Description
This course is a seminar on EU policy-making with a focus on theories of European Integration, analysis of EU policies in various areas, and the relationship between these two. It covers the development and structure of the following domains: Single Market, Economic and Monetary Union, agriculture, regional, employment and environmental policy, and Common Foreign and Security Policy.
Course objectives
By the end of this course, students will be able to:
Know and understand the major developments in several important areas of EU policy-making;
Critically assess policy approaches in the EU;
Prepare and present an integrated account of an EU policy area;
Timetable
Methods of instruction
Seminars (mandatory)
Presentations (mandatory)
Method of assessment
Policy presentations (30%) Each presentation (conducted individually or in small groups) must provide a sophisticated theoretically-informed view about the central features and dynamics in a case within the policy field of the week: about what is really going on in Brussels and why the policies develop as they do. Each student must complete one policy presentation. Presentations last about 45 minutes and are followed by discussion with the whole group. This implies that the rest of the group must read the required reading very carefully as well. Additional details will be provided on Blackboard.
Take-home exam (30%) Students will choose one question from three possible questions and answer this as a 2000-3000 word essay. Students will have 24 hours to complete the exam and must submit it in hard copy and digitally via Ephorus. A sample exam and additional details will be provided on Blackboard.
Weekly quizzes (20%) During weeks 2-7 students will complete quizzes covering the reading for the session. From these five quizzes, the average of the four best results will be considered in the calculation of the quiz grade. Thus, you can miss only one quiz without penalty. After one non-participation, each additional non-participation results in a fail grade (5.0) for the respective quiz.
Participation in discussion (20%) Students are expected to actively participate in the discussions of the group presentations and the course readings.
In order to pass the course, students must receive 1) a grade of 5.5 or higher on the take-home exam; 2) a grade of 5.5 or higher on the weekly quizzes component; and 3) a grade of 5.5 or higher on ALL components averaged together.
Re-takes. A re-take for the take-home exam will be provided in April. Because the grade for the weekly quizzes represents the grades from the best four out of five, no re-take will be given for the weekly quiz component. Similarly, no re-takes will be possible for the policy presentations and the participation in discussion components. If a student passes the take-home exam (either during the original examination or the re-take) AND the weekly quiz component, but still has an insufficient grade (5.0 or lower), an oral examination will be given as “re-take” for the discussion and presentation components.
You can find more information about assessments and the timetable exams on the website.
Details for submitting papers (deadlines) are posted on Blackboard.
On the Public Administration front page of the E-guide you will find links to the website, uSis and Blackboard.
Resit
Students will be permitted to resit an examination if they have taken the first sit and have a mark lower than 5.5 or with permission of the Board of Examiners.
Resit written exam
Students that want to take part in a resit for a written exam, are required to register via uSis. Use the activity number that can be found on the ‘timetable exams’.
Blackboard
Blackboard will be available 1 week before the class begins.
Reading list
Helen Wallace, Mark A. Pollack and Alasdair R. Young (2015) Policy making in the European Union. Oxford: Oxford University Press (7th edition!).
Simon Hix and Bjørn Høyland (2011) The Political System of the European Union. Houndsmills, Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan (3rd edition!).
Academic articles (available through the University Library services and Blackboard).
Registration
Use both uSis and Blackboard to register for every course.
Register for every course and workgroup via uSis. Some courses and workgroups have a limited number of participants, so register on time (before the course starts). In uSis you can access your personal schedule and view your results. Registration in uSis is possible from four weeks before the start of the course.
Also register for every course in Blackboard. Important information about the course is posted here.
Contact
Dr Brendan J. Carroll (Schouwburgstraat, B1.07), office hours by appointment, e-mail: b.j.carroll@cdh.leidenuniv.nl