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Contributor(s): Dr Sara Hagemann

Released on 15 April 2014.

This course analyses the European Union as an emerging 'political system', where there as an on-going interaction between the processes of government (the operation of the institutional and legal framework), public policy (the adoption and impact of policy decisions and EU legislation), and politics (the interests, ideas, opinions and values of the political actors - e.g. citizens, businesses, regions, government ministers, bureaucrats, party leaders). The principal aim of the course is to provide a detailed knowledge of how national and EU institutions interact in European policy making. To achieve this the course is divided into two parts. The first will introduce principal theories of policy making along three core policy dimensions: agenda setting, decision making, policy implementation. In the second part the conceptual insights gained will be used to analyse a number of substantive policy areas. These will typically include: the single market, social and environmental policies, justice and home affairs policies, common agricultural policy, economic and monetary union, immigration and asylum policy, energy and climate change policy, and EU foreign policy.

EU435 History and Theory of European Integration

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Contributor(s): Dr Mareike Kleine

Released on 15 April 2014.

This course is an introduction to the causes and nature of European integration. The topic is presented from a historical, social scientific and normative perspective. We critically examine various theories of, and current debates about European integration by studying the process of integration, its effect on EU member states and third actors, and its constitutional character. The first part of the course analyses different stages in the integration process, asking why and how member states surrendered more and more power to European institutions. The second part discusses a number of big questions that this transfer of power raises. At the end of this course you will have gained an overview of the history of European integration, integration theories and their intellectual history, the political system of the European Union, and current public and scholarly debates about European Union politics.

IR416 The EU in the World

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Contributor(s): Dr Karen Smith

This course covers the development of the external activities of the European Communities since 1957, including the development of European Political Cooperation and the Common Foreign and Security Policy. The relationship between the member states and these external activities, in particular the impact of the evolution of EU institutions and policies on national foreign policies.