Undergraduate Course: Governance of the European Union (LAWS10200)
Course Outline
| School | School of Law |
College | College of Humanities and Social Science |
| Credit level (Normal year taken) | SCQF Level 10 (Year 3 Undergraduate) |
Availability | Available to all students |
| SCQF Credits | 20 |
ECTS Credits | 10 |
| Summary | This course critically explores the governance of the EU from the interlocking perspectives of the EU law-making and the EU policy-making and regulatory procedures. It will build upon themes introduced in EU Law (Ordinary) and complement EU Law (Honours). The course will begin by reviewing the governance of the EU as an inter-governmental or a supranational organisation through an analysis of the changing roles and key functions of the principal EU Institutions ¿ the Commission, the Parliament, the Council of Ministers and the European Council ¿ in the legislative process. Considerations of legitimacy and democracy will be used as criteria against which to assess the EU as law-maker, and reforms to the EU legislative process over time will be critically reviewed. This covers a number of key changes, ranging from the increasing role of the European Parliament in the legislative process to the more recent involvement of national parliaments. The course will also consider non-legislative EU policy-processes, arrangements that are usually covered under the term ¿new governance¿. These include the Open Method of Coordination and a new intergovernmentalism that has emerged in the wake of the 2008 financial crisis. The course will contextualise these new arrangements of EU governance within specific policy areas ¿ including the single financial market, the Eurozone and the ¿Europe 2020¿ project. The course will also examine Brexit, in particular the options facing the UK in defining its future relationship to the EU. |
| Course description |
1. The course aims to provide students with an in-depth understanding of the institutions and procedures of EU governance. The course will build on the EU Law (Ordinary) course that all students will have completed, and can be regarded as a companion, though distinct, course to the EU Law (Honours) course for students who take both. The course will focus on, and investigate, the EU as a single economic space that is regulated by EU laws and policies. It will offer a critical review of the EU as law-maker and regulatory authority.
2. The course will be delivered in 10x2-hour seminars.
a. Seminars 1-2: Introduction to the EU Treaties and Treaty reform. Critique of integration theory and the EU as an inter-governmental versus supranational actor. The EU crises and the emergence of ¿new intergovernmentalism¿.
b. Seminar 3: The EU as a trans-national regulatory regime. The rise of the ¿regulatory state and the completion of the EU internal market post-1992. The Agencies of the EU and the role of National Regulatory Authorities.
c. Seminars 4-5: The EU legislative process. The changing inter-institutional balance in EU law-making. The rise of the EP, and the roles of the Council and Commission. Comitology. Legitimacy and democracy. Subsidiarity and the role of national parliaments.
d. Seminars 6-7: Managing financial crises and governing the Eurozone. What do the post-2008 crises tell us about EU governance? Case study: response to banking crises and the reform of economic governance.
e. Seminar 8: Beyond legislation: the emergence of new governance in the EU. The spread of the OMC, aligning national policies and ¿soft law¿.
f. Seminar 9: The better regulation agenda. How the EU legislative system responds to excessive and burdensome regulation. Enhancing competitiveness by impact assessment. Understanding and critically appraising the simplification and REFIT initiatives.
g. Seminar 10: Brexit. Article 50 and the unbundling of the EU.
3. The course will be taught over 10 seminars. Students will be divided into small teams (3-4 dependent on numbers) and will be asked to prepare group responses to set questions for each seminar, for which a reading list will be provided.
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Entry Requirements (not applicable to Visiting Students)
| Pre-requisites |
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Co-requisites | |
| Prohibited Combinations | |
Other requirements | None |
Information for Visiting Students
| Pre-requisites | None |
| High Demand Course? |
Yes |
Course Delivery Information
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| Academic year 2017/18, Available to all students (SV1)
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Quota: 11 |
| Course Start |
Semester 2 |
Timetable |
Timetable |
| Learning and Teaching activities (Further Info) |
Total Hours:
200
(
Seminar/Tutorial Hours 20,
Programme Level Learning and Teaching Hours 4,
Directed Learning and Independent Learning Hours
176 )
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| Assessment (Further Info) |
Written Exam
67 %,
Coursework
33 %,
Practical Exam
0 %
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| Additional Information (Assessment) |
The course will be assessed by (i) an essay based on set questions to be issued at the beginning of the course (worth 33% of the final mark) and (ii) a degree examination (worth the remaining 67% of the final mark). |
| Feedback |
The course will be assessed by (i) an extended essay based on set questions to be issued at the beginning of the course (worth 33% of the final mark) and (ii) a degree examination (worth the remai9ning 67% of the final mark).
Students will have the opportunity to complete a formative assessment on which individual feedback will be provided. That formative assessment will take the form of a power point presentation (maximum 5 slides) to be emailed to the Course Organiser on a topic based on the course.
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| No Exam Information |
Learning Outcomes
On completion of this course, the student will be able to:
- Apply an advanced knowledge of EU Institutions and governance to real-world and hypothetical scenarios, demonstrating problem-solving skills;
- Locate and analyse primary and secondary source materials, including EU Treaties and legal documentation and practitioner material from EU institutions of governance;
- Demonstrate the ability to pursue an argument, with proper care and attention to primary sources and to relevant academic literature, as well as the ability to synthesise material from a broad variety of sources;
- Demonstrate enhanced research skills, primarily library skills, but also use of databases and appropriate use of internet resources; and demonstrate advanced communication, expression, arugmentation and debate skills through seminar participation and the assessed presentation;
- Through the assessed presentation, develop efficient and effective group-work skills; analytical and response skills; and also research and IT/ PowerPoint Skills.
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Additional Information
| Graduate Attributes and Skills |
Not entered |
| Keywords | Governance; European Union; European Institutions |
Contacts
| Course organiser | Prof Andrew Scott
Tel: (0131 6)50 2064
Email: |
Course secretary | Ms Krystal Hanley
Tel: (0131 6)50 2056
Email: |
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