Admission requirements
Admission to the MA International Relations, track European Union Studies.
Description
During this course the focus will be on the functioning of the EU’s institutions and the methods of decision-making within the EU from a political and political science point of view. Since its start in the fifties, the EU has evolved into an ever more important multilevel system of integration and cooperation – important, both in terms of its capacity of decision-making and its scope of policies. During the course the students will be provided with an understanding of the (institutional) structure of the EU and its functioning by studying the most important actors and procedures and the dynamics of the integration process. The focus of the course is in particular on the role of the EU-institutions and their interplay, and on the balance between the EU-institutions and the member states.
Timetable
Course objectives
After following this course students will have a better understanding of the institutions of the EU, their historical development, their functioning and their interrelationships.
Mode of instruction
Lectures, joint presentations and joint papers
Course Load
Total course load for the course: 5 EC x 28 hours = 140 hours
Hours spent on attending lectures and seminars: 2 hours per week x 14 weeks = 28 hours
Time for studying the compulsory literature: 112 hours
Assessment method
Joint presentation plus paper 50%
Written exam 50%
Resit exam: January 2015. In order to be eligible for the resit, students have to have failed the course.
Blackboard
Yes, see Blackboard
Reading list
Neill Nugent, The government and politics of the European Union, Palgrave Macmillan, 2010 (7th edition)
Registration
Via uSis