Time Schedule:
Frank Wendler
POL S 448
Seattle Campus
Examines the origins, structures, and political dynamics of the European Union. Attention given to theories of integration, to relations between the European Union and member states, and to the role of the European Union in world politics.
Class description
This course will introduce you to the institutions and decision-making of the European Union and the main concepts, theories and debates of research dealing with it in the field of political science. It is suggested that two main issues motivate the study of the European Union: On the one hand, the EU has assumed a broad range of political competences and now arguably affects not just the political decision-making of its Member States but also the everyday lives of ordinary citizens. Therefore it appears relevant to study why the EU has evolved this way through six decades of political integration and how it works today. On the other, the EU is an interesting object for political scientists as it constitutes not just the most advanced project of supranational integration between nation states but is also a unique political system that blends features of an international organisation and a nation state. By transforming national decision-making into a new form of multi-level governance, it therefore tests our understanding of how politics in the nation-state works, and to what degree decision-making beyond the nation-state can be, and needs to be democratically legitimate.
The seminar is organised in three sections, proceeding from a global perspective on the evolution of the EU as a political system to a more detailed study of its institutions and decision-making processes and finally, some of the main policy-fields dealt with by the EU. While the course offers a thematically broad introduction into the study of the EU, an emphasis will be laid on questions of representation, political conflict, decision-making and democratic legitimacy.
Student learning goals
- Knowledge of EU institutions and decision-making processes
- Knowledge of key theoretical and analytical approaches towards the study of the EU
- Knowledge of the historical background and evolution of European integration
- Knowledge of discussions concerning the democratic legitimacy of EU governance
- Individual research into a selected topic covered in the course, resulting in a problem-oriented term paper
General method of instruction
- Lectures - Short presentations by students - Discussion - Work in groups and subsequent discussion
Recommended preparation
see course syllabus, to be posted soon on course website (announced soon)
Class assignments and grading
see course syllabus, to be posted soon on course website(announced soon)
see course syllabus, to be posted soon on course website(announced soon)
