This course provides a comprehensive introduction to the European Union, examining its institutional architecture, internal dynamics, and external engagement in a rapidly shifting global landscape. The course is structured around interconnected themes that explore the EU's evolution and its theoretical underpinnings as an international organization.
The first theme provides an overview of the EU's history and political frameworks, establishing the foundation for understanding the bloc's internal coherence and external ambitions. This introduces students to the competing analytical lenses through which European integration has been understood, including intergovernmentalism, supranationalism, and multi-level governance. The theme also addresses the concept of state sovereignty, examining how EU membership has reshaped traditional notions of state authority and autonomy. It concludes by conceptualizing nationalism and its resurgence within the EU context, before turning to citizenship and migration, exploring how the EU's framework of free movement has created new forms of belonging while generating significant political contestation.
The second half of the course turns to contemporary challenges and external relations, beginning with an examination of Brexit and its causes, negotiation dynamics, and consequences for both the UK and the EU's future trajectory. It then addresses the EU's evolving role as a security actor and its capacity to act cohesively on the global stage through its foreign policy frameworks. The final section examines the EU's engagement with major powers such as China, addressing trade, technology, and connectivity, before assessing the EU's response to the coronavirus pandemic and the longer-term implications for European integration and state sovereignty. Through these interconnected themes, the course provides students with a comprehensive understanding of the EU's institutional resilience, its theories of integration and sovereignty, and its ability to navigate twenty-first-century geopolitics.
- Teacher: Abdulla Al-Kalisy