Program Description
Overview
Excursions
Faculty Director
Eligibility
Course of Study
Expenses
Travel Arrangements
Application Information
Housing
The Maastricht Treaty of 1992 represents a critical juncture in the long evolution of European political economic integration. The treaty transformed the institutions of the European Union (EU) and set its members on an accelerated pathway towards monetary integration. The Europe of today still wrestles with the political compromises and economic implications of this treaty. The Carleton College European Political Economy Program in Madrid, Spain and Maastricht, The Netherlands provides students with an opportunity to research and reflect critically on the politics of European integration while they live and travel throughout Western and Southern Europe.
The program begins in Madrid, where students will study the tradeoffs inherent in European integration within the context of a major country: Spain. Spain’s travails with globalization, European integration and regional diversity continue to challenge this modern society in ways that are reflected in other European countries. In addition to learning about the role of Spain in Europe, students will examine the political institutions, policy-making processes, foreign policy, and the special regional aspects of Spanish democracy.
During the second half of the term, the program moves to Maastricht. This small city of 120,000 is a monument to Europe's past and its future. Founded as a walled fortress by the Romans in 50 B.C., it is the oldest city in The Netherlands, as its many medieval churches and squares attest. Located at the southern tip of the Netherlands, it lies a mere 20 minutes west of Germany and just east of Belgium. This central location makes it a perfect home base to explore numerous EU institutions, including the Council of Ministers and the Commission in Brussels, the European Court of Justice in Luxembourg, and the Parliament in Brussels and Strasbourg.
In Madrid, students will have access to the research resources of the Ortega y Gasset Institute. In Maastricht, students will find all of the research materials they will need at the library of the European Institute of Public Administration (EIPA), one of the official resource centers the EU maintains in its member states. Here, students will have the use of official EU reports, data, and archives. But this program will require and expect students to go into the field and conduct systemic, original elite interviews in diverse sites within Spain, Brussels, and throughout Western Europe.
Alfred P. Montero, Associate Professor of Political Science
Al Montero has taught comparative politics since 1996 and has been at Carleton since 1998. A specialist on both Latin American and European political economy, he has published several scholarly books, articles and chapters on these subjects. He has extensive field research experience in Brazil, Mexico, and Spain and has traveled throughout Western Europe. Prof. Montero's work in Europe focuses on the political economy of subnational government and the regional policy of the European Union. He is fluent in Spanish and Portuguese and has studied French. Mar Valdecantos, his wife, is a sociologist and fiction writer from Madrid, Spain. She has taught Spanish at Carleton since 1999 and is fluent in French. Diana, their nine-year-old daughter, and David, their four-year-old son, will accompany them on this program. (This will be Diana's fourth European program and David’s second!).
Students who successfully complete the program will earn 18 credits. Each course meets up to twice a week for two hours, except during the field research period at different points during the term. The research seminars will prepare students for the six-credit field research experience. All work is in English, but knowledge of any of the major European languages will be very useful for conducting field work.
POSC 383-07: Political and Economic Integration of Europe: 6 Credits
This course examines the formation, development, institutions, laws, and major policies of the European Union. It trains students to think about the major questions of EU-level governance as these issues are addressed by academics and by policy practitioners. Students will work on particular EU policy areas and country members during the classroom portion of the course in Maastricht. They will then travel to Brussels and Luxembourg to investigate the major issues facing the EU. Students will conduct group research on EU officials in Brussels and prepare an elite survey that they will themselves conduct on-site in Brussels. Cross-listed with the Political Economy Concentration and European Studies Concentration.
Instructor: Professor Al Montero
POSC 388-07: Spanish Politics and Political Economy: 6 Credits
This seminar will examine the institutions, actors, and movements that made Spanish democracy possible and that govern this country today. Students will explore class, gender, ethnic, and nationalist cleavages in Spanish society and learn how they have shaped institutions at the national and subnational levels. Instruction will include travel to sites outside the Madrid region. Instruction in this course will also complement the research assignment that forms the second half of the field work course listed below. Cross-listed with the Political Economy Concentration and European Studies Concentration.
Instructor: Ortega y Gasset Institute professor
POSC 392-07: Comparative Field Research Methods: 6 Credits
Students will be divided into teams to conduct two sustained research projects. The first will take place in Spain during the first half of the program and will involve systematic interviewing of Spanish political party and government elites in several regions of Spain. The second-half assignment will focus on an elite survey in Brussels as part of POSC 383. As part of the regular instruction for these projects, students will be coached on how to prepare contacts, work with official sources, research and use of primary documents, conduct on-site interviews and visits, find solutions to the language barrier problem, and deal with other aspects of fieldwork research in comparative politics.
Instructor: Professor Al Montero
Students are responsible for international travel arrangements to and from Europe. The program will pay for all program-related travel within Europe.
In Madrid, students will be housed in a private apartment complex close to the Ortega y Gasset Institute in the Salamanca District of Madrid. In Maastricht, students will be housed in apartments maintained by International Guesthouse, a private company based in Maastricht. Apartments in both locations have fully-equipped kitchens including conventional and microwave ovens, cable television, facilities for high-speed internet connections, and weekly maid service. Students are encouraged to use their meal allowance to prepare their own food and/or to eat at the many pubs and restaurants in both cities. In both locations, students will also be served by two resident hall assistants and the assistant program director, who is an alumnus.
Both Madrid and Maastricht are located strategically in Western Europe. During the first half of the program, students may wish to use their Madrid home base to explore Iberia, Italy, and Southern France. During the Maastricht half of the program, Germany, France, Benelux, Switzerland, the U.K., Ireland, and even Scandinavia are not too far away. The program encourages students to explore Europe during weekends, the week-long mid-term break, and during the field research segments. A great variety of sites are only a few hours away by railway or highway. In most cases, the program will cover the costs of entrance to cultural sites.
The program is designed for students who are interested in European politics and political economy, particularly the development of the European Union and regional issues. To participate in the program, students must have completed:
Recommended but not required are:
- The methods sequence in Political Science, including POSC 230.
POSC 120 may be taken after admission to the program, but must be completed by March 2011 to travel to Europe. All students must have valid passports (and visas if not North American students) by September 1, 2010 (for spring apps) or November 1, 2010 (for fall apps) to successfully complete the application and admission stages.
Students pay the 2010-11 Carleton comprehensive fee, which covers the costs of instruction, room, board, all scheduled excursions, and research travel costs. Students are responsible for personal expenses, transportation to and from Europe, and personal travel during the seminar. Student financial aid is applied as on campus. See the OCS Office’s financial handout on off-campus study regarding work study contracts, loans, and other subjects on financial aid.
