ASTK18296U Jean Monnet course: The Legalization of EU Politics and International Relations

This course is part of the activities organised by Jean Monnet Chair in EU Law & Politics and, hence, is co-funded by the Erasmus+ Programme of the European Union.

EU and International legal, political science and international relations scholars have recently developed theories about the relevance of EU law for Member State compliance and the development of national legal systems, that has proved very fruitful in explaining some of the central European problems and crisis that are of interest to policy and law-makers (e.g. rule of law crisis in Hungary and Poland, the European economic crisis, or the migration and refugee crisis). This is in part due to the legalization of EU politics, which refers to the reality that legal and judicial actors are increasingly involved in defining and shaping European affairs. Legalization is generally then considered an aspect in which international/european and domestic actors conceive of their legal and policy options as bounded by what is legally allowed. Moreover, it refers to the process in which international law, in conjunction with the proliferation and role of International Organizations and Courts like the EU and the Court of Justice of the European Union, confers new rights and obligations to citizens and other domestic and transnational European actors.

The goal of this course is to provide students with an interdisciplinary perspective for understanding the impact of legal integration in EU politics, which will be also useful and appealing for students interested in exploring the role of international law in international affairs and relations. EU politics and international relations disciplines refer to the behaviour of European and international institutions, Member States and non-State actors in the European arena, but also to how European Union law, and international law more broadly, might affect the multi-level relations between the EU and domestic actors, and, between actors at the national legal arena. This course will offer an innovate approach to the topic by differentiating from the traditional study of international and European relationships taking place in the European and global arena, by focusing on the analysis of European Political interactions in multi-level and domestic context. The main reason for focusing on these levels of interactions is the increasing interest in the political science, international relations and law scholarships and disciplines to explain the role that international and regional legal regimes and courts play in shaping domestic society, politics and law.

This course enables political science and law students, but also students from other interrelated disciplines, such as History or Sociology, to critically discuss how EU and international politics shapes legal and judicial institutions, and vice versa. During the course students will discuss the limitations and opportunities provided by combining political and legal perspectives. Reflecting on this complementarity will give students an added value that will improve their career prospects as researchers, lawyers, policy-makers, judges, civil servants, etc. Moreover, it enhances their capacity to assess their political reality as citizens. All in all, by integrating knowledge and hands-on practice in EU law and politics, students will develop a deep understanding of the dynamics that rule the relations between these two disciplines, empowering them to become agents of legal change within the Danish and European societies. 

The course is divided into three parts/blocks covering several topics:

1. The first part introduces the students to the relevant approaches, concepts and methods for studying and understanding the interaction between EU law and politics (topics 1 to 4). These three topics provide the students with the analytical tools to follow and develop discussions on legal issues in the framework of a broader political and legal context.
2. The second part of the course reviews the main actors and institutional dynamics addressed by the literature in EU Law and Politics and international relations (topics 5 to 9), which special focus on judicial actors and judicial dynamics.
3. In the third block of topics (topics 13 to 16), the course will provide analytical insights into the impact of law and politics dynamics on very up-to-date and topical EU policy domains. The analytical concepts and research tools presented in the first four sessions are deployed jointly by the students and course instructor in the following blocks of the course.

Each topic will be discussed in 1 or 2 lectures of 2 hours each. The lectures will be combined with other activities, like students’ presentations, exercises, case studies, etc. During the first sessions, students will be asked about their motivations and professional interest in order to identify topics of interest for their assignments.

Preliminary programme: each general section will consist on several sessions where these topics will be discussed. Sessions will also allocate time for exercises, debates and student presentations:

1. Introduction:

During the session, students will be asked about their motivations and professional interests in order to identify topics of interest for their final individual written assignments.

2. What is EU law? The EU legal system from the perspective of international and comparative law.

This section will settle the basic legal knowledge necessary for discussing the relationship between EU law & Politics during the whole course.

3. The Legalization of EU Politics and International Relations

This topic will attend to the concept of Legalization of EU politics and International Relations and its relevance for explaining how international law shapes domestic legal and political systems. 

4. Theories of Legal Integration: Why do States comply with treaties and obligations?

This section will clarify why States obey international law. In addition, it will discuss whether and how international courts do effectively increase compliance with International commitments adopted by States. 

5. The Court of Justice of the European Union as a political actor: Defining and categorizing the CJEU in a pluralistic system of international courts.

After discussing in previous sections to what extent Court of Justice plays a useful role in the European integration process, this section will present discuss the different types of international courts and its origins. 

6. Judicialisation of Politics and Politization of the EU judiciary

This section discusses how the process of European integration has encouraged a substantial judicialisation of politics in the EU. 

7. EU Judicial Politics: The Court of Justice and its relationship with national courts

The seminar will discuss the different theories and factors explaining the involvement of national courts in legal integration process.

8. On EU legal mobilization: Interest groups, lawyers and civil society

In this session we will ask why individuals, interest groups (e.g. NGO and trade unions) and companies go to court and explores the impact of litigation on policy, institutions and the balance of power among actors.

9. EU Law, Courts, (Social) Media and Public Opinion

The seminar will address how EU law and EU judiciary build public support. An overview of the levels of acceptance towards EU judicial institutions will be provided and will evaluate the sources of this support by assessing diverse explanations. 

10. Resistance and Compliance with EU law: Member States, Commission and the CJEU

The seminar will question why Member States do not comply with EU law and their strategies of resistance against the implementation of EU law.

11. Transnational legal making: networks, elites and entrepreneurs in the formation of EU Law

In this section, we will explore the role that transnational elites and networks have played in the EU policy and legal making, beyond the litigation arena.

12. The Judicial Politics of Treaties: Revision and Ratification

In this seminar, we will discuss the relevance and impact of the CJEU and national courts during the revision and ratification of new treaties. 

13. The Law & Politics of the Rule of Law in the EU

In this section, we will introduce the recent debate on the rule of law triggered Poland and Hungary, its origins and its political and legal implications. 

14. The Law & Politics of EU Economic Governance.

This section introduces the current normative and empirical debates about the impact of this legalization by exploring the views and strategies of actors practically involved in European governance.

15. The Law & Politics of EU migration and refugees’ policies

This seminar will describe the process of ‘communitarization’ and ‘legalization’ of immigration politics and policies, the relative power and influence of member states and EU institutions on that issue, and their impact on the domestic politics and policies of member states.

16. Regional Legal Integration beyond Europe: Replication or Innovation?

In this seminar we will discuss other models of regional legal integration in Latin America and Africa. The discussion will nuance the theoretical approaches to supranationality and supranational adjudication based on the EU model.

17. Wrap-up discussion and questions about the examination

In this session we will revisit the core questions of the course: Why is EU law important for understanding EU Politics? What is legalization? How can we operationalize it? Under what conditions could EU law limit the behavior of European institutions and domestic actors and their interactions? How does it affect the development of national domestic legal systems?