This module aims to:

• Consolidate, contextualise and develop students’ knowledge of the policies of the European Union.
• Provide students with skills to describe and analyse those policies.
• Introduce and discuss the key literature to students.

On completion of this module, students should be able to:

·         identify and theorise on the policies of the European Union;

·         explain the operation and impact of those policies;

·         Critically apply theoretical literature to practical examples.

Cognitive Skills

·         Gather, organise and deploy evidence, data and information from a variety of secondary and some primary sources.

·         Identify, investigate, analyse, formulate and advocate solutions to problems.

·         Construct reasoned argument, synthesize relevant information and exercise critical judgement.

·         Reflect on their own learning and seek and make use of constructive feedback.

·         Engage in interdisciplinary and multidisciplinary debates.

·         Evaluate research material.

·         Apply theoretical frameworks to policy/empirical analysis.

Transferable skills

·         Communicate effectively and fluently in speech and writing.

·         Use communication and information technology for the retrieval and presentation of information, including, where appropriate, statistical or numerical information.

·         Adopt a proactive approach to problem solving.

Practical skills

·         Make appropriate use of information and communications technology.

·         Demonstrate their ability to present work orally.

·         Employ relevant research skills to investigate a politics- or policy-related area.

·         Access relevant politics- and policy-related datasets and be able to retrieve data from them.

The module will work from an initial theoretical discussion, through key policy areas and into a consideration of how they interact, both which each other and with policies from other actors, nationally and internationally.

The following list gives an indication of topics that are covered in this module:

·         Introduction: the EU as a policy actor

·         Building a context: The EU’s policy-making process

·         Theoretical perspectives on policy-making

·         The economic project: from Single Market to Single currency

·         Balancing integration: flanking policies (cohesion, agriculture)

·         The political project: internal cooperation on justice, home affairs and human rights

·         The EU in the world: from trade to foreign policy to security

·         Making it all work: the interaction of the policies

Essential Texts:

H. Wallace, M. Pollack & A. Young, Policy-Making in the European Union (6^th ed., OUP, 2010)

Recommended:

M. Cini & N. Perez-Solorzano Borragan, European Union Politics (3^rd ed. Oxford University , 2010)

D. Dinan, Ever Closer Union . An Introduction to European Integration (4^th ed. Palgrave, 2010)

S. George & I. Bache, Politics in the European Union (2^nd ed. OUP, 2006).

S. Hix, The Political System of the European Union (2^nd ed, Palgrave, 2005)

N. Nugent, The Government and Politics of the European Union (7^th ed., Palgrave, 2010)

Ali El-Agraa, The European Union (8^th edn., CUP, 2007).

John Pinder & S. Usherwood, The European Union: A Very Short Introduction ( Oxford , 2^nd ed., 2007)