17646 - European Union Institutions and Policies

Learning outcomes

The aim of the course is to deliver a basic knowledge of the EU institutional system and policy-making: its focus is the study of European institutions and formal procedures and informal dynamics of decision-making and legislative processes. The second section of the program is focused on the evolution and contents of some significant EU policies (CAP, cohesion policy , environmental policy, external policies and economic and monetary policy). Students are expected to learn the complex working of the EU institutions, to understand the complexity of European policies, programs, regulations and financial instruments that involve national and subnational government.

Course contents

The course is taught in presence.

The course is divided in the following sections.

First section (4-6 hours) is devoted to the perspective of EU political studies and the study of the main steps of the European integration, EU institutional setting, as innovated by the main Treaties;

Second section (20-22 hours) illustrates and analyses main institutions - organization; powers and responsibilities - of Commission, Council, European Council, Parliament, Court of Justice, EEAS, and Central Bank; main interests groups; procedures of law making.

Third section is focused on different modes of EU decision-making: community, intergovernmental and coordination methods (6-8 hours);

Fourth section (26 hours) is devoted to the study of EU policies: trade, agricultural policy and single market; environmental/climate change, cohesion policy and budget policy; economic governance and monetary union, with the mechanism of European Semester.

Two written intermediate tests are scheduled; they consist in open questions over the first and second parts of the program; two open question for the second test on the policies. Students could write a short paper on topics related to the topics of the program referring to readings and textbooks suggested by the teacher. Additional and more practical activities consist of: deepenings of relevant topics, surf the EU web, consultation of official data and sources.

Readings/Bibliography

Compulsory readings:

For Erasmus or foreign students or those attending courses in English the text are as follows:

Nugent N., 2017, The Government and Politics of the European Union, 3rd Edition, MacMillan

or 

Bache I. and Others, 2015, Politics in the European Union, Oxford University press (all sections and chapters on History Institutions and Policies)

- Burns C. and Carter N., 2013, Environmental Policy, in The Oxford Handbook of the European Union, edited by Erik Jones, Anand Menon, and Stephen Weat, Oxford University Press

- Snyder F., 2013, CAP, in The Oxford Handbook of the European Union, edited by Erik Jones, Anand Menon, and Stephen Weatherill

Chapters and articles on EU Policies - Trade, CAP, Cohesion, Environment, External Relations, CFSP - are avalable on line

https://www.unibo.it/it/didattica/insegnamenti/insegnamento

Suggested readings:

Amanatidis G, (2019), European policies on climate and energy towards 2020, 2030 and 2050, European Parliament, EP, ENVI in Focus

https://www.europarl.europa.eu/RegData/etudes/BRIE/2019/631047/IPOL_BRI(2019)631047_EN.pdf

Further reading will be indicated in order to update the study on the latest policy develpments (papers and articles will be available on

https://www.unibo.it/it/didattica/insegnamenti/insegnamento

Teaching methods

The program will be almost entirely developed during the class lessons held by the teacher. Other instruments will be used: videos, interviews with relevant actors in European politics, insights into current affairs, and on line reviews on EU daily institutional activity (Euractiv and others).

In order to deepen or better understand themes and issues additional readings will be made available for Erasmus students

Assessment methods

The exam for full-time students consists of two written mid term tests and a final oral examination.

The written tests consist of open questions. It is possible to write a paper on topics covered in class, and agreed with the teacher.

The oral examination will be focused on the policies of the EU studied in the final part of the class lessons.

The intermediate tests and the final oral exam allow to verify the level of learning capacity and knowledge of EU institutions and policies. the ability to use the appropriate language, the ability to analyze the functioning of EU institutions and policies, which should constitute the acquired knowledge.

The final grade will be composed through the mean of the scores obtained in the 3 tests, and taking into consideration the eventual improvement during the course showed by students.

FOR STUDENTS NOT ATTENDING THE CLASS, PROGRAM OF STUDY AND EXAMINATION MODE MUST BE AGREED WITH THE TEACHER.

Teaching tools

Main tools are references listed in "Recommended readings" plus some widening readings, suggested by the teacher during the course, the EU web-site, newspapers, on line journal and news, on line papers, EU data-set, etc. (http://www.ceps.eu, http://euractiv.com [http://euractiv.com/] )

Office hours

See the website of Renata Lizzi