Professor Iain Begg and Professor Nicholas Barr

This course is available on the MSc in Political Economy of Europe, MSc in Political Economy of Europe (LSE and Fudan) and MSc in Political Economy of Europe (LSE and Sciences Po). This course is not available as an outside option.

This course has a limited number of places (it is controlled access) and demand is typically very high. Priority is given to students from the European Institute, so students from outside this programme may not get a place.

The course examines the politics and economics of policy formation in the EU, looking at two types of management issues: the management of crises (Eurozone, migration, Brexit, COVID-19) and the management of globalisation (new social risks, entrepreneurial discovery, trade relations, international investment, EU neighbourhood). It discusses key contemporary questions for the political economy of Europe, based on the concepts and empirical knowledge acquired in either EU455 or EU491; and brings students up to date with the key policy challenges facing the European (political) economy today.

This course is delivered through a combination of lectures and seminars totalling a minimum of 25 hours across Winter Term.  This course includes a reading week in Week 6 of Winter Term, and a review session will be held at the start of the Spring Term to prepare for the online assessment.

Students will be expected to produce 1 essay in the WT.

The formative assessment is a 1200 word essay. 

• Alesina A. and Giavazzi F. (2006) The Future of Europe: Reform or Decline?, Cambridge Mass.: MIT Press
• Bickerton, C. (2012) European Integration: From Nation States to Member States, Oxford: OUP
• Blyth M. (2013) Austerity: the History of a Dangerous Idea, Oxford: OUP
• De Grauwe P. (2014), The Economics of Monetary Union, Oxford University Press (10th edition)
• Dinan, D. (2004): Europe Recast: A History of the European Union, Houndmills: Palgrave Macmillan.
• Dinan D. (2010), Ever Closer Union: an introduction to European integration, Palgrave MacMillan (4th edition)
• Dyson K. and Featherstone K. (1999): The Road to Maastricht, Introduction, Oxford University Press.
• Eichengreen B. (2007), The European Economy Since 1945: coordinated capitalism and beyond, Princeton University Press
• Majone, G. (2014) Rethinking the Union of Europe Post-Crisis: Has Integration gone too far?, Cambridge: CUP

Online assessment (100%) in the ST.

The online assessment for this course will be administered via Moodle.  Questions will be made available at a set date/time and students will be given a set period in the ST to complete the answers to questions and upload their responses back into Moodle.