GY103      One Unit
Contemporary Europe

This information is for the 2025/26 session.

Course Convenor

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This course aims at: introducing students with little prior knowledge of European issues to some of the most important economic, social, and political challenges the European Union overcame in the past and currently faces; developing an understanding of the determinants of these challenges, and the related public policy responses at different geographical levels; learning about strengths, weaknesses and lessons to be drawn from the most striking example of integration among nation states as a result of historical forces and in the context of a globalised world. The course covers critical issues such as different degrees of economic integration in theory and practice, competitiveness, cohesion, innovation and growth, enlargements, Euro crisis, Brexit, Europe in the world, social policy, employment trends, poverty, migration, ageing, and inequality. Particular emphasis is laid upon the geographical foundations of these themes, at various spatial scales in Europe: supranational, national and subnational (e.g. regional, local, urban) levels. The course is traditionally based on close interactions with the lecturers and class teachers, and extra curriculum events will be also organised.

20 hours of lectures and 9 hours of classes in the Winter Term.
20 hours of lectures and 9 hours of classes in the Autumn Term.

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

In the Department of Geography and Environment, teaching will be delivered through a combination of classes/seminars, pre-recorded lectures, live online lectures and other supplementary interactive live activities.

Students will be expected to produce two class essays during the year (worth 15% each) and will also be expected to give class presentations.

Given the diversity of the subject, there is no one textbook that covers all of the topics. A mix of academic articles and chapters from textbooks is used in the course. Reading lists are provided electronically, and additional web sources will also be indicated during the lectures. There is no textbook but R Baldwin and C Wyplosz, The Economics of the European Integration, 7th ed. 2022 is excellent background. The chapters on Switzerland, Austria, and Sweden in Lee, N (2024) Innovation for the masses: how to share the benefits of the high tech economy, are also core.

Exam (70%), duration: 120 Minutes in the Spring exam period

Essay (15%, 1000 words)

Essay (15%, 1000 words)