Michael W Mosser

These courses cover the topics in European Economics, Government, Business, and Policy

These courses cover the topics in European Economics, Government, Business, and Policy

Course Concept:

This course examines environmental politics in the European Union. While its constituent Member States have long been recognized as leaders in environmental action, the European Union itself has also in recent years established a supranational regulatory environment that attempts to forestall negative effects of climate change through a combination of market incentives and EU-level regulations. During the course of the semester, students will be exposed not only to European-level environmental regulation examples, but also will learn how Europe is providing an alternative perspective to other regions of the world as they deal with the impacts of climate change on their citizens and territories.

Course Objectives:

This course will examine a wide range of topics centered around the notion of European environmental politics. Some of these include:

•  The institutions of the EU and their relationship with the EU Member States in the area of environmental politics;

• The EU’s involvement in transatlantic and multilateral environmental agreements;

• EU climate and energy policy.

Assignments and Grading:

Research question proposal for research paper                         5%

Research paper draft                                                                15%

Research paper                                                                        20%

Mid-term (in-class)                                                                 25%

Final exam (take home)                                                           25%

Weekly discussion questions                                                  10%

Readings:

Readings will include EU primary source documents, as well as other materials posted to Blackboard in the weeks leading up to class. Reading load averages ~100 pages per week.

These courses cover the topics in European Economics, Government, Business, and Policy

Prerequisites

None (but Comparative Politics and especially European Politics recommended)

Course Description

This course is designed to provide students with a detailed introduction to the European Union, one of America?s major economic  and political partners and one of the major actors (and problem areas)  in contemporary international relations. In this course students will  learn how the EU came about, how the EU component institutions are  designed and how they work with each other, and how the EU functions  in international relations. Students will also be able to more fully understand the causes and consequences of the European sovereign debt crisis that threatens to undermine not merely the euro currency but the survival of the entire European Union itself.

During the first part of the course, students will be exposed to the  geopolitical history of the EU from its beginning as a supranational  organization designed to regulate the coal and steel economic sectors  to its present status as the political and economic force second only to the United States. Students will also learn to think about the European Union in theoretical terms and will explore various theoretical explanations for the creation and continuation of the European integration project. In Part Two, students will learn the history and politics of the EU?s major treaties. Part Three examines the EU?s major decision-making institutions, specifically the Council of Ministers, the Commission, the European Parliament, and the European Court of Justice. In Part Four, the course will examine some major EU policies and their consequences, and Part Five looks at the future of the EU.

The research requirement for this course will consist of a structured policy memo with individual sections integrated into a cohesive whole. Students will be divided into research teams by the end of week one. Working in those teams over the course of the semester, students will be given a current or potential problem area for the European Union from the case studies and, using the political and economic history learned during the course of the semester, develop a strategy memo for  EU leaders. Students will present their memos to the class in the last meetings of the semester.

Student Learning Outcomes: At the conclusion of this course, students will be able to analyze the European Union across time and space. Students will achieve a  comprehensive understanding of the European Union, and will be able to synthesize complex arguments concerning alternative mans of  international organization. Students will conduct collaborative research and present evaluative arguments in a group setting.

Grading Policy

Grading and Assignments:

Grading for this course will be composed of a combination of an end-of-the-semester map quiz, in-class formal exams, student presentations, and in-class (and electronic) discussion. The map quiz will count for 5% of your grade. There will be two midterm exams which together will count for 30% of the course grade. Each midterm will  cover only the portion of the course before it (or between it and the prior exam, in the case of the second midterm). The cumulative final exam will count for 35% of the grade, while the student presentations will count for 20% (10% individual and 10% group). In-class/online discussion will count for 10% of your grade.

Grading Standards:

I will use the following grade standards. Grades for individual assignments will be weighted according to the scale in the preceding paragraph. All grades given during the course of the semester will be converted to a 100-point scale. Group projects will be given both a group grade and an individual grade.

93 >            A

90-92         A-

87-89         B+

80-86         B

77-79         B-

75-76         C+

70-74         C

67-69         C-

60-66         D

< 60            F

Texts

Required:

Neill Nugent, The Government and Politics of the European Union  

(7th edition)

The Economist magazine. Students are required to sign up for at  

least 12 issues (more if they choose). See  

https://www.economistsubscriptions.com/students/us/ for subscription  

information.

Readings from the official EU website (http://www.europa.eu)

Readings from various scholarly journals or books, available online at the Blackboard site or as in-class handouts.

Recommended Readings:

Nathaniel Copsey and Tim Haughton (eds.) The JCMS Annual Review of  the European Union in 2009 (Wiley-Blackwell, 2010)

It is also a good idea to follow European events via contemporary news sources such as the New York Times or the Christian Science Monitor, or the Economist. Attempting to garner an in-depth understanding of European events via local news sources is not recommended.

These courses cover the topics in European Economics, Government, Business, and Policy