Admission requirements
(recommended)
Foundations of Research Design and Qualitative Research Methods
EU Politics and Policy
International Administration
Description
As societal challenges have become increasingly transnational (think about climate change or migration), a growing amount of policy-making and administration has shifted from the national to the international level. International bureaucracies – such as the European Commission, EU agencies or the United Nations Secretariat – have grown in size, number and importance. Traditionally, international administrations were seen as little more than support bodies for negotiations between member states. Yet, in recent decades, academics have argued that international bureaucracies can be powerful and independent and may exert considerable influence on domestic politics and policies.
In this course, we look more closely at the links between international administrations and national decision-making. How do international bodies influence domestic policy-making? What explains the strength and shape of this influence? How does it vary across different international organizations and across policy areas and issues? The course will address these issues through lectures, workshops and – most importantly – group projects employing qualitative methods to examine the links between national and international policy-making.
Course objectives
By the end of the course, students will be able to:
- Assess qualitative public administration research on how international bureaucracies (especially EU institutions) affect domestic-national decisions;
- Integrate and apply theoretical frameworks about the impact of international administrations on domestic politics and, especially the challenges they face;
- Propose and present a research project to answer a research question related to the interplay between international bureaucracies and domestic institutions;
- Design, plan, and conduct a qualitative research project.
Timetable
On the right side of programme front page of the E-guide you will find links to the website and timetables, uSis and Blackboard.
Mode of instruction
This course consists of two inaugural lectures, 6 working groups-sessions and self-study. In the first two weeks, the lectures introduce the theoretical context and methodological processes linking EU institutions to foreign policy-making. Both lectures are given in English.
From Week 3 onwards, you will be divided into work-groups and your attendance to the workgroup sessions is compulsory. Every week you will be given an attendance sheet to fill your name in. You are allowed to miss no more than one work-group session.
If you miss a second session, then you need to send to your tutor a compensatory assignment of 300 words. This assignment should be a critical essay of a peer-reviewed article. This peer-review article should not be the one you have already selected for your individual assignment. If you do not submit the essay in the deadline set by your tutor, then you will not be eligible to receive a final grade.
If you miss a third session, then you will not be eligible to receive a final grade.
Course Load
Total course load for the course is 140 hours. For this course, the study load is roughly divided as follows:
Lectures (2x2=) 4 hours
Seminars/Workgroups (7x2=) 14 hours
Time for studying the literature 40 hours
Assignments (a short paper) 12 hours
Time to design, conduct, and write a research paper (i.e. group project) 70 hours
Assessment method
A. Short individual paper (20 % of final grade) written in the context of the working group (1500 words): you reflect on one of the articles you will use for your group project. The suggested articles from the reading material could not be used for the short individual paper.
B. Research Project in small groups of 4 to 5 people (80% of final grade-8000 words). Students are expected to design and conduct a research project on a topic examining the impact of Europeanization on foreign policy. Research projects should present the research question, review and analyze current research on the issue, develop a theory to answer the question, derive testable expectations, specify a qualitative research design to evaluate the hypotheses/expectations empirically, collect and analyze empirical data.
Resit
If a student from previous years has successfully either the individual assignment or the group assignment (but not both), (s)he can re-sit only for the pending assignment. The student has to provide evidence (vis USIS) on the grade of the assignment (s)he has passed. Furthermore, if the student has passed the individual assignment, but not the group assignment, then his/her attendance to the working-group sessions are compulsory.
For further information about the University's exam rules please see: Rules and Regulations.
Blackboard
Ten (10) working days before the start of the course, a Blackboard page for this course will be available to the students. In the Blackboard page, the students will find the syllabus of the course, details about the assignments and the reading material.
Reading list
To be announced on Blackboard.
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.
Also register for every course in Blackboard. Important information about the course is posted there.
Contact
Dr. J. Christensen: j.christensen@fgga.leidenuniv.nl