ASTK12168U Theorizing European Integration

Volume 2013/2014
Content
The European Union (EU) poses a number of challenges for scholars of politics and international relations. It is easy enough to agree that the EU is important in both European and global politics. It is rather more of a problem to agree on why it is important. Some scholars insist that the EU offers a unique and transformative experiment in post-national governance, with neither historical precedent nor contemporary parallel. If this is so, then we need to devise novel and creative ways to think about – to theorize – this phenomenon. On the other hand, social scientists generally prefer to think about objects of study in terms of established modes of analysis and theoretical toolkits. The inclination in this case is to ask of the EU: ‘of what is this an instance?’ This course grapples with this tension by exploring the different ways in which scholarship in political science and international relations has confronted and theorised the EU. We will be thinking about both the EU and its evolution and the limits and possibilities of political science/IR past and present.

The course commences with consideration of two foundational themes that will inform our deliberations throughout the semester: the role of theory in the study of the EU and the rather complicated question of how we define the EU/European integration. We then proceed chronologically and thematically by laying out the different encounters between the theory and practice of international integration in Europe. We consider early attempts – from the late 18th century – to think about the problems of and prospects for post-nationalism, before examining the early attempts of political scientists to explore the emerging institutional forms of European integration from the 1950s. This leads us to the supposed ‘great debate’ between ‘neofunctionalist’ and ‘intergovernmentalist’ accounts of integration. This much discussed debate has also been extensively criticised and we look at alternative ways of thinking about the EU in more recent times, most notably from the domains of political science and policy analysis. We examine the ways in which contemporary International Relations scholarship encounters the EU – especially as the EU has become a more obvious player/actor in the field of world politics. For many working in EU studies at present, the key cleavage is between rationalist and constructivist approaches. We will examine the usefulness of this division, which has also been used as a way of identifying the main fault lines in contemporary IR, and look at examples of each approach. We will also think about the so-called ‘normative turn’ in EU studies – the emergence of a political philosophy of European integration especially concerned with questions of legitimacy, democracy, citizenship and constitutionalism. We conclude by examining approaches from beyond the mainstream, such as post-structuralism and feminism and asking whether a broader encounter with other social sciences would open up a more productive theoretical frontier in EU studies.
Learning Outcome
On completion of the course, students should (a) be able to demonstrate familiarity with the main theories of European integration and EU politics; (b) be able to demonstrate an understanding of the relationship between theories of integration and the evolution of the EU and to show competence to apply theories of integration in the empirical context of the EU; (c) be able to make informed, analytical evaluations of different theories and (d) be able to relate discussions about theories of European integration and the EU to broader social scientific concerns.

The reading list is awailable in Absalon

You should have a basic understanding of international relations theory and political theory. Prior knowledge of the EU would be useful, but is not absolutely essential. You may write papers that are purely theoretical, but you could also usefully think about how theories can be applied to specific topics in EU studies (how theories might be tested in different empirical contexts). You should come to class having done the required reading for each week’s work and should participate fully in the various discussion and other exercises that will take place in class.
  • Category
  • Hours
  • Class Instruction
  • 28
  • Exam
  • 79
  • Preparation
  • 168
  • Total
  • 275
Credit
10 ECTS
Type of assessment
Written examination
Written exam
Marking scale
7-point grading scale
Censorship form
External censorship
Criteria for exam assesment

Criteria for achieving the goals:

  • Grade 12 is given for an outstanding performance: the student lives up to the course's goal description in an independent and convincing manner with no or few and minor shortcomings
  • Grade 7 is given for a good performance: the student is confidently able to live up to the goal description, albeit with several shortcomings
  • Grade 02 is given for an adequate performance: the minimum acceptable performance in which the student is only able to live up to the goal description in an insecure and incomplete manner