Module description

This is a module about political, social, cultural and economic change in the Benelux-countries (Belgium, the Netherlands and Luxembourg)...

At the Crossroads of Europe: Belgium, the Netherlands and Luxembourg in the 20th and 21st Centuries (DUTC0006)

Module description

This is a module about political, social, cultural and economic change in the Benelux-countries (Belgium, the Netherlands and Luxembourg) from the inter-war period to the present. Among the themes covered are: the crisis of democracy in the 1930s; collaboration, resistance and accommodation during the German occupation of World War II; decolonisation; Dutch, Belgian and Luxembourgian post-war politics; the Cold War and European integration; development of the modern welfare state; cultural revolution and new social movements in the 1960s; linguistic and inter-communal tensions and federalisation of Belgium; immigration, the polder-model, the 'crisis of multiculturalism' and the recent rise of populism in the Netherlands. 

Teaching Delivery 

The module aims to:

provide a broad survey of the contemporary history of the Benelux states;
	enable you to place current developments in a historic context;
	introduce concepts and approaches in the study of contemporary history; help you develop analytical, writing and presentation skills.
Recommended Reading

The following textbook, a standard history, provides back-up to the programme (copies of which are held in the College library):

Blom, J.C.H. and E. Lamberts (eds.), History of the Low Countries (New York/London: Berghahn Books, 1999, 2nd ed. 2004).
For a shorter survey of the history of the Benelux countries, please check out the following work:

Arblaster, Paul, A history of the Low Countries (Basingstoke, 2006) (DUTCH H 32.51 ARB).
The module also uses online teaching and learning resources will be made available via Moodle. For an interactive reading list please see this module’s Reading List@UCL Library: https://rl.talis.com/3/ucl/lists/580C6252-B5A4-D37A-8B0A-3D7385A8348D.html