Postgraduate Course: The Euro: Theory, History, and Crisis (PGSP11356)
Course Outline
| School | School of Social and Political Science |
College | College of Humanities and Social Science |
| Course type | Standard |
Availability | Available to all students |
| Credit level (Normal year taken) | SCQF Level 11 (Postgraduate) |
Credits | 20 |
| Home subject area | Postgrad (School of Social and Political Studies) |
Other subject area | None |
| Course website |
None |
Taught in Gaelic? | No |
| Course description | The crisis in the eurozone represents the most significant challenge to European integration since it commenced in the 1950s. This interdisciplinary course will combine economics, law, and political science. It will consider the theory of currency unions, the political and legal history of economic and monetary union, the political and economic development of the present crisis, and the normative dimensions of the crisis. It will thus be a highly salient addition to the IEP MSc programme and, at least in its first iteration, is likely to involve real-time tracking of political developments in the eurozone. |
Entry Requirements (not applicable to Visiting Students)
| Pre-requisites |
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Co-requisites | |
| Prohibited Combinations | |
Other requirements | None |
| Additional Costs | None |
Information for Visiting Students
| Pre-requisites | None |
| Displayed in Visiting Students Prospectus? | No |
Course Delivery Information
| Not being delivered |
Summary of Intended Learning Outcomes
By the end of the course students will be able to:
- Demonstrate basic economic knowledge of how currency unions work in theory;
- Know and understand academic debates surrounding the interaction between politics, law, and economics;
- Be able to apply theories of IR, IPE, and European integration to a key EU policy;
- Demonstrate advanced knowledge of the history of economic and monetary union in Europe, the nature of the current crisis, and the nature of the policy responses to date;
- Be able to critically engage with core academic texts and official EU reports and articulate an informed view about the nature of the EU and the prospects for its future development. |
Assessment Information
| The course will be assessed by a single academic paper, 4,000 words in length. |
Special Arrangements
| None |
Additional Information
| Academic description |
Not entered |
| Syllabus |
The course title conveys the tripartite structure. Theory, history, and crisis will be dealt with in that order. The interdisciplinary nature of the course will be stressed, and be apparent, from the outset with the first two theoretical weeks combining economics, politics, and law. More specifically the weekly breakdown of topics is as follows:
1. Introduction: Group exercise/discussion
2. Theory 1: Economic Theory of Currency Unions
3. Theory 2: Law and Politics of Europe¿s Currency Union
4. History 1: Attempts at EMU during the Cold War
5. History 2: German Unification, Maastricht, and the Euro
6. Crisis 1: The Causes of the Crisis and the Early Response
7. Crisis 2: Contagion and Crisis in the Banking System
8. Crisis 3: Member State and ECB Crisis Management
9. Crisis 4: Normative perspectives on the crisis
10. Conclusion: What future for the euro and for the EU? |
| Transferable skills |
Not entered |
| Reading list |
- Kenneth Dyson and Kevin Featherstone, The Road to Maastricht: Negotiating Economic and Monetary Union (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1999).
- Paul de Grauwe, Economics of Monetary Union 9th ed. (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2012).
- Otmar Issing, The Birth of the Euro (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2008).
- David Marsh, The Euro: the Battle for the New Global Currency (New Haven: Yale University Press, 2011).
- Policy briefings from, amongst others, Bruegel, Center for European Policy Studies, European Centre for International Political Economy, and Ifo Institute. |
| Study Abroad |
Not entered |
| Study Pattern |
Not entered |
| Keywords | Not entered |
Contacts
| Course organiser | Dr Daniel Kenealy
Tel: (0131 6)50 4080
Email: Daniel.Kenealy@ed.ac.uk |
Course secretary | Mrs Gillian Macdonald
Tel: (0131 6)51 3244
Email: gillian.macdonald@ed.ac.uk |
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