The European Union has been given many names: ‘Regulatory State’, ‘Policy-Making State’, even a political entity with ‘policy without politics’. The latter is certainly outdated, yet the fact remains that the European Union’s main task is creating and implementing policies. In this course, we will focus on the policy-making role of the European Union.
In an interactive classroom setting we will try to understand and assess the most important institutions and processes in EU politics. To do so, we will read, discuss and critique the latest academic findings in the field of EU governance, as well as EU (and national) policy documents. The course can broadly be divided into two different parts.
In part 1 we will refresh our knowledge on the European Union and how it works, especially with a view to it’s most important function: producing legislation. We discuss different perspectives on the EU and the policy-making process. We think about the EU as a political system and get to know the central institutions. In part 2, we focus on the policy-making process of the Union. Having gotten to know the institutions, we will focus on the different steps in EU policy-making, from deciding whether or not to initiate a policy to implementing it in the member states. Each with their own policy file in mind, students will start understanding and tracking the EU policy process in its consecutive steps. In the end, the course will have prepared students to write an in-depth analysis of a concrete legislative file as the final assessment, combining their theoretical insights and (EU) research skills they attained during the course.
The course includes a 3-day study trip to Brussels (17-19 November). During the trip, we will meet actors involved in the EU political and policy processes and get an understanding of how these processes work and who contributes. Participation in the trip is mandatory to pass the course.
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