B1630 - EU INSTITUTIONS AND CRISES

Conoscenze e abilità da conseguire

This course analyzes the origins and main developments of EU institutions with a special focus on the last EU institutional cycles. By the end of the course, students should be able to: understand the evolution and the current institutional design of the EU; assess the role played by each institution in different decision-making methods and in different policies; compare the last institutional cycles; discuss main political developments and challenges in EU politics.

Contenuti

The course is organized in lectures as detailed in the following program. During the first part (weeks 1-6), after an introduction to the EU political system, its main developments in terms of deepening and widening, and the theory of differentiated integration, the course focuses on EU institutions (European Commission, Council of the EU, European Council, European Parliament) and their role in the policy-making process. The second part (weeks 7-10) addresses the EU’s response to recent crises (Eurozone, Refugees, the Rule of Law, COVID-19, Ukraine) and the main theoretical approaches to EU crises (failing forward, new institutional leadership, authoritarian equilibrium, pluri-institutional approach, and bellicist integration).

The course is taught in the second semester and is designed for undergraduate students who have not necessarily already taken courses about the EU.

 

 PART I: EU Institutions

 

Weeks 1-2-3:

Introduction to the course

Introduction to the EU as a political system

EU institutional development

EU enlargement and Brexit

The EU as a system of differentiated integration

Mandatory readings:

Hix, S. and B. Hoyland (2011) The Political System of the European Union (3rd edition), Red Globe Press, chapter 1

Hodson D. and J. Peterson, eds. (2017) Institutions of the European Union (4th edition), Oxford University Press, chapter 2

Nugent N. (2017) The Government and Politics of the European Union (8th edition), Palgrave, chapter 5

Schimmelfennig, F., Leuffen, D, and B. Rittberger, 2015, ‘The European Union as a system of differentiated integration: interdependence, politicization and differentiation’, Journal of European Public Policy, 22(6), pp. 764-782

Schimmelfennig, F. (2018), 'Brexit: differentiated disintegration in the European Union', Journal of European Public Policy, 25(8), pp. 1154-1173

 

Week 4:

The European Commission

Mandatory readings:

Hodson D. and J. Peterson, eds. (2017) Institutions of the European Union (4th edition), Oxford University Press, chapters 5 and 10

Peterson, J. (2017) 'Juncker's political European Commission and an EU in Crisis', Journal of Common Market Studies, 55(2), pp. 349-367

Müller H. and I. Tömmel (2022) ‘Strategic Leadership: Ursula von der Leyen as President of the European Commission’, in Women and Leadership in the European Union, ed. H. Müller and I. Tömmel, Oxford University Press

 

Week 5:

The Council of the European Union and the European Council

Mandatory readings:

Hodson D. and J. Peterson, eds. (2017) Institutions of the European Union (4th edition), Oxford University Press, chapters 3, 4 and 14

Tömmel I. (2017) 'The Standing President of the European Council: Intergovernmental or Supranational Leadership', Journal of European Integration, 39(2), pp. 175-189.

 

Week 6:

The European Parliament

Mandatory readings:

Hodson D. and J. Peterson, eds. (2017) Institutions of the European Union (4th edition), Oxford University Press, chapter 6

Dinan, D. (2015) 'Governance and Institutions: The Year of the Spitzenkandidaten', Journal of Common Market Studies, 53(AR), pp. 93-107

 

PART II: EU’s Response to Crises

 

Week 7:

Introduction to EU crises

The Eurozone Crisis and Failing Forward

Mandatory readings:

Webber, D. (2018), European Disintegration? The Politics of Crisis in the European Union, Red Globe Publisher, chapter 3

Jones, E., R.D. Kelemen, and S. Meunier (2016), 'Failing Forward? The Euro Crisis and the Incomplete Nature of European Integration', Comparative Political Studies, 49(7), pp. 1010-1034

 

Week 8:

The Refugee Crisis and New Institutional Leadership

Mandatory readings:

Webber, D. (2018), European Disintegration? The Politics of Crisis in the European Union, Red Globe Publisher, chapter 5

Smeets, S. and D. Beach (2020) 'When success is an orphan: informal institutional governance and the EU-Turkey deal', West European Politics, 43(1), pp. 129-158

Baracani, E. and V. Sarotto (2022) 'The European Commission's role in EU-Turkey migration: political leadership through strategic framing', West European Politics

 

Week 9:

The Ukraine Crisis (2014)

 The Rule of Law Crisis and the Theory of Authoritarian Equilibrium

Mandatory readings:

Webber, D. (2018), European Disintegration? The Politics of Crisis in the European Union, Red Globe Publisher, chapter 4

Howorth, J. (2017), 'Stability on the Borders’: The Ukraine Crisis and the EU ’s Constrained Policy Towards the Eastern Neighbourhood', Journal of Common Market Studies, 55(1), pp. 121–136

Kelemen, R.D. (2020) 'The European Union's authoritarian equilibrium', Journal of European Public Policy, 27(3), pp. 481-499

Priebus, S. (2022), ‘The Commission’s Approach to Rule of Law Backsliding: Managing Instead of Enforcing Democratic Values?’, JCMS, 60: 6. pp. 1684–1700

 

Week 10:

The COVID-19 Crisis and the pluri-institutional approach

The Russian aggression of Ukraine, bellicist integration, and ideational leadership

Mandatory readings:

Kassim, H. (2022) ‘The European Commission and the COVID-19 pandemic: a pluri-institutional approach’, Journal of European Public Policy, DOI: 10.1080/13501763.2022.2140821

Genschel, P. (2022) ‘Bellicist integration? The war in Ukraine, the European Union and core state powers’, Journal of European Public Policy, 29: 12, 1885–1900

Baracani, E. (2023) 'Ideational agenda-setting leadership: President von der Leyen and the EU response to the invasion of Ukraine', West European Politics, open access

 

Testi/Bibliografia

- A detailed list of mandatory readings, for each lecture, is provided in the course contents

- All the readings are the same for attending and non-attending students

Metodi didattici

- First part: traditional lectures

- Second part: seminar activity

- During each class, students' participation will be encouraged

Modalità di verifica e valutazione dell'apprendimento

Requirements to be considered attending students:

1) Be present at least for 21/30 classes (70% of presence in class)

2) Take part in a group presentation on the topics of the second part of the program

Attending students are kindly requested to be enrolled as participants of the course on virtuale.unibo.it to facilitate the collection of presences in class

For attending students, the course grade is based on the following:

1) The written exam on the program's first part.

This exam takes place at the end of the course in a pre-appello and in all the following sessions until September (included).

Please note that this exam can be taken only once, but it is possible to come to all sessions and withdraw before the end of the exam. If the student does not withdraw and refuses the grade, the student will have to take the exam as a non-attending (as described in the following paragraph).

The exam consists of 1 long answer question that requires a response of about 40-60 lines (exam duration 1 hour).

2) Up to 2 additional points for class participation and the group presentation on the second part of the program

 

For non-attending students and attending students refusing the grade of the first written exam

The course grade is based on a single written exam on both program parts. The exam consists of 2 long answer questions that require an answer each of about 40-60 lines (exam duration 2 hours)

 

ERASMUS STUDENTS

It is not possible to take this course as non-attending students

Strumenti a supporto della didattica

- The instructor's PowerPoint presentations will be available at the end of each week on virtuale.unibo.it
- The group presentations will be scheduled during the first part of the course once there is a final list of attending students

Orario di ricevimento

Consulta il sito web di Elena Baracani