Americans often call Europe "the Old Continent," a part of the world with a fascinating past but without much relevance to the future of the world. As recent events like the impact of the "Great Recession", the ongoing influx of immigrants from the Middle East and Africa, and the "Brexit" vote of 2016 show, however, Europe is still at the center of events shaping the world today and its future. In this course, we will study the major events that have transformed Europe and redefined its place in the world in the past quarter-century, starting with the fall of the Berlin Wall and the end of Communist rule in eastern Europe in 1989. Through common readings, lectures, student-directed projects and other activities, we will look at the effects of the breakup of the Communist bloc, the rise and possible fall of the European Union, the ways in which non-European immigration is transforming the Continent, Europe's experience of the global economic crisis of 2008, the place of women in present-day Europe, European struggles with historical memory, and the prospects for the Old Continent's future.

Americans often call Europe "the Old Continent," a part of the world with a fascinating past but without much relevance to the future of the world. As recent events like the impact of the "Great Recession", the ongoing influx of immigrants from the Middle East and Africa, and the "Brexit" vote of 2016 show, however, Europe is still at the center of events shaping the world today and its future. In this course, we will study the major events that have transformed Europe and redefined its place in the world in the past quarter-century, starting with the fall of the Berlin Wall and the end of Communist rule in eastern Europe in 1989. Through common readings, lectures, student-directed projects and other activities, we will look at the effects of the breakup of the Communist bloc, the rise and possible fall of the European Union, the ways in which non-European immigration is transforming the Continent, Europe's experience of the global economic crisis of 2008, the place of women in present-day Europe, European struggles with historical memory, and the prospects for the Old Continent's future.