Europe and the World
Department: | Philosophy, Politics and Society |
Coordinator: | Prof.dr. P. Nissen |
Accessible to: | PTRS students, Exchange students PTRS, students from other faculties can mail to stip@ftr.ru.nl. Exchange students from other faculties can mail to internationaloffice@ftr.ru.nl. |
Prerequisites: | https://www.ru.nl/courseguides/fftr/bachelor-pps/access-pps-courses-modules/ |
Period: | Semester 1, period 1 and 2 |
Content
On a global scale the interactions and the relationships between the continents are in a process of rapid change. Since the modern era Europe, or in a wider sense the West, had a dominant position in the world. The world was perceived as divided between the western and the non-western world, ‘Us’ and ‘Them’, the West and the Rest. The western world expanded both its economic interests and its religious, cultural and political values all over the world through the processes of colonialization, imperialism, mission, and development aid. These values, foremost those of European Christianity and of the European Enlightenment, were by people inside and outside of Europe considered to have universal validity. But since the past century and since the process of decolonization of Latin America, Asia, Africa and Oceania, the cards of global relationships have been reshuffled. Non-western societies have begun to challenge the imposition of foreign ideas, sensibilities and forms of identity. The products exported by the West, both material and ideological, are no longer accepted as self-evident and universal. Due to ‘the Rise of the Rest’ (Fareed Zakaria) the world is entering a new era, in which the western dominance of global economy, geopolitics, and global cultural and moral values is no longer taken for granted. This minor will explore the consequences of this global power shift for the exchange of cultural and religious ideas and values. One course will focus on the historical predominance of Europe/the West, a second course will explore the exchange between Europe/the West and East and Southeast Asia, and the third course will do the same for Europe/the West and the Islamic world, especially the Middle East.
Period | Course | Course ID | Credits |
---|---|---|---|
1 + 2 | Philosophical Perspectives on Europe | FTR-FIPPSB302 | 5 |
1 + 2 | Religious Perspectives on Europe | FTR-FIPPSB303 | 5 |
1 + 2 | Europe in Contemporary Debates | FTR-FIPPSB304 | 5 |
Module code: FTR-MI-FI116-20 |