The first section of the course explores the history of the European integration process, the current institutions and the policies of the European Union. The second part provides an in-depth look at the challenges that the organization faces today and includes class discussions focusing on questions such as: What factors drive European countries’ response to the refugee crisis? What does the proliferation of protest parties reveal about the nature of the integration process? How to explain the factors that led to the outcome of the Brexit referendum? What future for Transatlantic and EU-Russia relations? Has time come for a European Defense Union? The third section of the course explores the EU’s identity politics. Students will analyze the causes and the consequences of the organization’s legitimacy crisis and its “democratic deficit.” In particular, they will engage critically with the supranational elite’s attempt to deepen the integration process, build a strong community ‘based on shared values’ and shift citizens’ allegiance from the nation-state to the EU through the use of symbols, rituals and mythical constructions. Each student will present a case study (based on individual research) on one of the member states (illustrating the role it has been playing in the European Union and how citizens’ national and regional identities cohabit (or clash) with their European identity). 

At the end of the course students should be able to:

·         possess in-depth knowledge of the processes that have led to today’s European Union;

·         describe in detail the main actors, institutions and policies of the EU;

·         analyze the European integration process from different theoretical perspectives;

·         evaluate critically the role of the EU as a global actor;

·         understand how the enlargements have changed the nature of the organization;

·         engage critically with the federalist agenda that has been driving the integration process;

·         interpret the various forms that the EU’s identity politics has been taken

·         understand the causes and the possible consequences of the contemporary challenges facing the EU: "refugee crisis", Brexit, the future of transatlantic and EU-Russia relations, democratic backsliding in EU member states, etc.

·         illustrate the problems relating to democracy in and legitimacy of the EU

·         view images (and the absence of images) critically (defend themselves against deception and manipulation)

·         possess skills and ability to independently explore, present and discuss issues related to European integration, both orally and in writing.

You cannot make-up a major exam (midterm or final) without the permission of the Dean’s Office. The Dean’s Office will grant such permission only when the absence was caused by a serious impediment, such as hospitalization or death in the immediate family (in which you must attend the funeral) or other situations of similar gravity. Absences from class due to the observance of a religious holiday will normally be excused. Individual students who will have to miss class to observe a religious holiday should notify the instructor by the end of the Add/Drop period to make prior arrangements for making up any work that will be missed. 

Week 1

Class 1: Introduction

Class 2: Verbal and visual narratives about the EU

Individual research

Week 2

Class 3: History of the idea of Europe

Reading: Nicholas Doumanis (2016) Europe’s Age of Catastrophe in Context, In The Oxford Handbook of European History, 1914-1945 and R. Petri (2018) Meanings of Europe and Meaning in History

Class 4: Plans about a federal Europe from the interwar period

Readings: Delzell (1960), The European Federalist Movement in Italy: First Phase, 1918-1947 The Journal of Modern History, Vol. 32, No. 3, pp. 241-250; Villanueva (2005), Richard von Coudenhove-Kalergi's "Pan-Europa" as the Elusive "Object of Longing"Rocky Mountain Review of Language and Literature, Vol. 59, No. 2, pp. 67-80; Müller (2006) Julien Benda’s Anti-Passionate Europe, European Journal of Political Theory 5(2) 125–137

Class 5: Understanding the EU from different theoretical perspectives

Reading: Textbook, Chapter 1

Week 3

Class 6: Visual politics

Reading: Bleiker (2018) Visual Global Politics, Introduction

Class 7: The history of the integration process

Reading: Textbook Chapter 2

Week 4

Class 8: The institutions of the European Union

Reading: Textbook Chapter 3

Class 9: The member states of the European Union

Reading: Textbook Chapter 4

Week 5

Class 10: Policies and policymaking in the EU

Reading: Textbook, Chapter 5 and 6

Class 11: Democracy in the European Union

Reading: Textbook, Chapter 7

Week 6

Class 12:EU expansion and wider Europe

Reading: Textbook, Chapter 8

Class 13: The EU as a global actor

Reading: Textbook Chapter 9

Class 14: Causes and consequences of the Brexit

Reading: P. Norris (2018) Understanding Brexit: Cultural Resentment versus Economic Grievances, Harvard Kennedy School and Shapiro (2021) Beyond Global Britain: A Realistic Foreign Policy for the UK, ECFR

Week 7

Class 15: Review

Class 16: Midterm exam

October 21 Make-up for Tuesday, November 1 (anticipated to Oct 14!)

Week 8

Class 17: The EU’s response to the “refugee crisis”

Reading: Raineri, Strazzari (2021) Dissecting the EU response to the migration crisis and European Council on Foreign Relations (October 2019) All at sea: Europe’s crisis of solidarity on migration

Class 18: Democratic backsliding in EU member states

Reading: Richard Bellamy, Sandra Kröger (2021) Countering Democratic Backsliding by EU Member States: Constitutional Pluralism and ‘Value’ Differentiated Integration

Week 9

No class on Tuesday (Nov 1)

Class 19: EU-Russia Relations I

Reading: Andrew Foxall (2019) From Evropa to Gayropa: A Critical Geopolitics of the European Union as Seen from Russia, Geopolitics, 24:1, 174-193,Tania Marocchi (2017) EU-Russia Relations: Towards an Increasingly Geopolitical Paradigm

Week 10

Class 20: Oral presentations

Class 21: Oral presentations

Week 11

 Class 22: EU-Russia II

Reading: European Policy Center (2022) Stopping the Russian war machine: Prospects for EU and US energy sanctions; Richard Sakwa (2022) The Ukraine Syndrome and Europe: between norms and space and A. Cordesman (2022) The Longer-Term Impact of the Ukraine Conflict and the Growing Importance of the Civil Side of War

Class 23: What Future for the Transatlantic Relations and the European Defense Strategy?

Reading: IDIS (2022) Transatlantic Relations after the War in Ukraine

Week 12

Class 24: Identity politics: the role of mythical narratives

Reading: E. Salgó (2017) Introduction and Chapter I

No class on Thursday

Week 13

Class 25: Identity politics: the role of rituals

Reading: E. Salgó (2017) Introduction and Chapter II

Class 26: Identity politics: the role of symbols

Reading: E. Salgó (2017) Chapter III

Class 27 (Make-up class for Dec. 8): What future for the EU?

Reading: A. Buhler (2021) Conference on the Future of Europe: a real chance for reform, or just a guide for policy-making?

Week 14

Class 28: Review

Thursday: Holiday