European Union Institutions, Politics, and Policies

"European Union Institutions, Politics, and Policies" aims at giving a good understanding of the polity, politics, and policies of the European Union. We will discuss the institutions of the EU and explore how they compare to government institutions of national political systems. Further, we will look at what the EU does. This means we will go through the range policies that the EU is to very different degrees involved in. We then discuss the theories that seek to explain the process of European integration. Was European integration fully under control of national governments or did it develop a dynamic of its own driven by the EU institutions themselves? Another important part of the course focusses on actors and how political parties, interest groups, and public opinion shape the politics of the EU.

Apart from covering the fundamental knowledge of institutions, policies, and actors, the course also takes an applied perspective by discussing issues that are currently salient in EU politics and inviting practitioners for guest lectures to provide an inside view of EU politics and policy-making.

A student who has completed the course should have the following learning outcomes: 

Knowledge

• Characterize to what extent the EU corresponds to a fully-fledged political system
• Summarize the institutional evolution of the EU over time
• Map out the policy competences of the EU
• Demonstrate familiarity with the main theories of European integration
• Describe the role of key political actors, such as interest groups and political parties, in the EU political system

Skills

• Relate the knowledge acquired throughout the course to current events and developments within the EU
• Discuss the institutional architecture and the workings of the EU on an everyday basis
• Discuss the EU policies, the institutional arrangements behind them, and their possible implications
• Produce a "digital deliverable" (for example: a digital poster, or an audio/radio cast, or a video cast).

General competence

• Think critically and independently but constructively
• Build an argument based on a variety of sources, and to initiate a dialogue between those sources
• Synthesize and present knowledge in a simple and efficient way under time constraints (4-day take home exam)
• Use digital tools to produce "digital deliverables" on key EU issues.