Checking date: 18/05/2025 11:29:29


Course: 2025/2026

Origins of the State and of Political Ideas in the Ancient and Medieval World
(17687)
Bachelor in History and Politics (Study Plan 2018) (Plan: 394 - Estudio: 352)


Coordinating teacher: CURNIS , MICHELE

Department assigned to the subject: Humanities: History, Geography and Art Department

Type: Compulsory
ECTS Credits: 6.0 ECTS

Course:
Semester:




Requirements (Subjects that are assumed to be known)
This course requires having taken Medieval History during the first year of the bachelor.
Objectives
1. Understand that the study of the past constitutes an essential condition for the explanation and understanding of the present, and provides the best possible disposition to face the future. 2. Know the political, social and cultural reality of past times thanks to a comparative historical-critical method. 3. Know and understand the processes of political, social, economic and cultural change in the society of a certain period. 4. Develop the ability to identify, organize and analyze relevant information autonomously, critically and systematically about primary and secondary sources. 5. Develop the ability to debate and formulate critical reasoning. 6. Develop the ability to argue scientifically and historically for a cultural position regarding the problems of the past.
Learning Outcomes
K1: Identify the key historical processes of history, from Antiquity to globalization, recognizing their political and social implications K2: To know the historical evolution of political institutions, from Antiquity to the present day, identifying their impact on government systems K5: Describe the actors, institutions, and processes that shape international relations, explaining their influence on the global landscape K6: To compare historical economic systems, relating them to their socio-political context from Antiquity to the present day K7: Relate social movements and struggles for civil rights to changes in social structures throughout history and analyze changes in cultural expressions (art, literature, religion) and their link to historical and political processes S1: Build solid historical and political arguments from a rigorous documentary base S2: Apply logical and creative thinking in solving complex historiographical and political problems S3: Experiment with research methodologies, simulating historical or political situations relevant to their analysis S5: Demonstrate academic writing skills by crafting essays and articles based on original research S7: Compose interdisciplinary research projects, integrating economic, sociological and cultural perspectives S8: Creating innovative approaches to address historical and political problems C1: Have critical and analytical skills evaluating historical sources and political texts to interpret their relevance in real contexts C3: Actively participate in interdisciplinary projects to analyze historical and political phenomena from multiple perspectives C4: Demonstrate the ability to integrate theoretical knowledge into practical scenarios such as public policy analysis or historical-cultural projects C5: Develop skills to convey clear and grounded ideas about history and politics, orally and in writing
Description of contents: programme
1. Historiography of State Theories. 2. The transformation of hunting societies into agricultural. Process of social hierarchy: from the village to the city. Chiefdom societies. The emergence of the state and the teologization of inequality. 3. State structures in Egypt, Mesopotamia and the Aegean: the cases of Crete and Mycenae. 4. The polis and its political essays in Archaic Greece. Democracy as an exception. The ligues. 5. Political theories in the Greek world. 6. The structures of the Roman Republic. Imperialism as a model. 7. Theory and practice of the Roman Empire. Political thought in Rome and the transformation of government. The Christian Empire. 8. The state in the Middle Ages: debates on its nature and forms. The theory of the state in the Middle Ages: ideas, authors and texts. 9. The process of formation of the medieval states. The early medieval state: from the Germanic kingdoms to the Carolingian empire (6th-9th centuries). 10. State and Church: a binomial of power and its fight for supremacy in the West. Articulation Church-State in the East. 11. The medieval survival of the Roman Empire: the Byzantine state and its development (6th-15th centuries). 12. Feudalism and power of the king over the territory. Functions of the state, beginnings of popular representation of the power and constitutionality. 13. The Arab state, its history and development in the Mediterranean area (8th-14th centuries). 14. Structures and institutions of the medieval states of Western Europe (10th-14th centuries).
Learning activities and methodology
AF1. THEORETICAL AND PRACTICAL CLASSES. Formal presentation of the knowledge that the students must acquire. They will receive the class notes and will have basic reference texts to facilitate the follow-up of the classes and the development of the subsequent work. Exercises, practical problems will be solved on the part of the student and workshops and evaluation tests will be carried out to acquire the necessary skills. AF2. TUTORIALS. Individualized assistance (individual tutorials) or group tutorials (group tutorials) to students by the teacher. AF3. INDIVIDUAL OR GROUP WORK OF THE STUDENT. MD1. MAGISTRAL LECTURES. Presentations by the teacher with the support of audiovisual media, in which the main concepts of the subject are developed and the materials and bibliography are provided to complement the students' learning. MD2. PRACTICES. Resolution of practical cases, problems, etc. raised by the teacher individually or in groups. MD3. TUTORIALS. Individualized assistance (individual tutorials) or group tutorials (group tutorials) to students by the teacher.
Assessment System
  • % end-of-term-examination/test 50
  • % of continuous assessment (assigments, laboratory, practicals...) 50

Calendar of Continuous assessment


Extraordinary call: regulations
Basic Bibliography
  • Antony Black. A World History of Ancient Political Thought: A World History of Ancient Political Thought: Its Significance and Consequences. OUP, Oxford. 2009
  • Joseph Canning. A History of Medieval Political Thought. Taylor & Francis. 2005
Additional Bibliography
  • Walter Ullmann. Principles of Government and Politics in the Middle Ages. Routledge. 2010

The course syllabus may change due academic events or other reasons.


More information: https://www.uc3m.es/grado/historia-politica#presentacion