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European Integration

Author/Instructor: Ulrich Brückner

Credits: 8

• To make students understand the development of the European Communities/European Union from West European integration project to reunification of the continent with first former communist countries in Eastern Europe joining in 2004
• To equip students with a toolbox to study and explain the process of European integration and EU eastward enlargement in particular

• Overview of the European Union: historical development and current stage of this supranational entity of its own kind, key features and functioning of the political, economic and legal system, strengths and weaknesses of European integration, widening and deepening
• Key questions of the mutual relationship between the EU and Eastern Europe: negotiations for EU accession since 1998, various calculations and forecasts of the financial costs and benefits of EU enlargement for the old and the new members, impact of EU membership on the sovereign states of Eastern Europe and their transforming society and economy, acceptance and stability of an enlarged Union, need for internal reform and various proposals to deal with this challenge
• Possible trends for further developments
• Case studies dealing with the Schengen arrangement and an integrated immigration policy, the European labor market, the reform of the Common Agricultural Policy and special country specific questions (e.g. land purchase in Poland)

Students must complete and pass a specified number of module tasks including a research paper and participate in online discussions.

Example Task from the European Integration Module

1. Write a summary in the style of an entry for an encyclopaedia about Pierson’s application of historical institutionalism on the EU (500 words) and send it to the discussion board.

2. Discuss Bruter's article regarding its theoretical foundation and compare his findings with your own thoughts about the question what “Europe” means. (ca. 500 words, post your answer on the discussion board).

3. Compare Joschka Fischer's “Vision of the Future of Europe” from 2000 with Henri Spaak’s ideas about the integration of Europe in 1950. After half a century, what are the main similarities and differences of the two concepts? Post your answer (ca. 500 words) on the discussion board.

4. How are Joschka Fischer's ideas perceived by academia? Read articles from the website
http://www.jeanmonnetprogram.org/papers/00/symp.html and answer the following questions:

• What is Joschka Fischer's historical analysis of the process of European integration?
• What is his motivation to present his vision?
• Does his vision have a realistic chance to be implemented into practice?
• What are the main theoretical counterarguments from academia?

Post your answer (ca. 500 words) on the discussion board.

Module abstract
Please find a reading example here: European Integration.