European Values and Cultural Rights (Jean Monnet Module)

The course will provide students with an advanced knowledge and understanding of the legal constitutional issues connected to the protection and promotion of European values (defined as the fundamental principles of the European common constitutional tradition), with particular regard to their interaction with the legal instruments that protect specific (national, group or individual) cultural identities. The course, which will consist of both standard lectures and participatory learning activities, aims at providing students with elements and instruments of Public Law that are necessary for the multidisciplinary professional skillsets developed in the Master's programme.

1) Knowledge and understanding.
At the end of the course, students are expected to have acquired an advanced knowledge and understanding of the concepts of European values, of the fundamental principles and rules that translate the "European way of life" into legally binding rules in the national and supranational European legal systems, and of the relevance of their protection/promotion for the future progress of European integration; have an advanced knowledge and understanding of the concepts of cultural pluralism, cultural rights and cultural defence, and the means of protection of national/group/individual cultural identities in the European multilevel system.
2) Applying knowledge and understanding.
At the end of the course, students are expected to be able to apply the acquired knowledge and understanding in order to assess problematic cases in which the promotion of European values and the protection of peculiar (individual, group, national) cultural identities might be at odds; apply this knowledge and understanding also outside of the context of European studies in order to solve problems in their fields of work as well as in unfamiliar environments.
3) Making judgements.
At the end of the course, students are expected to be able to integrate the acquired knowledge and understanding in their multidisciplinary education, in order to reach solutions and formulate technical judgments, with an adequate legal language, on problematic cases in which European values and peculiar (individual, group, national) cultural identities are at odds, with incomplete or limited information.
4) Communication skills.
At the end of the course, students are expected to be able to clearly and unambiguously communicate their knowledge and understanding of the matter at hand to specialist and non-specialist audiences with an adequate legal language; clearly and unambiguously communicate their reasoning and their use of the relevant concepts, with an adequate legal language, when assessing/solving problematic cases.
5) Learning skills.
At the end of the course, students are expected to have developed the learning skills that are necessary for them to continue to undertake further study with a high degree of autonomy in the field of legal/constitutional studies, with particular regard to European and multilevel studies.