Admission requirements
N/A
Description
People have become more critical of European policy and often seem to prefer local policy solutions in response to globalization problems. How do you experience EU policy? Does it help? And if not, how can we change this? In this course, we learn how EU policy is made, and how policy is transferred to member states and implemented by various authorities, including regional and local governments. In this course, we discuss the challenges of the European multi-level governance structure by focusing on the various actors that are involved, but also presenting important theoretical perspectives and analytical frameworks. We will discussion legislative decision-making in the context of the EU institutions, transposition of specific EU legislative measures by national governments, the actual implementation within member states, which may involve local or regional governments, and eventually the possibilities of feedback and change. Key examples of such EU policies are clean air, often implemented by local governments, residence rights and the posting of workers. We also focus on the main causes of policy failure or success when moving EU policy from Brussels to the national capitals and finally into the national political-administrative context of member states.
Course objectives
You will have an advanced understanding of the European multilevel policy process with an emphasis on the role of various political actors at the EU level and their links with national, regional or local governments, which play a role in the actual implementation of policy, including the theories and analytical frameworks that have been developed in this field.
You will have sufficient capacity to critically analyze policymaking and implementation in the European multilevel context;
You can apply important topics in multilevel governance and policymaking by analyzing concrete cases of policymaking with an emphasis on implementation.
Labour market
You will work with examples of EU policy, that need to be applied in the context of a national, regional or local government, which helps you to orient yourselves on the labor market.
Timetable
On the right side of programme front page of the E-guide you will find links to the website and timetables, uSis and Brightspace.
Mode of instruction
The course is based on blended learning: key topics are explained in brief knowledge clips online, including weekly quizzes. The online experience is supplemented with face-to-face discussion and guidance in weekly meetings with the lecturers.
Assessment method
You are required:
to take actively part in the seminar meetings (except for virtual participants of the course who are not enrolled at Leiden University); and
to work on the various quizzes.
Your final grade is based on the following rules:
quizzes within the context of the blended environment (pass/fail),
oral exam, demonstrating understanding of and critical assessment of key arguments of the knowledge clips and the readings (100%).
Here are some additional rules on your grading and participation:
Weekly presence: you are allowed to miss one class with prior notification. If absence was not notified or you miss two or more classes, no grade will be given (with the exception of virtual classroom participants).
Weekly knowledge quizzes: The five weekly knowledge quizzes test insights on the knowledge clips and readings. The grade is based on the average of the 4 quizzes (best out of 5 quizzes). You are allowed to miss 1 quiz. The grade will then be based on the average of the 4 quizzes. Skipping more than 1 quiz will result in a retake. The quizzes should be completed on time. Check the course overview for the exact dates. The final grade for these quizzes can be used for your oral exam grade (see below).
Grade exam: You may use the final grade based on your quizzes for the grade of your exam. If you wish, 25% of the grade of the oral exam can be based on the average of the 4 best results of your weekly quizzes (there in total of 5 quizzes). The other 75% is based on your exam. You need to indicate whether you prefer this option before the start of your oral exam. If you decide not to include your final grade for the quizzes, you receive only a grade for your oral exam (but you need to pass the quizzes!). Virtual participants (not from Leiden University) also participate in the oral exam: in their case, the exam will be done by Skype.
Final grade: Next to a pass for the quizzes, the grade for oral exam must be a 5.5 or higher to pass the course.
Retake weekly knowledge quizzes: You will be permitted to retake the weekly knowledge quizzes if you have an average grade lower than 5.5 (or with permission of the Board of Examiners). This possibility only applies to students who participated in at least four weekly quizzes. It does not apply to students who missed two or more weekly quizzes (see no show). The retake will be one quiz on the material of all five weeks of knowledge videos and readings: see the website of the course for the date of the retake.
Resit exam: You have a second possibility to take the oral examination if you have a mark lower than 5.5 or with permission of the Board of Examiners. The new exam will be scheduled within four (working) weeks after the initial date of the exam.
No show: In case of no show or no participation in quizzes, no grade will be given.
From 2020-2021 onwards, partial grades will not remain valid after the exam and the resit of the course.
Reading list
TBA
Registration
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.
From the academic year 2020-2021 Leiden University uses Brightspace as its online learning management system. After enrollment for the course in uSis you will be automatically enrolled in the Brightspace environment of this course.
Contact
Prof. dr. Bernard Steunenberg b.steunenberg@fgga.leidenuniv.nl