Unit name | The Fall of Old Labour |
---|---|
Unit code | POLI31371 |
Credit points | 20 |
Level of study | H/6 |
Teaching block(s) |
Teaching Block 1 (weeks 1 - 12) |
Unit director | Professor. Wickham-Jones |
Open unit status | Not open |
Pre-requisites |
None |
Co-requisites |
None |
School/department | School of Sociology, Politics and International Studies |
Faculty | Faculty of Social Sciences and Law |
This unit will examine the nature and development of "Old Labour" in British politics between 1945 and 1983. The first part of the unit will involve an introduction to various theoretical debates about the potential and objectives of social democracy, its organisation and electoral strategy. The second part will look at the politics of the Labour party. It will analyse Labour's policy proposals, ideological commitments, internal currents, electoral strategy and performance in office. A particular focus will be on the "fall" of "Old" Labour, a decline culminating in electoral collapse at the 1983 general election. What kind of a party was "Old" Labour and why did it encounter such profound difficulties in electoral competition? The unit will include a role play session concerning the IMF crisis of 1976 and will spend time examining primary sources including recently released Cabinet papers from the 1974-1979 Labour government.
Aims:
Ten 2 hour seminars and ten lectures.
The seminars will address significant topics for the most part via student presentation and discussion. The lecture will follow providing a summary of the material under consideration.
Formatively, the unit will be assessed through an essay of no more than 3,000 words
Summatively, the unit will be assessed through an essay of no more than 3,500 words.
Each essay will directly assess learning outcomes 1, 2, 3, and 4 including students’ understanding of Old Labour in terms of some debates about the nature of social democracy, their critical awareness and appraisal of some developments in Old Labour, and their appraisal of relevant source material as well as the clarity of analysis that is offered.