Dr Joan-Pau Rubiés, E500 (TR 2009-10); Dr Joanna Lewis; Professor Dominic Lieven; Dr Sujit Sivasundaram

Intended primarily for MSc History of Empires. Also available for MA/MSc History of International Relations, MSc Global History, MSc Race, Ethnicity and Post-Colonial Studies, MSc History of Nationalism, LSE-Columbia University Double Degree in International and World History and LSE-PKU Double Degree in MSc International Affairs.

The course looks at the history of empires and their legacy in the contemporary world. It analyses specific imperial formations, from classical Rome through to the contemporary era. It explores comparative and theoretical debates concerning how empires are run, the dynamics of their success and decline and the ways in which they manage multi-ethnicity and nationalisms. It looks at imperial ideologies, the processes of decolonisation and the emergence of ‘neo-colonialism’ in the twentieth century. The course also explores the extent to which the imperial past has helped to shape the processes of globalisation in the contemporary world, including a look at the the hegemonic power of Soviet Union and the USA in the twentieth century. Themes covered will include the emergence of European commercial and territorial empires, the conquest of America, the Ottoman empire, early-modern agrarian empires in Mughal India and Qing China, the British empire in India, imperialism in the liberal age, the colonization of Africa. Besides these case-studies there will be general and comparative discussions of archaic and modern globalization, the technologies and ideologies of empire, and imperial legacies in both the former colonies and metropolitan societies.

The course includes 19 one-hour lectures taught by a team of specialists and 20 one-hour and a half seminars taught within the Department of International History, ten each in the Michaelmas and Lent terms.

Full Reading lists will be provided. As introductory reading, students should consult M Doyle, Empires, Cornell University Press, Ithaca, 1986; P Kennedy, The rise and fall of the great powers, 1988; J Tracy (Ed), The Political Economy of Merchant Empires, Cambridge, 1993; G V Scammell, The First Imperial Age, London, 1989, J H Parry, Trade and Dominion, London, 1971; D Lieven, Empire. The Russian Empire and its Rivals, Pimlico, 2003; C A Bayly, Imperial Meridian, London, 1989; S Howe, Empire. A Very Short Introduction, Oxford University Press, 2002; G Lundestad, The Fall of Great Powers, Oxford University Press, 1994.

Three-hour written examination in the ST.