Module GEOG30D7: EUROPE: GEOGRAPHIES OF INTEGRATION AND DISINTEGRATION

Department: Geography

GEOG30D7: EUROPE: GEOGRAPHIES OF INTEGRATION AND DISINTEGRATION

Prerequisites

• Any Level 2 BA Geography Module

Corequisites

• None

Excluded Combination of Modules

• None

Aims

• To develop students’ advanced knowledge and understanding of the changing political geography of Europe and the European Union
• To enable students to understand how space, place and territory are implicated in processes of European integration and disintegration
• To encourage students to reflect critically on the pasts, presents and futures of Europe and the EU and on the role of geography therein

Content

• The growth and development of the European Union has been one of the most significant geopolitical developments of the period since the end of the Second World War. For fifty years from the Treaty of Rome (1957), which established the European Economic Community, to the signing of the Lisbon Treaty in 2007, the narrative of continuous European integration held sway. Since 2008, however, a series of political shocks, including the global financial crisis, the debt crisis affecting some Eurozone countries, increased migration across the Balkans and the Mediterranean, heightened nationalism, and Brexit, have disrupted, and perhaps even reversed, the apparent trend towards ‘ever closer union’. Geography – understood as the role that space, place and territory play in politics – has been central to processes of both integration and disintegration. This module will examine the geographies of European integration and disintegration by focusing on:
• Placing and provincializing Europe in the world
• The smooth space of the single market
• Uneven development and ‘cohesion’
• EU expansion and soft power geopolitics
• Regionalism, nationalism, and populism
• The Euro and the debt crisis
• Territory, migration and new borders
• Brexit

Learning Outcomes

• On successful completion of the module, students will be able to:
• Demonstrate advanced knowledge and understanding of processes of European integration and disintegration
• Demonstrate advanced understanding of the role of space, place and territory in processes of European integration and disintegration

• On successful completion of this module, students will be able to:
• Use geographical and political concepts effectively to analyse political issues and make arguments
• Think critically about the relationship between politics, space, place and territory

• On successful completion of this module, students will be able to:
• Synthesise and analyse information from academic and non-academic sources
• Demonstrate good academic written communication skills

Modes of Teaching, Learning and Assessment and how these contribute to the learning outcomes of the module

• Readings will be provided for each topic. Active reading and note-taking will be the main mode of learning and will develop advanced knowledge and understanding of the themes of the module and allow students to practise synthesising information from different sources.
• Short online lectures (pre-recorded, asynchronous) will provide a structured synthesis of ideas and concepts covered in the readings, supplemented by case studies and additional material.
• Each weekly topic will include an asynchronous online study package, comprising guided learning activities to help student engage actively with the lectures and readings. The study packages will help to ensure that students are developing knowledge and understanding and the ability to use concepts and think critically about the relationships between politics, space, place and territory.
• Fortnightly synchronous webinars or seminars will enable students to develop their knowledge and understanding of the topics through in-person discussion with the instructor.
• Students will also use on-line discussion forums to pose questions and engage in discussion in response to the study packages.
• Summative assessment will comprise an online take-home examination, to be completed within a 48-hour period. The assessment requires students to develop knowledge and understanding across the breadth of the module and enables them to demonstrate their ability to synthesise and analyse information, to use concepts, to think critically, and to communicate effectively in writing.

Teaching Methods and Learning Hours

Summative Assessment

Formative Assessment:

■ Attendance at all activities marked with this symbol will be monitored. Students who fail to attend these activities, or to complete the summative or formative assessment specified above, will be subject to the procedures defined in the University's General Regulation V, and may be required to leave the University