Syllabus
1. Introduction, Postwar economic and demographic boom (October 4) 2. Conformism of the 1950s, McCarthyism (October 11) 3. The Civil Rights Struggle (October 18) 4. The Vietnam War and students´ protests (October 25) 5. L.B. Johnson and the Great Society (November 1) 6. Richard Nixon and the Watergate scandal (November 8) 7. The Reagan presidency: Reaganomics, conservatism, policy vis a vis the Soviet Empire (November 15) 8. The Clinton presidency: after the Cold War (November 22) 9. Trudeau's dream: Multicultural and Bilingual Canada (November 29)
(text: Testing the Bounds of Liberal Multiculturalism?,Will Kymlicka, For distribution to the 2006 Trudeau Foundation?s Conference on Public Policy
"Muslims in Western Societies", November 16-18, 2006). 10. Immigration policy: Since the Introduction of Selection Point system (December 6)
(text: Jeffrey G. Reitz, Immigration and Canadian Nation-building in the transition to a knowledge economy, in Controlling Immigration: a Global Perspective, 2nd Edition,edited by Wayne A. Cornelius, Philip L. Martin, and James F. Hollifield, Stanford University Press, 2003.) 11. PRI one-party rule in Mexico (December 13)
Aguilar Camín and Lorenzo Meyer, In the Shadow of the Mexican Revolution, University of Texas, Austin, 2002, Mexican miracle (p.158-178). (scan available in the SIS system)
Questions:
What is the Mexican miracle? Why did it happen?
What was the Mexican economic system at that time? What were its advantages? What were its disadvantages?
If we compare Mexico with U.S. in the same time period, what are the most obvious differences? Are there any similarities?
What was Mexico's prevalent attitude to the outside world?
How did politics look like in Mexico? 12. Political and economic transition in Mexico since 1988 (December 20)
(text: Sam Dillon, Julia Preston: Opening Mexico, Farrar, Strauss and Giroux, 1994)
Questions:
What major events happened in Mexico in 1994?
How were they related to the process of transition?
What were the dangers Mexico faced throughout the year?
Please note that Units 1 to 8 will be taught by Petr Anděl, Units 9 and 10 by Magdalena Fiřtová, Units 11 and 12 by Krystof Kozak.
Annotation
The course will offer participants insights into social history of the Unites States in the post-WW2 period. Emphasis will be placed on domestic developments.
The period covered will range from the immediately postwar period to the presidency of Clinton and beyond. The course also devotes attention to most relevant historical developments in Canada and Mexico since 1945, providing a comparative framework and wider North American perspective for the critical issues under discussion.