Politics of European Integration

This course takes a broad view of European integration as the world's most advanced experiment in supernational governance. The European Union combines institutions of pooled sovereignty, transnational economic regulation, and new forms of cultural identity. With these new approaches to political order, Europe has emerged as the world's clearest alternative to the United States in matters of political economy, citizenship, law, and foreign policy. This course looks at the EU's basic institutional components, the events leading up to the single currency in the 1990s, the recent eastward enlargement, and the challenges posed by economic transformation, terrorism, and multiculturalism. The course also assesses recent tensions in transatlantic relations by asking whether Europe and the United States can cooperate in their efforts to spread democracy and the rule of law.