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School of Politics and International Relations · ANU College of Arts and Social Sciences
The European Union is the most advanced supranational polity on the planet, but how did it get that way? Was it the Grand Design of far-sighted visionaries, or merely an unintended consequence of past decisions and policies? This course poses such questions and introduces students to the history and theory of European integration. By examining the political history of the European Union, students will discover the theories used to explain the unique degree of political integration that has characterised the European state system since the end of World War Two. The course is divided into two parts. The first covers the political history of European integration since World War Two. The second covers the major theoretical positions that have arisen to explain that same process of political integration. The two parts of the course will reinforce each other, with the second part taking the historical development of European integration as its source material but making the theoretical dimensions explicit.
130 hours of total student learning time made up from: a) 36 hours of lectures and tutorials over 12 weeks; and, b) 94 hours of independent student research, reading and writing.