Module SGIA42015: EUROPEAN INSTITUTIONS AND THE POLICY PROCESS

Department: Government and International Affairs

SGIA42015: EUROPEAN INSTITUTIONS AND THE POLICY PROCESS

Prerequisites

• None.

Corequisites

• None.

Excluded Combination of Modules

• None.

Aims

• Provide advanced knowledge and understanding of key empirical material and concepts in the EU institutional arena.
• Enable critical evaluation of leading scholarship in the field of EU institutions.
• Develop advanced knowledge and understanding of current issues and debates in EU institutional change and reform.

Content

• Introduction: Historic evolvement of the EU’s institutional setting.
• The changing nature of the integration and policy making process: from the Community Methods to Differentiation
• Theorising EU policy making.
• The European Commission
• The EU intergovernmental institutions
• The European Parliament
• The European Court of Justice
• Lobbying in the EU
• EU Structures from Nice to ...? Current institutional and policy making challenges

Learning Outcomes

• An advanced knowledge and understanding of the individual EU institutions and how they inter-relate as a system and with national and subnational actors.
• An advanced knowledge and understanding of the policy process operating within the EU institutional system, including at national, regional and local levels and actors.
• An advanced knowledge and understanding of current debates on issues of administration, implementation, and accountability in the context of the enlarging EU system.

• The ability to focus critically on the relevant concepts and approaches to EU institutional politics.
• The ability to interpret and analyse the policy processes operating within the EU institutions including the appropriate national and subnational levels.
• The ability to critically assess issues in EU institutional design, using appropriate conceptual tools.

• Independent learning within a defined framework of study at an advanced level.
• Independent thought in analysing and critiquing existing scholarship on the subject area and in evaluating its contribution.
• Skills in identifying and using sources, including official EU documentation.
• The ability to work to a deadline and complete written work within word limits.
• Advanced essay-writing skills.

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

• Students are taught in two-hour classes.
• The module begins with two, two-hour lectures from the tutor, one that explains the module structure and provides bibliographic information, and the second which introduces the main issues for the study of EU institutions and the policy process. These are designed to ensure that students with different backgrounds approach the subsequent seminars with an understanding of the practical and intellectual requirements of the module.
• Subsequent seminars are based on individual student presentations, a briefer reply by a designated discussant, followed by guided discussion with a summary by a designated 'rapporteur', and finally tutor feedback. These seminars enable the students to acquire knowledge and understanding of the subject matter and develop their abilities to communicate and to develop their own skills in argumentation.
• Students are required to submit a summative essay of 4,000 words at the end of the module. This enables them to demonstrate that they have sufficient subject knowledge and understanding to meet the assessment criteria, that they have achieved the subject skills 1, 2, and 3, and that they have acquired the key skills 1, 2, 4 and 5.

Teaching Methods and Learning Hours

Summative Assessment

Formative Assessment:

Student presentation in seminars supported by written summary of 2,000 words in length.

■ 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