LL4BG      Half Unit
Rethinking EU Law

This information is for the 2021/22 session.

Teacher responsible

Dr Michael Wilkinson

Availability

This course is available on the LLM (extended part-time), LLM (full-time), MSc in European and International Public Policy, MSc in European and International Public Policy (LSE and Bocconi), MSc in European and International Public Policy (LSE and Sciences Po) and University of Pennsylvania Law School LLM Visiting Students. This course is available with permission as an outside option to students on other programmes where regulations permit.

Specialisms: European Law, Legal Theory, Public Law, Human Rights Law

This course has a limited number of places and we cannot guarantee all students will get a place.

Course content

The course examines the theoretical underpinnings of the EU and European Union law: it explores issues such as the nature and evolution of the EU and its legal order, its democratic and constitutional credentials, the place of fundamental rights and their relationship to market freedoms, the idea of a European economic constitution, and the impact of the Euro-crisis, the rule of law crisis, populism and Brexit on the trajectory of integration. It offers students a deeper understanding of the structures that constitute the EU but also an opportunity to think about how European integration informs our ideas of law and the modern state.

Teaching

This course will have two hours of teaching content each week in Michaelmas Term, either in the form of a two hour seminar or an online lecture and one hour class. There will be a Reading Week in Week 6 of Michaelmas Term.

Formative coursework

All students are expected to produce one 2,000 word formative essay during the course.

Indicative reading

Michael A. Wilkinson, Authoritarian Liberalism and the Transformation of Modern Europe (OUP, 2021); K. Tuori and K. Tuori, The Eurozone Crisis: A Constitutional Analysis (Cambridge University Press, 2014); J Habermas, The Crisis of the European Union: A Response (Polity 2012); C Bickerton, European Integration: From Nation-States to Member States (Oxford University Press, 2012); P Lindseth, Power and Legitimacy: Reconciling Europe and the Nation-State (OUP 2010); L van Middelaar, The Passage to Europe: How a Continent Became a Union (Yale University Press, 2013); F Scharpf, Governing in Europe (OUP 1999); A Stone Sweet, The Judicial Construction of Europe (OUP 2004); JHH Weiler, The Constitution of Europe : "Do the New Clothes Have an Emperor?" And Other Essays on European Integration (CUP 1999); A Wiener and T Diez (eds), European Integration Theory 2nd ed (OUP 2009)

Assessment

Essay (100%) in the ST.

Course selection videos

Some departments have produced short videos to introduce their courses. Please refer to the course selection videos index page for further information.

Important information in response to COVID-19

Please note that during 2021/22 academic year some variation to teaching and learning activities may be required to respond to changes in public health advice and/or to account for the differing needs of students in attendance on campus and those who might be studying online. For example, this may involve changes to the mode of teaching delivery and/or the format or weighting of assessments. Changes will only be made if required and students will be notified about any changes to teaching or assessment plans at the earliest opportunity.

Key facts

Department: Law

Total students 2020/21: 26

Average class size 2020/21: 13

Controlled access 2020/21: Yes

Value: Half Unit

Guidelines for interpreting course guide information