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Celtic Politics since 1880: 4 Celtic Nations

Module description

This module will investigate the way in which Celtic Britain and Ireland have impacted upon political debate, government strategy and electoral realignment   Particular themes include the impact of the Irish Home Rule campaign on both Westminster and the provinces, the specific nature of electoral change and continuity in Scotland, Wales and Cornwall during the so-called ‘Age of Alignment’ after the First World War, the nationalist challenge to  Westminster during the 1960s and 1970s ranging from electoral victories by Scottish and Welsh nationalists to the so-called Troubles of Northern Ireland, and a new period of devolution by Westminster since the late 1990s.

Module aims - intentions of the module

This module seeks to explore the macro/micro relationship between central government at Westminster and the provinces of Britain. There is a specific focus on the way in which the politics of the so-called Celtic Fringe have impacted upon areas like political realignment, policy formation and identity politics. Students will be encouraged to use a range of both qualitative and quantitative approaches including oral history, political statistics, newspaper reports and other written documents.

Intended Learning Outcomes (ILOs)

ILO: Module-specific skills

On successfully completing the module you will be able to...

• 1. Articulate a sound understanding of the main developments in British and Irish politics since 1900
• 2. Demonstrate an ability to relate political developments to changing socio-economic conditions and campaign techniques
• 3. Utilize a variety of qualitative and quantitative approaches to the study of British politics

ILO: Discipline-specific skills

On successfully completing the module you will be able to...

• 4. Formulate appropriate questions relating to a body of source material and utilise that material to answer those questions
• 5. With minimum guidance, develop and sustain historical arguments in a variety of literary forms, using appropriate terminology
• 6. Display a command of comparative perspectives
• 7. Analyse at a close and sophisticated level original sources and assess their reliability as historical evidence
• 8. Evaluate critically the reasoning of discourses current in the period under study

ILO: Personal and key skills

On successfully completing the module you will be able to...

• 9. Combine independent, autonomous study with the ability to work collaboratively
• 10. Set tasks independently and solve problems, formulating appropriate questions and marshalling relevant evidence to answer them
• 11. With minimum guidance, digest, select and synthesise evidence and arguments to produce, to a deadline, a coherent and cogent argument

Syllabus plan

The lectures will provide a spine of ideas and information. These will form a basis upon which you can build your own interpretations and explore concepts and issues further in the seminars. The seminar work will comprise (1) discussions of particular topics and sources relating to the subject matter of the module and (2) group presentations on particular topics.

Learning activities and teaching methods (given in hours of study time)

Details of learning activities and teaching methods

Formative assessment

Summative assessment (% of credit)

Details of summative assessment

Details of re-assessment (where required by referral or deferral)

Re-assessment notes

Deferral – if you miss an assessment for certificated reasons judged acceptable by the Mitigation Committee, you will normally be either deferred in the assessment or an extension may be granted. The mark given for a re-assessment taken as a result of deferral will not be capped and will be treated as it would be if it were your first attempt at the assessment.

Referral – if you have failed the module overall (i.e. a final overall module mark of less than 40%) you will be required to submit a further assessment as necessary. If you are successful on referral, your overall module mark will be capped at 40%.

Indicative learning resources - Basic reading

• Biagini, Eugenio, British Democracy and Irish Nationalism 1876-1906, CambridgeUniversity Press, 2007
• Childs, David, Britain since 1945: A Political History, Routledge, 2006. 
• Githens-Mazer, Jonathan, Myths and Memories of the Easter Rising: Cultural and Political Nationalism in Ireland (Irish Academic Press, 2006).
• Harvie, Christopher, Scotland and Nationalism: Scottish Society and Politics, 1707 to the present, Routledge, 2004 (4 ^thedition).
• Lynch, Peter, SNP: the history of the Scottish National Party, Ashley Drake Publishing, 2002.
• McAllister, Laura, Plaid Cymru: the emergence of a political party, Seren, 2001.
• Thorpe, Andrew, A History of the British Labour Party, Palgrave, 2008.
• Tregidga, Garry, The Liberal Party in South-West Britain since 1918: Political Decline, Dormancy and Rebirth, University of Exeter Press, 2000.

Indicative learning resources - Web based and electronic resources

• ELE page: https://vle.exeter.ac.uk/course/view.php?id=11318 
• www.cornishstory.com

Key words search

British politics, oral history, Celtic studies