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 co-operation. On this basis, we then review the current debate about the applicability of theses 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, most notably the European Council and the Council of Ministers, the European Parliament, as well as the European Commission and other supranational agencies. 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 as a whole.
The third block finally focusses on the interactions between European decision-making and national politics. We will especially investigate the public politicisation 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 on 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 prior to the lecture period. The syllabus will also be presented and discussed during the first session. Registration and course organization will be managed via PULS and Moodle, respectively.
Literature will be provided through the Moodle course associated with the seminar. If you want to have a look beforehand, you find the full seminar syllabus on my website here.
The seminar is organised as an inverted or flipped classroom. Contrary to traditional teaching in class, I will offer the lecture and content delivery part of the seminar before our meetings. This will typically be one or two introductory texts for your own reading and a lecture video shared via Moodle roughly three days before each session. For you, this approach has two key advantages. First, it allows you to learn about the key contents of each session at your own speed. Second, it frees up in-class time for joint, active learning: together we will deepen the key contents of each session on the basis of your questions, group discussions and debates, as well as presentations of more advanced topics. To realize these advantages all participants should take both their own preparation phase as well as our joint in-class work seriously.
The seminar addresses Masters students in political science and related disciplines (e.g. international relations, comparative politics, public administration, or political sociology) who are interested in understanding and analyzing contemporary European Union politics. Prior exposure to or practical experience in EU politics is an asset but not a requirement to engage in this class. But prospective participants should be willing to:
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