Admission requirements
Target group:
Regular students Bachelor Public Administration;
Exchange and Study Abroad students;
Participants in the minor 'Public administration: Multi-level governance'.
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 institutions, such as the Council of the EU, the European Parliament, and the Commission. Its aim is to provide students with a comprehensive understanding of the EU institutions 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
TBA
Assessment method
TBA
Reading list
Cini, M., & Pérez-Solórzano Borragán, N. (2025). European union politics (8th edition.). Oxford University Press.
Registration
Registration via MyStudymap is possible from Tuesday 14 July 2026 13:00h after registration for the entire minor. Register for every course via MyStudymap. Some courses of the minor have a limited number of participants, so register on time. Registration for the exam is mandatory.
Please note 1: Registration for the resit of an exam is mandatory, this has to be done by the student and can be done from TBA until 10 days before the exam. Until 5 days before the exam you can email OSC and fill in a form.
Please note 2: guest-/contract-/exchange students do not register via MyStudymap but via uSis. Registration via uSis is possible from Thursday 16 July 2026 after registration for the entire minor.
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 MyStudymap you will be automatically enrolled in the Brightspace environment of this course.