Demands to “take back control”, protests against European integration, and increasing contestation over supranational governance currently dominate politics across Europe. They are evidence for an ongoing profound transformation of political processes in the EU. In this module, we submit such issues and debates to systematic comparative analysis, and ask why, how and with what consequences the EU is transforming politics in Europe. Students will acquire the empirical knowledge, theoretical understanding and comparative research skills to analyse the interactions between the domestic and the European level: How do European pressures challenge and change established national institutions and politics? And, how do national developments, actors and institutions impact at the EU level?
The module addresses the transformation of politics in Europe from a comparative politics perspective that attempts to understand how differences between member states shape EU politics and domestic responses to EU membership. We will analyse issues such as the politicisation of the EU in domestic politics and its impact on citizen representation at the EU level; changing patterns of citizens’ political preferences in response to EU membership; the impact of the EU on national elections, party competition and governments as well as parliaments.
Throughout, we engage with current political examples, which may include Brexit, Euroscepticism, the rise of populist and Eurosceptic parties, the eurozone crisis, governments’ accountability to their parliaments or referendums on the EU.
By the end of the course, students will have
• learned to critically evaluate competing theories of comparative politics in the context of Europeanisation and the EU;
• acquired an in-depth knowledge of domestic change across and within states;
• evaluated the democratic repercussions of EU membership;
• learned to critically assess empirical evidence and present theoretical arguments;
• trained analytical and research skills for the comparative study of institutions and politics