Description
The course of European integration has become the subject of heated political debate. The divided reactions to the economic, refugee and pandemic crises across and within member states over the past decade as well as the exit vote in the Brexit referendum in 2016 all confirm the end of an era of permissive consensus on European integration. This course examines the impact of the politicization of the European Union on electoral behavior at domestic and European elections, the positions of mainstream and fringe political parties and the responsiveness of national governments, parliaments and EU institution to public attitudes towards specific EU policies, integration steps or the overall EU regime.
Course objectives
1 To familiarize students with the state of the art analytical research on the politicization of European integration and EU responsiveness
2 To encourage critical thinking in evaluating alternative theoretical arguments, research designs and empirical findings in class presentations and discussions
3 To motivate students to develop their own research ideas and guide them in examining these ideas in their analytical papers
Mode of instruction
Seminar - Group discussons, student presentations, and papers
Assessment method
Class assignments, presentations, a final paper.
Reading list
Literature
The full syllabus will be circulated during the first class. Readings will be available online through the university library.
Background readings
Hobolt S. and de Vries CE. 2016. ‘Public Support for European Integration’, Annual Review of Political Science 19: 413-32.
Hutter S. Grande E. and Kriesi H. 2016 Politicising Europe: Integration and Mass Politics, Cambridge, MA: Cambridge University Press.
Brightspace
Brightspace is used mainly for organizational purposes
Registration
See general information on Year 3.