Political sociology of the European Union

Teacher(s)

Van Ingelgom Virginie;

Language

English

Prerequisites

The prerequisite(s) for this Teaching Unit (Unité d’enseignement – UE) for the programmes/courses that offer this Teaching Unit are specified at the end of this sheet.

Main themes

For decades, European studies mainly focused on factors explaining the dynamics of regional integration from the point of view of political actors (institutional and economic actors). The difficult ratification of the Maastricht Treaty and the failure of the Constitutional Treaty put European citizens on stage, while the recent Euro crisis reflects existing resistances facing the creation of new solidarity mechanisms. To understand the reactions of ordinary citizens towards European integration, and in addition to the existing explanatory strands focusing on interests and institutions, the political sociology of the EU questions the weight of socio-political variables that hinder or favour the Europeanization of European societies.
Beyond the study of structures and institutions, the seminar aims to understand whether and the ways in which European integration has affected European citizens, their identities, their resistances and collective representations. The course analyzes the construction of the European Union as a community and as a political order with particular emphasis on its social and political dimensions. Topics under scrutiny include: the modes of interaction between elites and masses at EU level; citizen identifications' levels and models to understand the attitudes of citizens towards European integration; the process of (de-) politicization of European integration; the impact of Europeanisation (mainly in terms of public policies) on European public opinion.

Aims

At the end of this learning unit, the student is able to :
1	By questioning the capacity of political sociology - and in particular the study of citizens' attitudes ' to study in a rigorous way the reactions of ordinary citizens, this course aims to familiarize students with empirical analysis. A series of themes and journal articles that address, in a diversified manner, classical objects of political sociology at the European level will be studied. At stake is for students to identify and discuss the approach taken by the authors and thereby for students to use the theoretical and empirical tools to replicate these analyses on other objects and in other contexts.

The contribution of this Teaching Unit to the development and command of the skills and learning outcomes of the programme(s) can be accessed at the end of this sheet, in the section entitled “Programmes/courses offering this Teaching Unit”.

Teaching methods

Lecture and discussion of reading assignments.

Evaluation methods

The course will be assessed through:
- Reading and participation. Each session will be introduced by the discussion of a topic (among those covered in the course) that will be presented by several student(s). This presentation take the form of a collective brief written note. A text on the topic of the session will be made available and will be compulsory reading for all students.
- A written essay. The paper is typically related to issues of the course sessions and will be encouraged to use empirical data.

Other information

Prerequisite: LEUSL2011 "Acteurs du système politique européen" or LEUSL2015 "Actors of the European political system"

Bibliography

A déterminer par le titulaire en charge.

Faculty or entity

EURO