KULeuvenX: Governance in the European Union

• The Nature of the EU: we will tackle questions about what the EU is, what it is not, and how the EU came to be as it is today.
• The EU's Institutions: we will delve into the functioning and evolution of the main decision-making EU institutions.
• Policy-making in the EU: we will highlight the main policy-making procedures, actors and processes that occur in the EU.
• Stakeholders and their role in European governance: we will discuss the role of lobbyists, EU citizens and EU elections.
• The European Union in World Politics: we will consider the EU's own objectives on the global stage and its multilateral and bilateral relations in the world.
• Contestation in the EU: we will explore periods of crises and contestation in the EU, and how the bloc has responded.

Module 1: The Nature of the EU

• Determine the nature and evolution of the EU, both theoretically and in practice
• Assess the potential scenarios for further EU integration
• Discuss the two main approaches to theorising EU integration, namely neo-functionalism and intergovernmentalism.

Module 2: The EU's Institutions

• Understand the historic evolution of the European Parliament, the European Commission, the European Council, the Council of the EU and the Court of Justice of the EU
• Explain the internal organisation and roles of these key EU institutions
• Identify the role of the various EU bodies and agencies in helping the EU to fulfil its tasks

Module 3: Policy-making in the EU

• Identify how the EU makes decisions in various areas (competences)
• Identify which kinds of (non-)legislative acts EU institutions can adopt
• Discuss the methods by which the EU and the member states adopt legislation ( Community method; intergovernmental method; open method of coordination; centralised decision-making)
• Explain the actors and processes involved in the EU policy cycle and agenda-setting

Module 4: Stakeholders and their Role in European Governance

• Discuss the role of citizens, lobbyists, EU political parties in the EU, in theory and in practice
• Understand how regional and local governments defend their interest at European level
• Assess European elections, in particular the funding parties, the potential of transnational lists, and the spitzenkandidaten process

Module 5: The European Union in World Politics

• Understand the formal objectives of the EU’s foreign policy (EUFP) and the ambiguity in them
• Identify the four dimensions of EUFP: CFSP; CSDP; external actions and the internal dimension of internal policies
• Explain how the historical background has contributed to the main areas of tension in the foreign policy setting
• Identify the role of the main institutional actors and instruments in EUFP
• Discuss the features, advantages and limitations of different theoretical lenses to analyse EUFP (Power; Actorness; Multilateralism; decentring)
• Explore the main features of the EU’s bilateral relationships with China, Russia and the US and of its multilateral relations with the UN, WTO and NATO

Module 6: Contemporary Contestation of European Governance

• Understand the concept of contestation in present European and global governance
• Identify how Member states contest the EU as a political and legal order
• Discuss how different European integration theories consider the impact of contestation on the EU in times of crises
• Assess the EU’s strategic responses to contestation throughout periods of crises