• The geopolitical origins of Western Europe

• The rise and evolution of the contemporary Western European state model.

• The process of European integration

• Comparative analysis of the political systems of the main Western European countries, including Great Britain, France, Germany, and Italy.

• Comparative analysis of the key political challenges faced by Western European countries, such as Brexit, the rise of populism and nationalism, economic crisis, and changing attitudes toward European integration.

As a result of this course, students will:

• Have the instruments to think critically about the key political, social, geographical, and historical features that define Western Europe.

• Acquire a detailed knowledge of the main political systems of Western Europe as well as the ability to analyze them from a comparative perspective. 

• Develop the means to understand the key aspects of decision-making and policy-making at the European level.

• Understand the main political challenges concerning today’s Western Europe and develop the skills needed to further explore them through independent research and articulate solutions.

• Improve their note-taking skills.

• Improve their capabilities to select and analyze sources.

• Improve their writing and oral presentation skills. 

1. Attendance is a fundamental component of your class participation grade (which in turn counts for 20% of the final grade). More than two absences will directly affect your class participation grade (and indirectly affect your other assessments).

2. Particularly active and constructive participation in class can round up your overall grade.

3. Readings are mandatory assignments and must be done in advance. 

4. Recommended readings and documents provided by the instructor via Moodle are not compulsory assignments. However, they can be useful sources of inspiration for debates, papers, and independent research projects.

5. Students are invited to consult leading newspapers, journals and magazines to keep informed with ongoing news related to Western European politics. 

6. Group works require active participation. Failure to perform shared tasks or to show up will be considered a sign of disrespect toward colleagues. This kind of behavior is strongly discouraged. It will bring down your grade and may complicate your colleagues’ performances.

7. The use of traditional notebooks and notetaking is encouraged. Laptops and other electronic devices are allowed for the sole purpose of taking notes and enhancing participation during classes.

Regular attendance and active participation in class are essential: this includes punctuality and quick checking of intranet messages. Absences will affect the final grade, unless caused by serious family or medical emergencies. Makeup examinations may be given or late papers accepted only for the same reasons. In order to take full advantage of this class and make it an important learning experience, it is crucial to create a communicative virtuous circle, i.e. an environment where possible misunderstandings are reduced to a minimum or altogether eliminated and potential problems and issues are addressed and solved very quickly. Example: some of you may have a stronger background in Politics, and some a weaker one or none: there is nothing wrong in acknowledging it and  alerting the professor, so that he can adjust his pace to the audience and work more with single cases if need be. More specifically, you can contribute quite substantially to the creation of a virtuous circle if you consider the following: 

1) Some demeanors are invisible in a large infrastructure, yet become disruptive in a smaller one. They include the following (during class): - walking in and especially out of the room, in absence of an emergency or prior permission; - making use of the internet and/or any social network, such as Facebook, Twitter or a mere sms; - reading or studying for a class other than the one being attended. Taking good note of all this and acting accordingly, besides averting inevitable grade-docking, will greatly help and will be much appreciated.  Therefore, you are kindly requested to turn off your Iphones et al. and avoid using a laptop during class. Exceptions can be made only in some specific cases 

2) Students should be able to make the difference between occurrences which justify their absences and those which don't, and alert the prof only in the former case.  Examples:   

Occurrence                                 Absence Justified?                Communication needed                        

i) Sickness                                                       yes                                         yes                      

ii) Major emergency                                        yes                                         yes                         
(accident, serious family issues,                          
permesso)                               

iii)Travel issues of any kind                             no                                           no                         

iv) Family/partner/friend(s)                         
are in town                                                        no                                           no                      
 (although  welcome to                         
class if interested, in which case please                         
notify the prof)                                 

v) AoB                                                         to be determined on case-by-case criteria

3) A smaller environment should encourage a more active and direct participation of students and a more effective communication between students and professor. The former are strongly encouraged to intervene in class at any moment if something doesn't sound clear, or in the appropriate discussion time if they wish to raise a specific issue or argue about it (this latter part will be considered for grading purposes, only to the extent it shows interest for the topic and capabilities to support an argument). Opinions can be freely expressed (teacher included) and are never graded as such.  Should a student feel uncomfortable about speaking in public, s/he is welcome to contact or email the professor to discuss privately 

4) Finally, and on a more academic note, some concrete tips to start off in the best way possible and obtain satisfactory results:  - This is a textbook-based course. No matter if individually or in a group, students should get hold of a copy anyway, as all their assignments will be based on it. Alternative routes based on the use of popular websites (e.g. Wikipedia) are strongly discouraged and would lead to poor results - Class lectures do not merely repeat or explain (unless specifically required) the content of the readings, but aim at completing them by providing additional information and different visual angles. In order to achieve optimal results, students should work on combining their notes with reading assignments and videos screened (see next point) and raise immediately all issues related to any perceived discrepancy, incoherence or misunderstanding  - Videos shown in class command the same respect and attention as all other instructional materials and should never be considered as avoidable parts of the course program (or the right moment when to disregard point 1 above)  - Whenever possible, students are encouraged to take advantage of extra-credit opportunities (field trips, evening films, Guarini Institute events) even if their score is good, as these could prove ultimately decisive in enhancing their grade.

(The course schedule might be subject to changes and updates)