European Union Politics – contemporary research perspectives - Einzelansicht

This seminar aims to provide students with an in-depth understanding of the functions and functioning of the European Union, building especially on recent empirical research in the political sciences. Our joint work will be structured along three blocks.

In the first block, we will first refresh the basic theories of European integration and political cooperation. On this basis, we then review the current debate about the applicability of these theories to the different crises the EU has lived through in the last two decades.

The second block will then zoom in on the functions and functioning of individual EU institutions: the European Council and the Council of Ministers, the European Parliament, as well as the European Commission. Here, we will read and discuss recent empirical studies that deal with the internal decision-making logics and the relative influence of these institutions in the EU.

The third block finally focuses on the interactions between European decision-making and national politics. We will especially investigate the public politicization of EU affairs in the member states to then review empirical research studying how different EU institutions respond to and deal with such controversial public debates.

Throughout these three blocks, students will acquire a comprehensive view of the current scientific debate about the EU which should help them to engage more systematically with broader discussions in contemporary European politics.

Many of the studies we will read and discuss together also demonstrate advanced methods in modern empirical political science. A willingness to engage with both the substantive and methodological aspects of this literature, as well as regular, active participation in discussions are prerequisites for the successful completion of the seminar.

A detailed syllabus, including formal course requirements, will be available at www.christian-rauh.eu/teaching around one week before the lecture period starts. The syllabus will also be presented and discussed during the first session. Registration and course organization will be managed via PULS and Moodle, respectively.

The specific research literature will be provided in the course syllabus, but the following two textbooks provide good introductions to the themes of the seminar:

• De Vries, C. E., Hobolt, S. B., Proksch, S.-O. and Slapin, J. B. (2021) Foundations of European Politics: A Comparative Approach, Oxford, United Kingdom: Oxford University Press.
• Hix, S. and Høyland, B. (2022) The Political System of the European Union, 4th Ed., London ; New York: Bloomsbury Academic.

• Participation
• Presentation
• Term paper