Political Economy of European Integration (P00923)

? Credit Points : 20 ? SCQF Level : 11 ? Acronym : SPS-P-PPEEI

This course explores European economic integration and the major economic policies of the European Union - with particular emphasis upon EMU - from the different perspectives of international and comparative political economy: from applications of public choice theory, to liberal intergovernmentalist and neo-Marxist analyses. European integration has both embodied the principles of economic liberalism - for example, market integration and Competition Policy - and distorted these principles - for example, the Common Agricultural Policy and level playing field legislation in social and environmental policy.

A basic knowledge of economic concepts is a useful, but not strictly necessary, background for students taking this course

Entry Requirements

? Pre-requisites : It is strongly recommended that students have either: 1) taken a course on the European Union (either through the Politics or Law subject areas); or 2) taken a course on International Political Economy (through the Politics subject area); or 3) some background in economics (including, at least, the first year economics core course).

Subject Areas

Home subject area

Postgraduate (School of Social and Political Studies), (School of Social and Political Studies, Schedule J)

Delivery Information

? Normal year taken : Postgraduate

? Delivery Period : Semester 2 (Blocks 3-4)

? Contact Teaching Time : 2 hour(s) per week for 10 weeks

Summary of Intended Learning Outcomes

By the end of the course students should be able to do the following:
- show a good basic knowledge of the major features of European economic integration, from market integration, to the Common Agricultural Policy, to EMU;
- understand the major theoretical approaches applied to understand economic integration and understand the varied insights that these approaches provide;
- demonstrate a capacity to appraise economic integration critically (from a political science perspective as well as in terms of the stated economic objectives of integration);
- understand how European economic integration is shaping EU member states as well as the very different national responses to integration.