Demands to ‘take back control’, protests against economic globalisation and increasing contestation over supranational and global governance currently dominate politics in Europe. In this course, we submit such issues and debates to systematic analysis, and ask why, how and with what consequences EU membership and economic globalisation are transforming the state as we know it. Students will acquire the empirical knowledge, theoretical understanding and comparative research skills to analyse why European and global pressures change (and challenge) established national institutions, politics, policies, citizenship and democracies; to explain why different states change differently and to different degrees; and to evaluate the consequences for belonging and democratic legitimacy.
Complementing the other two MIA concentration core courses—European Law and Governance and the practice seminar on negotiation in the Council of the EU—the course has three aims. Firstly, in terms of subject matter, the course focuses on the EU’s member states. The class introduces the concepts of Europeanisation, globalisation and statehood and discusses different theoretical explanations for state transformation. We then analyse the impact of EU and global pressures on national institutions such as courts, governments and parliaments; on political parties and representation; and on national policies including the welfare state. The final sections look at Europeanisation beyond the EU’s borders. Secondly, throughout, we engage with current political questions, including austerity, Euroscepticism, the EU’s role in its neighbourhood and governments’ accountability to parliaments. We will link these questions back to wider theoretical arguments about the EU’s past, present and future development. Third, the class familiarises students with the comparative method and the design of qualitative research. This is a key skill to learn, for both first- and second-year students. Comparative skills are essential to analyse and compare how states change under European and global pressure and facilitate robust results in small-scale projects in the real world, be that in government, an EU institution, a consultancy, or an NGO.
This course is for 1st year MIA students only.
Instructor
- Markus Jachtenfuchs , Professor of European and Global Governance
