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The European Union: Policy Modes

Overview

Module description

This module will familiarise you with a) the different types of EU public policy as well as b) the content and evolution of the EU’s policies in a broad range of sectors. This is why it covers a broad range of issues such as the single market, the EU’s macro-economic policy, foreign policy, migration policy as well as the EU’s response to the Covid-19 pandemic.

Indicative module syllabus

  • The modes of EU policy making
  • The crisis of the ‘Community method’
  • The single market
  • EMU, macro-economic policy
  • The EU’s budget
  • The EU’s trade and foreign policies
  • EU crises and reform
  • The EU and the Covid-19 pandemic
  • The EU and the crisis of the rule of law
  • The scope for and limits of ‘disintegration’

Learning objectives

By the end of this module, you will:

  • have detailed knowledge of the EU’s policy different policy modes as analysed via contemporary theoretical frameworks
  • have a critical understanding of the factors that promote and impede policy change in the EU
  • be able to apply theories and models to contemporary EU policy issues
  • have detailed knowledge of the institutional features of EU policymaking
  • be able to synthesise a variety of materials across primary and secondary texts to explain and support your own arguments concerning key problems in the study of EU politics and policymaking
  • have developed skills of critical thinking, enquiry, synthesis, analysis and evaluation that can be employed on other modules studied at this level.