Admission requirements
Target group:
Regular students Bachelor Public Administration;
Exchange and Study Abroad students;
Participants in the minor 'Public administration: Multi-level governance' or the minor 'Openbaar Bestuur, Beleid en Management'.
There are specific working groups organised for minor and exchange students.
Description
European Union institutions and agencies, comprising approximately 60,000 EU civil servants, work together to address the common challenges faced by EU member states and their citizens. The decisions made by these institutions profoundly influence the daily lives of its 500 million citizens and many others globally. While the EU is a successful project in international politics, it also encounters criticism within Europe and beyond. Moreover, the EU of the twenty-first century confronts numerous unprecedented challenges, particularly in transnational areas such as migration, health, climate change, and more recently, security. As the European Union adapts in response to these and other challenges, it requires continuous reassessment of its institutional politics, policymaking processes, and the impact it has on national-level politics and EU citizens.
This course focuses on the functioning of the EU political system and its core bureaucratic institutions, such as the European Commission and EU agencies. Its aim is to provide students with a comprehensive understanding of the core EU-level bureaucracies and their roles in policy formulation, the EU policy-making process, major theoretical discussions, and fundamental areas of contention. Additionally, it covers key EU policies, including the Monetary Union, and the expanding scope of EU involvement in Justice and Home Affairs.
The course builds upon the first-year course 'Openbaar Bestuur en Bestuurswetenschap' (Public Administration I), which introduces the European Union within the framework of the internationalization of governance structures in the Netherlands. Exchange and minor students without prior knowledge of the EU are advised to consult the additional reading list to familiarize themselves with the basics of the European Union's institutional setup.
Course objectives
Students can describe the functions of the core EU institutions, the interactions between EU institutions in EU-level decision-making processes, as well as new challenges and current governance issues within the EU, including policy fields in which the EU is active.
Students can describe and apply the most important theoretical approaches to explain European Union institutional politics and policy-making.
Students can apply the knowledge obtained in this course to engage with and explain current events in EU politics and policy-making.
Timetable
On the right side of the programme front page of the prospectus you will find links to the website and timetables, uSis and Brightspace.
Mode of instruction
Lectures, working groups, self-study. Attendance at working groups is compulsory for all students.
Contact hours: 21 hours (7 weeks, 2 hours per week for lectures + 2 hours for working groups in the second week. During weeks 3-7, students participate in 1-hour assignment presentations).
Examination: 5 hours
Self-study hours: 114 hours (preparation for lectures, studying literature, preparing assignments for working groups, exam preparation).
Students must attend all workgroups where they are scheduled to present their assignments for grading, unless they have a valid reason (to be determined by the lecturer). Failure to attend a workgroup without a valid reason will result in the student's exclusion from further participation in the course.
Assessment method
The course assessment consists of a written examination, which accounts for 60% of the final grade and is based on both readings and lectures. Additionally, an assignment within the workgroups contributes 40% to the final grade.
In order to pass the course, students must receive 1) an average grade of 5.5 or higher on the written examamination; and 2) a grade of 5.5 or higher on ALL components averaged together.
Re-takes
A re-take for the written exam will be provided in the regular resit period for students who did not receive a grade of 5.5 or higher on the exam.
If the weighted average of an assignment within the workgroup and the exam is below a 5.5, but the exam was assessed with a grade above a 5.5, we offer the possibility to retake a working group assignment.
Partial grades are only valid in the current academic year; they will not remain valid after the exam or the resit of the course.
For further information about the University's exam rules please see: Rules and Regulations
Reading list
Hodson, D., Puetter, U., Peterson, J., & Saurugger, S. (Eds.). (2022). The institutions of the European Union. Oxford University Press.
Registration
Register for every course and workgroup via My Studymap or uSis. Course registration via MyStudymap is possible from TBA
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.
Students can enrol either as part of the Bestuurskunde bachelor track or as a minor from another programme after registration for the entire minor. You will receive the same course but make sure you enrol for the correct track so that your grades are registered properly.
- Students who take this course as part of a Minor or Exchange programme will be placed in and registered for the minor workgroup by the FGGA course administration.
More information on registration via MyStudymap can be found on this page.
Leiden University uses Brightspace as its online learning management system. After enrolment for the course in uSis you will be automatically enrolled in the Brightspace environment of this course.
Please note: guest-/contract-/exchange students do not register via MyStudymap but via uSis.
Contact
Dr. D. Rimkutė d.rimkute@fgga.leidenuniv.nl