Political Systems and Issues: The European Union (L2038)
15 credits, Level 5
Spring teaching
The European Union as a project has changed rapidly, sometimes significantly, over its lifetime. Understanding how the EU works is an urgent task for political scientists. However, due to the EU's uniqueness, it is difficult to effectively study and fully understand it.
On this module, you’ll examine the EU as a system of governance. After a historical and theoretical overview, you’ll explore:
- the nature of executive, legislative and judicial politics
- the processes of interest representation and economic governance
- the nature of democracy and identity within the EU.
The module concludes with an examination of the crises which the European project has faced. You’ll research new and critical perspectives to help re-examine the past, present and possible futures of European integration.
Teaching
Assessment
Contact hours and workload
This module is approximately 150 hours of work. This breaks down into about 22 hours of contact time and about 128 hours of independent study. The University may make minor variations to the contact hours for operational reasons, including timetabling requirements.
We regularly review our modules to incorporate student feedback, staff expertise, as well as the latest research and teaching methodology. We鈥檙e planning to run these modules in the academic year 2025/26. However, there may be changes to these modules in response to feedback, staff availability, student demand or updates to our curriculum.
We鈥檒l make sure to let you know of any material changes to modules at the earliest opportunity.
Courses
This module is offered on the following courses: