2020-21 Academic Catalog

It has become commonplace to say that Europe is in crisis--yet what does that mean? It is difficult to overestimate the importance of crises considering that the European Union played a large part in overcoming Europe’s “Long Civil War” between 1914 and 1945. The collective decision-making processes created by European treaties are often credited with bringing peace and prosperity to Europe. Yet they have also instituted idiosyncrasies, asymmetries and inequities that stand in the way of solving the continent’s most pressing problems. We will examine decision-making processes in the European Union and the much-debated “democratic deficit” of its institutions. These debates about the foundations of the Union will be rounded off by an overview and brief history of Euroscepticism. The course will include a discussion of a number of case studies that confront member states of the European Union across the board: the reconstruction of the welfare state, immigration and the refugee crisis, and the rise of the far right.