Learning Outcomes:
This course analyses the EU as an international case study on what happens when diverse political economies are integrated into a single market, and then a single currency, without a federal government or fiscal treasury. Each seminar is constructed around a set of core readings. You must read these before each seminar and prepare a critical response.
Learning outcomes:
Understand the origins of the transatlantic financial crash in 2008-2010, and why and how this turned into a sovereign debt crisis within the eurozone.
Understand the different theoretical explanations for why nation-states delegate economic and political powers to supranational organisations such as the EU.
Understand the arguments for and against European countries choosing to pool their sovereignty to create a single currency with an overarching central bank.
Understand the institutional transformation of the European economy, from the post war period to the present, and how this is related to economic liberalisation.
Understand the consequences of economic liberalisation for national democracies, particularly as it pertains to the welfare state, collective bargaining, and fiscal policy.
Understand the comparative political and institutional differences between European member-states, and how these institutional differences impact public policy outcomes.
Understand the difference between demand-led and export-led growth models within Europe, and why the EU has an institutional bias toward export-led growth.
Understand the political and economic constraints on the EU’s capacity to generate fiscal capacity, and the impact this has on the future of European social democracy.
Understand the electoral foundations and social class determinants of voting behaviour in Europe, and how and why this is shaping the politics of euroscepticism.
Understand the political and economic arguments in favour of more or less European integration, particularly as it pertains to debt mutualisation and fiscal policy.