Course: World Politics I

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Course title World Politics I
Course code UHV/SPOL1
Organizational form of instruction Lecture
Level of course Master
Year of study 2
Semester Winter
Number of ECTS credits 3
Language of instruction Czech
Status of course Compulsory
Form of instruction Face-to-face
Work placements This is not an internship
Recommended optional programme components None
Lecturer(s)
  • Vydra Zbyněk, Mgr. Ph.D.
Course content
1) Ideological origins of the cold war. 2) Political origins of the cold war: war diplomacy, 1941-1945. 3) Soviet Union and the world, 1945-1953. 4) Western policy and the world, 1945-1952. 5) People's Republic of China and the Korean War. 6) From Eisenhower to Kennedy. American foreign policy 1952-1963. 7) Soviet foreign policy, 1953-1962. 8) Culture and the cold war. 9) Decolonization. 10) Caribean crisis. Escalation of nuclear competition. 11) American foreign policy, 1963-1968. 12) Soviet foreign policy, 1963-1968. 13) Western Europe and the cold war.

Learning activities and teaching methods
Monologic (reading, lecture, briefing), Dialogic (discussion, interview, brainstorming)
Learning outcomes
The aim of the course is to analyze the origins of the Cold War and world policy during its first two decades (1940's - 1960's).
Students will be able to describe and interpret the origins of the cold war and crucial problems of world politics in the 1940' - 1960's.
Prerequisites
unspecified

Assessment methods and criteria
Home assignment evaluation, Presentation

Credit is dependent on passing a test (at least 60%).
Recommended literature
  • Brands, H. The Latin America's Cold War. Cambridge, Mass., 2010.
  • CAUTE, D. The dancer defects: the struggle for cultural supremacy during the cold war. Oxford, 2005.
  • DURMAN, K. Popely ještě žhavé?Velká politika 1938-1991, vol. 1, Světová válka a nukleární mír 1938-1964,. Praha: Karolinum, 2004.
  • GADDIS, J. L. Studená válka. Praha: Slovart, 2006.
  • Harper, J. L. The Cold War. Oxford, 2011.
  • Haslam, Jonathan. Russia's Cold War. New Haven, 2011.
  • JOHNSON, G. The foreign office and British diplomacy in the 20th century. London: Routledge, 2005.
  • KENNEDY, P. Vzestup a pád velmocí. Ekonomické změny a vojenské konflikty v letech 1500-2000,. Praha: NLN, 1996.
  • KISSINGER, H. Umění diplomacie. Od Richelieua k pádu Berlínské zdi. 3. vyd., Praha: Prostor, 1999.
  • LaFeber, Walter. : America, Russia, and the Cold War, 1945-1996. New York 1997. 8. vydání.
  • LEFFLER, M. P. - PAINTER, D. S. (edd.). Origins of the Cold War: an international history. London, 2005.
  • LEFFLER, M. P., WESTAD, O. A. (edd.). The Cambridge History of the Cold War, 3 vols.. Cambridge, 2009.
  • NÁLEVKA, V. Světová politika, I-II. Praha: Aleš Skřivan ml., 2000.
  • SCHULZINGER, R. D. U. S. Diplomacy since 1900. New York: Oxford University Press, 2003.
  • VYKOUKAL, J. Východ. Vznik, vývoj a rozpad východního bloku 1944-1989,. Praha: Libri, 2001.
  • WESTAD, O. A. The global Cold War: third world interventions and the making of our times. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2005.
  • ZUBOK, Vladislav M. A failed empire : the Soviet Union in the Cold War from Stalin to Gorbachev. Chapell Hill, 2009.


Study plans that include the course
Faculty Study plan (Version) Category of Branch/Specialization Recommended year of study Recommended semester
Faculty: Faculty of Arts and Philosophy Study plan (Version): Cultural History (2013) Category: History courses 2 Recommended year of study:2, Recommended semester: Winter