Contemporary Europe has been roiled by upheaval. In the past decade alone, political violence and economic uncertainty have exposed hidden social fault lines, while populist movements across the continent have gained support through the ballot box and upended the political "status quo." The Covid-19 pandemic is now testing the limits of European states and institutions, even as refugees from the Middle East and elsewhere continue to arrive on Europe's southern coasts. How did the European continent arrive at such an unsettled state?

To answer this question, we’ll begin in 1945, with Europe in ruins at the close of World War II. We’ll move through a wide range of topics including the Cold War and the division of Europe, decolonization, immigration and multiculturalism, the welfare state, the protest movements of the 1960s, the economic and social impacts of globalization, the rise of feminism and environmentalism, the collapse of the Soviet Bloc, and European integration. We'll also consider some of the most pressing issues in contemporary Europe, including the ongoing pandemic response, the role of religion in European societies, and the troubling rise of xenophobic populism. In the process, we’ll raise broader questions about the status and identity of Europe as it moves forward into the twenty-first century.

Class Format:

Lecture will be remote with in-person discussions