Checking date: 08/06/2021


Course: 2021/2022

Origins of the State and of Political Ideas in the Ancient and Medieval World
(17687)
Bachelor in History and Politics (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:




Objectives
CB1. Students have to demonstrate to possess and understand knowledge in an area of ¿¿study that begins at the base of general secondary education, and is usually found at a level that, although supported by advanced textbooks, also includes some aspects that imply knowledge from the forefront of a specific field of study. CB2. To know how to apply their knowledge to their work or vocation in a professional way and possess the competences that are usually demonstrated through the elaboration and defense of arguments and the resolution of problems within their area of ¿¿study. CB3. To get the ability to collect and interpret relevant data (usually within their area of ¿¿study) to produce judgments that include reflection on relevant issues of a social, scientific or ethical nature. CB4. To transmit information, ideas, problems and solutions to both a specialized and non-specialized audience. CB5. To develop those learning skills that are necessary to undertake further studies with a high degree of autonomy. CG4. Being able to manage, identify, organise and analyse relevant information in a critical and systematic way about current and past sources, in relation to historical, political or different nature aspects. CG5. Being able to debate and formulate critical reasoning using precise terminology and specialised resources on international and global phenomena, using both the concepts and knowledge of the different disciplines and the methodologies of analysis, paradigms and concepts of the social and historical sciences. CG6. Being able to apply the scientific method to the social, political and economic questions posed by globalised society as well as defining a problem in this area, identifying a possible explanation or solution, and a method to contrast it by carefully interpreting the available data. CG8. Assuming in a clear and objective way that the study of the past, although it does not inexorably mark us the paths that one has to follow in the future, does allow us, through the explanation of the present, to be in the best possible disposition to face that future. CE1b. Knowing how to analyse and compare the structure and functioning of the main socio-political systems, both in the past and in the present (with a special attention, if necessary, to the Spanish case). CE2. To know and understand the processes of political, social, economic and cultural change in society and politics in different historical periods and especially in the contemporary world. CE5. To know the main models of territorial, political, economic and social organisation of the states throughout history and, with greater attention, in the present. CE6. To know the socio-political impact of the main empires, religions and cultures in a historical perspective. CE11. Knowing how to critically analyse, on the base on their relationship with the present, fundamental political events of the past whose effects have survived up to the contemporary times. RA2. To apply the acquired knowledge, the critical understanding and the consequent capacities to the resolution of complex and / or specialised problems in a professional field. RA3. To have the ability to collect and interpret data and information on which to base their conclusions, including, when necessary and pertinent, reflection on matters of a social, scientific or ethical nature within the scope of their field of study. RA4. Being able to cope in complex situations or that require the development of new solutions both in the academic and professional fields, within their specialisation area of study.
Skills and learning outcomes
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 50
  • % of continuous assessment (assigments, laboratory, practicals...) 50
Calendar of Continuous assessment

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


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