This course seeks to introduce Global Studies majors to the regions of Europe and Russia and its significance to the larger study of the globe. The course will be divided into three parts based on the three concentrations within the Global Studies major: Society and Culture, Development, Peace and Conflict. Each of these sections, examines key topics for understanding the region and its relationship to other parts of the globe.

The EU is the largest and most successful intergovernmental organization in the world. Over the course of the last 75 years the architects of the EU seem to have succeeded in their attempt to build a stable Europe out of the ruins of World War II by securing peace, facilitating economic growth, enhancing political cooperation, expanding democracy and human rights, and forging a sense of common European identity. Yet at the start of the twenty-first century the European Union has faced a series of challenges which have cast its future into doubt, including the Eurozone crisis, the influx of Syrian refugees from 2015 onwards, Brexit, democratic backsliding in Eastern Europe, and tensions on its borders with Russia and Turkey. We will examine different aspects of governance across the EU through the series of recent political, economic and cultural crises, and analyze their connection to identity, community, and liberal democracy. We will try to understand how these different crises and aspects of the “European community” relate to each other, and think about possible ways forward for the EU. This course will examine the European Union through three main lenses: (i) its political life, including the theory/practice of political integration, the evolution of its institutions and law, conflicts between members states, the problem of democratic deficits, and the rise of populism; (ii) its forms of economic governance, including the four fundamental freedoms, competition law, regulation/social policy, and accusations of neoliberalism from its critics; and (iii) the role of culture and identity in the European project, including Habermas’ “constitutional patriotism,” conflicts over nationalism and multiculturalism, and the relationship of pan-European identity with internal and external “others” such as refugees, immigrants, the Eastern Bloc, Russia, and Turkey.

If you are unable to enroll in the course via standard enrollment methods, you can submit a request for an enrollment permission seat here: https://forms.gle/oWGSnRKBxHoG8syk8

Repeat Rules

Course is not repeatable for credit.