EU491      Half Unit
Political Economy in Theory and History

This information is for the 2025/26 session.

Course Convenor

Availability

This course aims to provide a comprehensive coverage and analytical understanding of the evolution of the political economies of Europe within the context of the process of European integration. The course tries to understand how the relation between state and economy in both Western Europe and Central and Eastern Europe has evolved over the post-war period. We look at how capitalism and democracy were reconciled in different European socio-economic models and what role European integration played in their evolution.

15 hours of seminars and 10 hours of lectures in the Autumn Term.
1.5 hours of seminars in the Spring Term.

This course has a reading week in Week 6 of Autumn Term.

A review session will be held at the start of the Spring Term to prepare for the e-exam.

Presentation

Essay (1200 words)

• Blyth M. (2013) Austerity: the History of a Dangerous Idea, Oxford: OUP [esp. ch’s 1-3, an engaging and controversial book on a big question of our times]
• Dinan, D. (2014): Europe Recast: A History of the European Union, Houndmills: Palgrave Macmillan, 2nd ed. [JN30 D58 Course Coll.]. [a historical account of the beginnings that makes for a really good read]
• Dinan D. (2010), Ever Closer Union: an introduction to European integration, Palgrave MacMillan (4th edition) [Course collection HC241.2 D58]
• Durlauf S. and Blume L. (eds) (2008+), The New Palgrave Dictionary of Economics Online [see for instance entries by De Grauwe on monetary union, Gaspar and Issing on ECB monetary policy, Pelkmans on the single market, Swinbank on the CAP, etc.]
• Eichengreen B., The European Economy since 1945: Coordinated Capitalism and Beyond, Princeton University Press.
• Hall P. and Soskice D. (eds.) (2001): Varieties of Capitalism: The institutional foundations of competitiveness. Oxford University Press. [Introduction, a key text on the different combinations of institutions we find in European economies, an effective riposte to the claim that we all have to become the same because of globalisation]
• Majone, G. (2014) Rethinking the Union of Europe Post-Crisis: Has Integration gone too far?, Cambridge: CUP [One of the leading contributors to understanding of the trajectory of European integration raises awkward questions about the limits of integration]
• Wiener, Antje, and Thomas Diez. European Integration Theory. 2nd ed. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2009.

Exam (100%), duration: 120 Minutes in the Spring exam period

The summative assessment will take the form of an e-exam in the Spring Term. E-exams are assessments run under invigilated exam conditions on campus. Students will complete the assessment using software downloaded to their personal laptops.