The basic approaches of the subject would be the following:

Encourage the acquisition of the idea that History is a changing process in which there are no fixed guidelines, but constant transformations take place. This notion of "history as a process" must result in the students knowing how to analyze the relative of the present reality, discover the causes that have led to it and value the possibilities of evaluation that it involves.

It seeks students to reflect, making sure that they become aware of their ideas and, in addition, that the ideas handled in class are used to think in situations that go beyond the subject itself.

Try to create a context where the dialogue happens which will be done by promoting class participation through readings, comments and viewing videos.

Try to ensure that the students' thinking is formalized both orally and in writing with a certain degree of systematization.

1. The ability to understand and explain the historical process and its main features during the 20th century, especially in Europe.

2. The ability to analyze and understand historical texts, maps, graphs and documentaries.

3. The ability to learn how to read and comment on historiographical work.

4. The ability to write a brief academic essay on a historical topic of the 20th century, using the relevant bibliography and other printed sources of interest.



In line with the teaching regulations, students are required to pass 60 hours of work in the classroom and a further 90 hours of autonomous work.



Apart from attendance at lectures and the completion of practical exercises in the classroom, students are also required to carry out different individual and collective tasks.

Topic 1: THE NEW INTERNATIONAL ORDER OF THE SECOND WORLD POSTWAR, 1945-1950. THE COLD WAR AND THE BIPOLAR SYSTEM. THE EVOLUTION OF INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS. COOPERATION AND CONFRONTATION PROCESSES.

Topic 2: PROGRESS AND REVERSE IN THE EUROPEAN CONSTRUCTION PROCESS. FROM THE INNER SIX TO THE EUROPEAN UNION

Topic 3: PEOPLE’S DEMOCRACIES IN CENTRAL AND EASTERN EUROPE. THE USSR FROM STALIN TO BRÉZNEV

Topic 4: THE BEGINNINGS OF DECOLONIZATION. THE NEAR EAST AND THE DECOLONIZATION OF ASIA

Topic 5: THE AMERICAN CONTINENT SINCE THE END OF THE II WORLD WAR, 1945-1960. FROM THE YEARS 1960/1970 TO THE PRESENT DAY

Topic 6: THE AWAKENING OF THE AFRO-ASIAN PEOPLES: BANDUNG. THE ARAB REVOLUTIONS AND THE DECOLONIZATION OF AFRICA

Topic 7: THE CRISIS OF THE CAPITALIST WORLD AS OF 1973: A NEW MODEL OF WESTERN SOCIETY FOR THE END OF THE 20TH CENTURY. THE END OF BIPOLARITY IN INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS

Topic 8: THE END OF DECOLONIZATION. THE THIRD WORLD. ASIA AND AFRICA BETWEEN THE FINAL YEARS OF THE 20TH CENTURY AND THE PRESENT DAY.

ITEM 9: THE BANKRUPTCY OF THE SOCIALIST SYSTEM AND THE DISAPPEARANCE OF THE USSR

ITEM 10: TOWARDS A NEW WORLD ORDER AT THE START OF THE XXI CENTURY: REGIONAL IMBALANCES AND CHAOS IN INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS

The methodology and guidelines adopted in the new curricula of the EHEA process, the experience gathered, as well as the suggestions made by the students expressed verbally and through the survey on the subject in the previous years, highlight the need to use forms of teaching complementary to the formal class. Hence, this methodology aims at facilitating the student’s reflection through an active participation in the process of teaching and learning. In this sense, the use of support material for the theoretical contents will be of crucial importance if the goals formulated at the beginning of the course are to be achieved.

Along with the teacher’s explanations about the content of the major sections and themes established in the program, we would try to foster a participatory dynamic in the classroom through the comments of texts, the reading of articles or the viewing of videos. Therefore, historical sources will be used (books, book chapters, scientific articles, articles published by the media or on digital webs), altogether with the digital resources available on the eGela platform.

This means that both the students and those who write these lines are expected to be present in the classroom both physically and mentally.

All this requires that students make use of the established tutorials, whenever necessary, in order to make a personalized assessment of the performance and acquisition of knowledge and tools required by the subject.

• Continuous Assessment System
• Final Assessment System
• Tools and qualification percentages:
  • Written test to be taken (%): 50
  • Individual works (%): 20
  • Exhibition of works, readings ... (%): 30

The teaching activities in both the permanent evaluation mode as well as the final evaluation mode, fix a total of 60 hours of work in the classroom and a further 90 hours of autonomous work. Apart from attendance at lectures and the completion of practical exercises in the classroom, students are also required to carry out different individual and collective tasks.

The permanent evaluation mode, being it in the classroom or online through the eGela platform, will account for a 50 % of the final grade. The exam can comprise the following sections: questions to be responded, a test or oral presentations.

The remaining 50 % will be achieved through practical activities. These activities will be presented by the teacher in the classroom or, if necessary, online through the interactive tools offered by the eGela platform: individual activities such as written commentaries on different kind of texts (written texts, video and audio documents); reviews of articles or book chapters. According to the regulation fixed by the Teaching Guide, some of these activities could be substituted by collective works carried out by a group of students. The value as well as the way of presentation for each of those activities have been fixed at the beginning of the course by the Teaching Guide.



Final evaluation. According to the guidelines fixed by the Teaching Guide, the students who renounce to the permanent evaluation have to pass an exam that will represent 100 % of the final grade. This exam will be carried out in the classroom or, if necessary, online. The goal of this final exam is to make sure that all of the students, regardless the evaluation mode they have been involved in, will fulfill the requirements of the program established at the beginning of the course. Hence, the students who choose the final evaluation are not exempt from carrying out all the activities mentioned in both the program as well as in the Teaching Guide that have been uploaded to the eGela platform. However, they will not need to present the results of those activities to the teacher throughout the course, but only through the final exam.

Apart from the ordinary questions in the final exam, the teacher may also formulate a question related to any of the readings or other activities carried out since the beginning of the course in order to make sure that the student has achieved the basic competencies fixed by the Teaching Guide. The students participating in this final evaluation will have more time to finish the exam than those involved in the permanent evaluation.

The students involved in the permanent evaluation who present themselves to the extraordinary exam call, will maintain the grades of their practical activities, which accounts for 50 % of the final grade. The remaining 50 % will be achieved through a written exam as explained for the ordinary exam call.

The students involved in the final evaluation will carry out the same tasks and exercises as explained for the ordinary exam call.

Basic bibliography

ARACIL, R.; OLIVER, J.; SEGURA, A., El mundo actual : de la Segunda Guerra Mundial a nuestros días, Universidad de Barcelona, Barcelona, 1995

AROSTEGUI, J., BUCHRUCKER, C. y SABORIDO, J., El mundo contemporáneo: Historia y problemas, Barcelona, Editorial Biblos- Crítica, 2001.

AZCONA, J. M. Historia del Mundo Actual, de 1945 a nuestros días. Universitas, Madrid 2005.

BAÑUELOS, L.P.: Manuel de historia contemporánea universal (1920-2005) Ed. Dilex. S. L., Madrid, 2006

BROWER, D. R., Historia del mundo contemporáneo, 1900-2001, Madrid, Ed. Prentice-Hall, 2002.

CALVOCORESSI, P., Historia Política del Mundo Contemporáneo, de 1945 a nuestros días, Akal, Madrid, 1987.

CASASSAS, J.: La construcción del presente. Desde 1848 hasta nuestros días, Barcelona, Ariel, 2005.

DÍEZ ESPINOSA, J. R. y otros, Historia del mundo actual (desde 1945 hasta nuestros días), Universidad de Valladolid, 2006

PROCACCI, G., Historia general del siglo XX, Ed. Crítica, Barcelona, 2007.

MARTINEZ CARRERAS, J. U. (ed.), Historia del mundo actual, Ed. M. Pons, Madrid, 1996

MARTÍNEZ, J. y otros, Historia Contemporánea, Ed. Tirant Lo Blanch, Valencia, 2006.

In-depth bibliography

FONTANA, J.: Por el bien del imperio. Una historia del mundo desde 1945. Ed. Pasado & Presente, Barcelona, 2011.
HOBSBAWM, E., Historia del siglo XX, 1914-1991, Ed. Crítica, Barcelona, 2008.
JACKSON, J.: Europa 1900-1945. Europa desde 1945. Ed. Crítica, Barcelona, 2003.
KHADER, B.: El mundo árabe explicado a Europa. Historia, imaginario, cultura, economía, geopolítica. Icaria Editorial, 2010
MEREDITH, M.: África. Una historia de 50 años de independencia. Ed. Itermón Oxfam, Madrid 2011