Module SGIA3571: DEMOCRACY AND DISCONTENT IN THE EUROPEAN UNION

Department: Government and International Affairs

SGIA3571: DEMOCRACY AND DISCONTENT IN THE EUROPEAN UNION

Prerequisites

• Any Level 2 SGIA module

Corequisites

• None.

Excluded Combination of Modules

• None.

Aims

• This module aims to give students an understanding of the current challenges confronting representation and democratic practices in the EU and its member states and to evaluate critically the political system of the EU in terms of political representation and its impact on the quality of democracy.
• To gain in-depth knowledge and understanding of European Union politics, including relations between and within the member states, in the context of major crises facing the EU.
• It offers students the chance to analyse EU integration theories, institutions, policies and challenges, and apply these to current debates within the EU and among its member states about the future of the EU.
• To enhance students understanding of the sources of political discontent and pressures for disintegration within the EU.
• To improve students ability to examine real-world problems through theoretical concepts and empirical application and to engage in debates surrounding for instance the recent EU crises, including the Eurozone, migration and Covid and evaluate solutions to these issues and their implications for European integration.

Content

• The module analyses how the growing competencies of the European Union and changing nature of the integration process affect political representation at both the national and European levels. The lectures will introduce appropriate theoretical and conceptual frameworks for analysis common to specific groups of topics. These will relate to prevalent issues in the EU and the content may include some of the following:
• What is the EU and and how does it work?, Explaining EU integration and disintegration dynamics, the question of European identity.
• The EU and its citizens, European elections and referendums and the EU’s democratic deficit.
• The EU in crisis: analysing specific crises, such as the Eurozone crises, the migration crises, the Covid pandemic, EU foreign policy crises.
• The challenges of enlargement and neighbourhood policy.
• The role of Germany in the EU.

Learning Outcomes

• On successful completion of the module students will:
• Understand how governance and democracy operate in the EU.
• Be able to apply major scholarly approaches to EU politics.
• Be able to critically analyse the tensions between different member state interests and integration.
• Be able to evaluate how the EU relates to its citizens and debates regarding reform in the EU.
• Be able to assess the EU’s response to the different crises it has faced recently and their impact on the integration process.
• Be able to understand the factors underlying political discontent with the EU and their role in disintegration pressures.

• On successful completion of the module students will:
• be familiar with the major primary and secondary sources in defined policy areas.
• be able to analyse sources critically and use them as a basis for their own independent research.
• understand governance and democracy in the EU.
• be able to apply appropriate theories and concepts to analyse key issues in European integration.
• be able to synthesise information, evaluate competing explanations and formulate their own reasoned arguments.

• On successful completion of the module students will:
• have engaged in independent research based on an informed selection of sources;
• be able to develop an individual research schedule which allows them to work towards the achievement of the learning outcomes;
• be able to produce a critical analysis of some of the key issues raised, on the basis of the multiplicity of sources studied during their independent research.
• have developed skills relating to report writing through the summative assessment.
• have engaged in the simulation activity and developed negotiation skills and public speaking skills through active participation in this activity.
• developed their ability to present and defend coherent arguments through having engaged in discussion and debate in the seminars.

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

• The module is taught on the basis of 12 one-hour lectures,11 one-hour seminars and one two-hour workshop, to allow the coverage of a range of specific topics. During the workshop, the module will simulate an EU summit meeting focusing on dealing effectively with a recent crisis, such as the Eurozone crisis, the migration crisis or dealing with the Covid pandemic.
• The lectures introduce students to the study of the EU based on a comparative politics perspective, the institutional and policy-making context in the EU and key components of current debates in the academic literature relating to EU politics.
• In the seminars, students will have an opportunity to discuss the issues raised in the lectures, based on a wide variety of primary and secondary sources, develop critical thinking and engage critically with the readings.
• The students will be asked to analyse at least two texts for each tutorial. Collective discussion will allow students to raise essential issues and questions and guide them towards further reading and research.
• This method of teaching is aimed at helping students to develop their ability to embark on a critical analysis of major issues, based on substantial independent research, and to able to explain them in seminar discussion and in the assessment.
• Through active participation in the simulation activity, students will develop an understanding of the complexity of the EU policy process, especially in relation to crisis management, and develop negotiation skills in a formal setting.
• Formative assessment is an essay of 2,000-words linked to one of the seminar topics in the Michaelmas term. The formative assessment will provide students with the opportunity to receive initial feedback and guidance on their knowledge and understanding of specific aspects of the module content, test their ability to effectively analyse a topic and develop and apply their research skills.
• Summative assessment will have two components an essay of 3,000 words which will account for 60% of the final marks and a 2,000 word a research report which will account for 40% of the final marks. A set of essay questions will be provided, and students will select one question. Students are expected to independently identify, assess and organise resources in support of a consistent academic argument and locate and use primary and secondary sources of information to empirically test their arguments to meet the assessment criteria. The research report is linked to the students understanding of an EU crisis and should provide an understanding of the positions and interests of the member states. The report aids the development of research skills, critical thinking and report writing skills and are assessed in terms of students substantive knowledge of the theme, the position and interests of the key political actors. The two components of summative assessment allow students to demonstrate acquisition of sufficient subject knowledge, analytical capacity and research skills.

Teaching Methods and Learning Hours

Summative Assessment

Formative Assessment:

One essay 2000 words.

■ 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