Sovereignty and Solidarity – Rethinking European Public Policy - Einzelansicht

Over the past decades, European public policy has been increasingly shaped by a fundamental tension between national sovereignty and European solidarity. While Member States seek to preserve control over key policy domains, the growing interdependence within the European Union requires collective responses to complex, transboundary challenges. This raises crucial questions about authority, responsibility, and cooperation in the EU’s multi-level governance system.

This seminar explores how sovereignty and solidarity are negotiated, contested, and redefined in European public policy. After introducing these key concepts, the course examines the institutional framework of EU policymaking and discusses central theoretical approaches to understanding policy processes beyond the nation state. Building on this foundation, the seminar turns to three core policy fields: digital policy, climate and environmental policy, and foreign and security policy. In each case, students will analyse both European-level strategies and patterns of national implementation or coordination within and between Member States.

Through short student presentations, an excursion, and a simulation exercise, participants will engage with real-world policy dilemmas and reflect on the practical implications of theoretical perspectives. By comparing different policy areas, the course aims to provide a nuanced understanding of how the balance between sovereignty and solidarity shapes contemporary European governance and its future development.

Students are expected to have a basic understanding of the structures and functions of national political systems and a willingness to examine them within the European Union’s multi-level governance framework. While prior knowledge of public policy analysis and of digital policy, climate and environmental policy, and foreign and security policy is advantageous, it is not a prerequisite.

The requirements for the seminar’s minor course assessment (so-called "Prüfungsnebenleistung") will be communicated at the beginning of the course. As the module examination, a written term paper is expected (approximately 20 pages, maximum 9,000 words).