GI7020 - European Integration (2016/17)
| Module specification | Module approved to run in 2016/17, but may be subject to modification | ||||||||||||
| Module status | DELETED (This module is no longer running) | ||||||||||||
| Module title | European Integration | ||||||||||||
| Module level | Masters (07) | ||||||||||||
| Credit rating for module | 20 | ||||||||||||
| School | Faculty of Social Sciences and Humanities | ||||||||||||
| Total study hours | 172 | ||||||||||||
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| Assessment components |
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| Running in 2016/17(Please note that module timeslots are subject to change) | No instances running in the year |
Module summary
This module examines the process of European integration. It seeks to explain why this process has occurred and to examine the nature of its principal institutional manifestation, the European Union.
Prior learning requirements
None
Module aims
The module aims to examine the the process of integration in European since the end of WWII. It will examine the key formal explanatory theories of integration, includeing neo-functinalism, liberal intergovernmentalism, institutionalism, and constructivism. It will then explore the nature of the EU as a political and economic system. Thus, firstly, it will examine its principal policy areas and provisions: markets and money, social policy, its role in foreign and security policy. Secondly, it will analyse its political character. What sort of political system is it? Is it democratice, should it be?
Syllabus
1. Formal theories of integration: neo-functionalism, state-centric and governance
2. Markets and money: how the EU structures and governs member states economies
3. The EU and welfare in Europe: neo-liberalism or social democracy?
4. Democracy in the EU: what sort of ‘state’?
5. The EU and its neighbours: structuring external environment.
Learning and teaching
The module is taught through lectures, seminars and tutorials. It is also supported by a weblearn site that provideds students with reading materials to support seminars and guides to further reading on topics to support independent study.
Learning outcomes
On completion of the module, students should:
1. Have an understanding of the principal formal theories of integration.
2. Knowledge of its core policy functions and the different forms of market governance that it employes.
3. Assess the nature of the EU as a political institution in relation to general ideal typical schemes of political systems
4. Critically evaluate its role as an actor on the global stage
Assessment strategy
Students are required to complete two 2,500 word essays. The essay titles must be chosen from a list provided by the module tutor. This will enable students to pursue in great detail key ideas and debates introduced in lectures and seminars.
Bibliography
B. Rosamond Theories of European Integration 2000
A. Weiner and T. Diez European Integration Theory, 2004
D. N. Chryssochoou, Theorizing European Integration, 2009
D. Dinan, Origins and Evolution of the EU, 2006
A. Moravcsk, The Choice for Europe, 1998
D. McCann, The Political Economy of the European Union, 2010
H. Wallace, M. Pollack, and A. Young, Policy-Making in the European Union, 2010
S. Hix The Political System of the European Union, 2005
G. Marks and M. Steenbergen European Integration and Political Conflict, 2004
C. Hill and M. Smith, International Relations in the EU, 2005