Governance of the European Union

The European Union is a key actor in shaping the international political economy and the relations between states and markets. It is therefore central to comprehending the interactions between economics and politics.
The primary objectives of this module is to provide a detailed understanding of how the European Union and the main political processes within it operate, to convey this knowledge through the theoretical foundations of political science, and to enable students to develop analytical and theoretical skills that can be transferred directly into a non-academic environment or that provide the foundations for further academic research.
The module will discuss the design of EU treaties, the adoption of policies, their implementation and adjudication. It will cover all major EU institutions and policies. The module will also rely on groups presentations of academic papers and on the writing of essays, in order to facilitate the understanding of the module's substantive topics and of the analytical tools employed in political science.

By the end of the course, the students will be able to: a) understand the institutional structure of the European Union, b) understand core processes of institutional, input and output politics in the Union, c) interpret this knowledge theoretically and analytically through the main theories in political science, d) assess critically empirical evidence, e) present concisely academic theories and arguments to an audience, f) review and convey academic findings and analyses concisely through essays and presentations, g) develop skills to work in a team, and f) develop positive and normative interpretations of important political questions facing the EU leaders.
The emphasis assigned to the substantive knowledge of EU politics and to analytical tools to interpret it, as well as the development of critical skills and communicative abilities to comprehend and convey key theories and findings, via presentations, essays and exams, will allow students to develop an independent understanding of these phenomena which will be relevant for their future career.