Themes in the History of Politics and Society

Course goals

The aim of this course is to enable students:
- to develop a design for their own comparative or long-term historical research project at an advanced level.
- to develop a research question embedded in the academic debate
- to operationalize that question, and to identify relevant methods, cases and sources as well as techniques to analyze these sources.

Content

In this course, students will develop their own research design. To this purpose, students are assigned to one of a series of small groups that each cover a specific theme in the history of politics and society. Within that theme, students choose the topic of their thesis, which should include a comparative historical analysis or long-term analysis. On the basis of a thorough study of secondary literature on the theme and on their own topic within it, students will formulate feasible research questions. They will identify relevant methods, cases and sources, as well as techniques to analyze these sources, and develop a realistic time schedule for their research. In doing so, they will use the skills acquired during the course ‘Toolbox for Comparative Historical Research’.

Entrance requirements: To participate in this course you need to have completed GKMV22002 Politics and Society in Comparative Perspective.

Career orientation
Students will develop practical skills to do historical research on political and societal issues in a long-term and comparative perspective.