Understanding EU Politics - JPB378

• Anglický název: Understanding EU Politics
• Český název: Porozumění Evropské politice
• Zajišťuje: Katedra politologie (23-KP)
• Fakulta: Fakulta sociálních věd
• Platnost: od 2022
• Semestr: letní
• E-Kredity: 6
• Způsob provedení zkoušky: letní s.:
• Rozsah, examinace: letní s.:1/1, Zk [HT]
• Počet míst: neomezen / neomezen (20)
• Minimální obsazenost: neomezen
• 4EU+: ne
• Virtuální mobilita / počet míst pro virtuální mobilitu: ne
• Stav předmětu: vyučován
• Jazyk výuky: angličtina
• Způsob výuky: prezenční
• Poznámka: předmět je možno zapsat mimo plán; povolen pro zápis po webu; při zápisu přednost, je-li ve stud. plánu
• Garant: Mgr. Bc. Daniela Lenčéš Chalániová, Ph.D.
• Vyučující: Mgr. Bc. Daniela Lenčéš Chalániová, Ph.D.
• Třída: Courses for incoming students

Anotace

To say that the European Union – with its multi-national, multi-level, hybrid governance structure – is a complex political entity… sounds almost like an understatement. Approaching individual EU integration problems can thus become a daunting task, as EU problems do not exist in a vacuum, but are enmeshed in a thick layer of formal procedures, informal norms and often national and inter-institutional tug-of-war, all of which obscure clear view.

In this course I want to untangle that “mess” of EU governance and show how things “hang together” rather than how they disappear into the procedural jungle. The goals of this course are thus easy/complicated enough: FIRST, the course will briefly cover European integration milestones and institutional framework, SECOND, it will introduce the main policy areas and THIRD, deal with dilemmas of European Union politics! Since this is a course on understanding the EU, the aim is to cover European politics in a way that makes it “closer” to the people – through real-life examples.

To this end, I want to connect textbook chapters with real life examples (via student presentations), institutional legacy with present-day political head-scratchers.

Poslední úprava: Lenčéš Chalániová Daniela, Mgr. Bc., Ph.D. (17.02.2024)

Cíl předmětu

Upon completion of this course, students should be able to:

• Name and briefly describe main policy areas of European Union
• Name the main institutional actors and their competences in given policy areas
• Identify dilemmas of multi-level, multi-national governance and lead an educated discussion about them
• Navigate European Union’s websites, Official Journal of the European Union …make heads and tails of EU’s network of portals, agencies and representatives
• Skills: conduct online teamwork and presentation; policy analysis and recommendations

Poslední úprava: Lenčéš Chalániová Daniela, Mgr. Bc., Ph.D. (17.02.2024)

Deskriptory

European Union, EU Policy-Making, History of EU Integration, EU Institutions, Single Market, Economic and Monetary Union, Common Foreign and Security Policy, Area of Freedom Security and Justice, Democratic Legitimacy, European Identity, Brexit

Poslední úprava: Lenčéš Chalániová Daniela, Mgr. Bc., Ph.D. (31.01.2022)

Podmínky zakončení předmětu

Team presentation - 30%

Policy Paper - 70%

 

Grading scale

A: 91-100

B: 81-90

C: 71-80

D: 61-70

E: 51-60

Fail: <50

Poslední úprava: Lenčéš Chalániová Daniela, Mgr. Bc., Ph.D. (17.02.2024)

Literatura

Reading materials ca be downloaded from Moodle: https://dl1.cuni.cz/course/view.php?id=11732

Reading material include chapters from

• Wallace, Hellen, Pollack Mark and Alasdair Young (2015): Policy-Making in the European Union - 7^th edition, Oxford: Oxford University Press
• Cini, Michelle and Nieves Perez-Solorzano Borragan (2019): European Union Politics – 6^th edition, Oxford: Oxford University Press
• Bomberg, Elizabeth, John Peterson and Richard Corbett (2012): The European Union: How Does it Work? 3^rd edition, Oxford: Oxford University Press
• Hix, Simon and Bjørn Høyland (2011): The Political System of the European Union. 3^rd edition. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan

For details, see syllabus

 

Inspiration for presentations and policy papers

EU News sites:

• ·       EurActiv: https://www.euractiv.com/
• ·       EU Observer: https://euobserver.com/
• ·       Politico, Europe: https://www.politico.eu/

 

EU Research, policy and think tanks:

• ·       ARENA, University of Oslo: https://www.sv.uio.no/arena/english/
• ·       European Council on Foreign Relations: https://www.ecfr.eu/
• ·       European University Institute: https://www.eui.eu/
• ·       Bruegel (economy): https://www.bruegel.org/
• ·       TEPSA Trans European Policy Studies Association: https://tepsa.eu/
• ·       Centre for European Reform: https://www.cer.eu/
• ·       Centre for European Policy Studies: https://www.ceps.eu/
• ·       European Policy Centre: https://epc.eu/en/

 

EU Official sites

• ·       European Commission: https://ec.europa.eu/info/index_en
• ·       EU legal texts at Official Journal of the European Union: https://eur-lex.europa.eu/oj/direct-access.html
• ·       EU Open Data Portal: https://data.europa.eu/euodp/en/data/
• ·       About European Union - official site: https://europa.eu/european-union/index_en

 

Poslední úprava: Lenčéš Chalániová Daniela, Mgr. Bc., Ph.D. (17.02.2024)

Metody výuky

To cover the main integration areas and dilemmas, the course material is divided into three logical parts:

• ·       Historical and institutional framework, its actors and processes (sessions 1-2)
• ·       Main EU policy areas (sessions 3-9)
• ·       Dilemmas arising out of EU integration (sessions 10-12)
• ·       A session to accommodate more students’ presentations if needed (session 13)

 

To do it in a way that makes it “closer” to the people, the sessions 3-12 will be conducted in a lecture/seminar format.

• Lecture part will focus on evolution, actors, rules and aims of a given policy area (or the gist of a dilemma that often lies in the nexus of multiple policies and institutions). I will do my best to illustrate with clear examples.
• The seminar part will be introduced with a team presentation by three students of a policy-relevant real-life situation.

Poslední úprava: Lenčéš Chalániová Daniela, Mgr. Bc., Ph.D. (17.02.2024)

Sylabus

1.	Feb 22nd	Intro + Integration Milestones	Student Team Presentation Suggestions
2.	Feb 29th	Institutions and Policy-Making
3.	Mar 7th	The Single Market	Commission vs. Big Tech
4.	Mar 14th	Agriculture and Cohesion	Food Quality and Safety
5.	Mar 21st	Economic and Monetary Union	Germany in the Eurozone
~ ~ March 28th - Dean’s Day - No class ~ ~
6.	Apr 4th	AFSJ	Migration Crisis
7.	Apr 11th	Foreign Policy, Security, Defence	EU relations with superpowers
8.	Apr 18th	Trade, Development, Enlargement	EU Enlargement
9.	Apr 25th	Energy and Environment	The Green Deal
10.	May 2nd	Dem. Legitimacy and EU Citizens	Euroscepticism
11.	May 9th	European Identity	“Idea(s) of Europe”
12.	May 16th	EU and the Member States, Brexit	Blame It on Brussels
13.	May 23rd	If needed - 3 more student presentations: EU and Russia’s War on Ukraine; Citizens and the EU; EU Reform?

Poslední úprava: Lenčéš Chalániová Daniela, Mgr. Bc., Ph.D. (17.02.2024)