Global integration is not only a fact of modern life, but modern history writing. The interconnectedness of societies and states, and the powers forcing social, cultural and economic interaction have prompted significant scholarly assessment.

 

This lecture-only module investigates some of the events and processes which have led to a more integrated world order between the mid-nineteenth and later twentieth century. For most of that period much of the world was carved up between a number of intercontinental European empires. How those empires grew, exerted control, and then retreated will be the particular focus, but other processes will also be considered, not least the integrating force of economic changes and the spreading power of global capitalism.

 

Attention will also be given to the evolution of ideologies of imperialism and social Darwinism, and to whether or not such ideologies impacted upon changing global power relationships.