greek as a modern nation-state until today. The unit also explores major personalities and their impact on forming social policies in the country. Finally, the unit explores the most significant ideological movements that influenced modern Greek political life and social consciousness, investigating theories about the state, the nation and cultural identity as formed by structures and institutions introduced by successive Greek regimes.

Contemporary Spain is a very diverse country with several distinct cultural and linguistic groups. In some cases, this has given rise to minority nationalisms that challenge the sovereignty and hegemony of the Spanish state. This unit introduces students to the advantages and challenges of such diversity, including some of its political aspects. Specific topics include language planning, regional cultures, ethnicity, minority nationalism, and independence movements. No knowledge of Spanish is required to take this unit.

Interdisciplinarity is a key skill in fostering agility in life and work. This unit provides learning experiences that build students' skills, knowledge and understanding of the application of their disciplinary background to interdisciplinary contexts. In this unit, students will work in teams and develop interdisciplinarity skills through problem-based learning projects responding to 'real world problems'.

This unit is designed for third year students to undertake a project that allows them to work with one of the University's industry and community partners. Students will work in teams on a real-world problem provided by the partner. This experience will allow students to apply their academic skills and disciplinary knowledge to a real-world issue in an authentic and meaningful way.

In this unit, students will learn to think about the nature of research, and especially research in European Studies, and learn techniques for preparing their Honours thesis. In order to realise this objective, we will survey the major research questions, directions, approaches and assumptions about 'Europe' that have developed in the humanities and social sciences since the end of World War II. This material will include, but not be limited to, the specific field of European integration studies.

Changes to the global order represent new challenges to Europe and the EU. Europe in the Global Age explores current views of the state of Europe as a supra-national bloc in the global environment. Emphasis is placed on the development of theoretical and analytical frameworks and perspectives in a learning environment of individual research projects and group discussions.

In this unit you begin a substantial, independent research project in European Studies. Regular meetings with a supervisor approved by the Program of European Studies Honours Coordinator will guide your progress. You will develop a plan for researching and writing the thesis, submit an ethics application if appropriate, familiarize yourself with disciplinary conventions and standards, engage with relevant literature, theories and methodologies, and submit drafts at agreed times.

In this unit you complete and submit your substantial, independent research project in European Studies. Regular meetings with a supervisor approved by the Program of European Studies Honours Coordinator will guide your progress. You will continue to submit drafts at agreed times, and develop your expertise in relevant research methods and analytical skills as well as in the subject matter of your specialist topic.