LINKÖPING UNIVERSITY
Department of Management and Engineering
Political Science Division
Master in International and European Relations
Spring 2015
SYLLABUS
15-01-08
733A45: CONTEMPORARY EUROPEAN INSTITUTIONS, 7,5 credits
Week
4
5
6
Date
Monday,
January 19
Time
13-15
Thursday,
January 22
Monday,
January 26
13-15
Thursday,
January 29
10-12
Wednesday,
February 4
10-12
13-15
15-17
7
8
Monday,
February 16
Tuesday,
February 17
Wednesday,
February 18
Thursday,
February 19
09.00
10-12
09.00
16.00
Subject
Introduction,
The political system of
the EU (Hix & Höyland,
part one)
The political system of
the EU (H &H, part two)
Seminar on H & H
- part three
- questions
European integration
theory (Wiener &
Diez)
Seminar on W&D
Challenges for the EU:
Study trip OR:
Self-study of Zielonka
Send out reports from
Brussels or on Zielonka
Seminar on challenges
Teacher
MR
MR
MR
MR
MR
--
-MR
Take-home
exam begins
Take-home exam ends
Teacher (and examiner)
MR
Room
See Time
Edit
Mikael Rundqvist (mikael.x.rundqvist@liu.se, 013-281150)
---
Required readings
Hix, Simon & Höyland, Björn 2011: The Political System of the European Union, third edition,
Palgrave Macmillan
Wiener, Antje & Diez, Thomas (eds) 2009: European Integration Theory, second edition, Oxford
University Press
Zielonka, Jan 2006: Europe as Empire. The Nature of the Enlarged European Union, Oxford
University Press (can be substituted with a study-trip)
Aim of the course
On completion of the course the student should be able to
-
empirically and theoretically examine the institutions of the European union (EU);
utilize acquired theoretical concepts in order to understand and explain patterns of power
and authority in contemporary Europe;
understand and critically discuss the concept of multi-level governance in the EU;
account for the centrifugal and integrative aspects of European national and transnational
interconnections and interdependence in broad temporal and spatial terms
discuss possible future developments in Europe and the EU
The idea of the course
The course gives an advanced introduction to the European Union. It will familiarize the students
with the main theories, institutions, and policy areas of the European integration process and
advance their understanding of the interaction between these institutions, the linkage between the
European and national level, and current debates on the development and future of the European
Union.
The course will begin with a focus on the European Union as a political system, looking at the
organization, processes and policies of the EU. All of this aims at understanding what the EU
does and how it does it. The EU is compared to other political systems and general theories are
applied, mainly from a perspective of comparative politics.
The course will then introduce a selection of research-perspectives on the European Union, from
a variety of angles within political science. The aim is to step back and reflect on what we know
about the EU and how the choice of perspective and method limits our views. This will also help
us reflect critically on the EU. We will get an overview of what research on the EU is about.
With this background, the next part of the course is a mini-research exercise about the challenges
for the EU. Each student will look at a particular topic and will distribute a one page summary of
findings. This will be used in the final part. The basis for this research is either a study-trip to
Brussels (optional) or additional readings. It is mandatory to select one of these and to hand in a
summary.
The final part of the course is designed to reflect on our findings and integrate the various bits
and pieces. This will be done in two steps. There will first be a seminar on the challenges, based
on the student summaries and the literature. Secondly, there will be an
individual take-home exam which will need further integration of the information given in
the course. The idea is that the exam will itself be a help in reaching a deeper understanding.
The teaching
The lectures are aimed to assist the students in their learning by pointing out major issues
and positions. The lectures are focused on the books by Hix & Höyland and Wiener & Diez.
The students are encouraged to comment and thereby take an active part in the lectures.
The seminars are specifically aimed to clarify and have a discussion among the students on the
core issues. A set of questions will be provided on the course website, to be the starting point of
the discussion. The teacher will lead the seminar, but the expectation is that the students do most
of the talking. It is expected that everyone comes well prepared and is willing to share
knowledge and insights with the group.
The course also uses a variety of other methods for teaching and learning; a miniresearch exercise (study-trip or self-study), a debate on challenges and an individual
exercise to synthesize the information given in the course (the take-home exam).
Feedback in different forms will be given on the different seminars and other activities
during the course.
Further instructions
There will be questions on the books, to help reading them and serve as a basis for the
seminars. There will also be further instructions on the mini-research and the debate on
challenges.
Requirements
To pass the course, the following must be fulfilled:
1. Mandatory participation in the seminars and the debate, or the mandatory submission of
an extra assignment for each seminar (and debate) that the student is absent from. This
part of the examination will be graded on a pass or fail scale, and the student needs
to pass all seminars in order to receive a final grade.
2.
Submission of individually written summaries (one page) of findings in the miniresearch exercise, based on the study-tour or the additional reading. These submissions
are not graded. They should be distributed to the teacher and everyone in the group
electronically before Monday, February 16, 09.00.
3. A written exam is the final examination of the course. This will be in the form of a takehome exam, where the idea is to use the knowledge acquired through the course
to analyze a general question in the form of an essay. This part of the examination will
determine the grade of the course.
Questions for the seminar on Hix and Höyland (January 26th)
1. How are policies coordinated within the commission? (think of mechanisms in the formal
organization, as well as rules and procedures etc.)
2. In what ways are the EPP and PES an oligopoly?
3. National supreme courts have questioned the supremacy of European law; on
what grounds?
4. Why is it difficult for European national parties to handle the relationship to the
EU? (why is it difficult for them to collaborate across the continent?)
5. One option for a more democratic EU would be to have an elected President, like the US.
What makes that a good idea and what makes it a bad idea?
6. What would the likely consequences be if the Commission was forbidden to work closely
with organized interests?
7. Hix and Höyland discusses more or less similar explanations for all policies. Which are
they and which one seems most convincing to you? Why?
Questions for the seminar on Wiener & Diez (February 4th)
1. Why is it helpful to study theory to understand European integration? Wiener & Diez
makes three arguments. Do you find all of them convincing? Can you add other
arguments?
2. A very important question is whether the theories presented are contradictory or
complementary. What are the arguments for seeing them as the one or the other?
3. What type of theory is ”federalism”? What is it used for?
4. Which theory (-ies) are most similar to ”federalism”. (A key is the concept of MLG.)
5. Under which circumstances can we consider ”neofunctionalism” to be compatible with
”liberal intergovernmentalism”?
6. How do the two theories (NF and LI) explain the adoption of the CAP?
7. What type of theory is ”governance”? What is it used for?
8. The theory of ”governance” highlights networking in the public sector. How do these
networks differ from ”policy networks”? (A key is the concept of ”stovepipe” or ”silo”.)
9. Which theory (-ies) have a lot in common with ”policy networks”, especially ”epistemic
communities”?
10. What do the three ”new institutionalisms” have in common? How do they differ?
11. Is ”social constructivism” compatible with ”liberal intergovernmentalism”? Which types
of constructivism are compatible and which types are not?
12. What can we learn about foreign policy from the ”discursive approaches”?
13. EU policies to stop ”trafficking” are used as an example in the chapter of ”gender
theories”. It is also an illustration of another theory; which one?
14. ”Gender” is here more or less the same as ”feminism”. Are there gender-related problems
where men are the victims? What should the EU do about that?
15. What is a ”social contract theory” trying to show? Do you find Rawls’ theory convincing?
16. What is the basic idea in Habermas’ discursive democracy? What does it take to apply it
at the European level?
17. Which theory (-ies) are most similar to ”critical political economy”; (a) in the normative
claims? (b) in the building blocks of the theories?
18. Table 13.2 places the theories in nine categories (3x3). Some of them fall in several
categories. Some of them fall into other categories than expected from the structure of the
book (part 1, 2, 3); why is that? Is it a problem?