Dr K Spohr Readman, EAS.E507.

For MA/MSc History of International Relations, MSc Theory and History of International Relations, MSc Empires, Colonialism and Globalisation, LSE-Columbia University Double Degree in International and World History and LSE-PKU Double Degree in MSc International Affairs.

Western (European) diplomacy in the 1980s to the mid-1990s examining tensions, rivalries and linkages not merely between the western and communist blocs, but also within them, as well as studying the events reflecting the shift from the Cold War to the post-Cold War world.

The aim is to address from a historical perspective the diplomacy of the end of the East-West conflict, German reunification, the Yugoslavian wars, European integration, and NATO enlargement. The domestic political bases of, and the political relations between, the leading figures (Gorbachev, Yeltsin, Reagan, Bush, Thatcher, Major, Mitterrand, Delors and Kohl) will be covered as well as the diplomacy of the period. Major topics will include Thatcherism; Reaganomics; Gorbachev's new thinking; the reunification of Germany; the collapse of the Soviet Union and its wider empire; the Gulf War and Yugoslavian Wars; America and her Western European partners; the Single European Act, the Maastricht Treaty and the Euro; the security arrangements of Russia and NATO after the fall of communism;.

22 two-hour weekly meetings arranged on a mixed lecture/seminar basis.

Short class papers, engagement in role play, a number of discussions on Moodle, and one 4,000 word essay. There will be a one-hour timed essay in ST (Mock Exam).

A full bibliography will be provided at the first meeting of the class and is available on Moodle. Key books include: Margaret Thatcher, The Downing Street Years; EHH Green, Thatcher; Julius W Friend, The Long Presidency, France in the Mitterrand Years; Martin McCauley, Gorbachev; Hannes Adomeit, Imperial Overstretch; Saki Dockrill, The End of the Cold War Era; George Bush & Brent Scowcroft, A World Transformed; Philip Zelikow & Condolezza Rice, Germany Unified and Europe Transformed; Misha Glenny, The Balkans 1804-1999; Sean Kay, NATO and the Future of European Security;Kristina Spohr Readman, Germany and the Baltic Problem: The Development of a New Ostpolitik, 1989-2000.

One three-hour formal examination in the ST for 75% of the final mark, and one assessed essay (delivered in LT) for the remaining 25% of the mark.