Lille, France

The EU’s challenges in a context of crisis

when 6 July 2015 - 17 July 2015
language English
duration 2 weeks
credits 6 EC
fee EUR 1900

Do you feel to visit the European Institutions and study at the same time this summer? Welcome to Sciences Po Lille Summer School !!

• Course : Rethinking the European Union
Rethinking the European Union takes an in-depth look at the state of the European Union in the 2010s, in the wake of the Eurozone crisis. Following an overview of the origins of the current crisis, this module aims to discuss its consequences and broad effects on the European Union critically. It characterises the European Union as a polity-in-the-making, investigating how far integration has advanced in a number of areas. In the light of the current crisis, it discusses the challenges to the traditional pillars of EU integration – identity, legitimacy and solidarity – in turn questioning the sustainability of the present model of regional integration.
The student will come out of this module with an in-depth knowledge of both the major characteristics of the EU as a polity-in-the-making as well as an acute understanding of how far te progress towards a fully-fledged polity has advanced and the extent to which the traditional pillars of EU integration are being challenged by the current crisis.

• Course : EU Neighbourhood Policy
This course provides students with an in-depth analysis of the EU’s relationship with its neighbouring countries. The course gives a comparative overview of the relationships between the enlarged EU and the EU’s “old neighbours”. Among others: Russia, Turkey and Switzerland.

• Course : European Policies
Those courses deal with two main items.
On the one hand we will explain the recent developments of economic integration, which was the historical way to realize European Union. Competition Policy, more especially state aids rules after 2008 crisis, and the Policy about consumers and citizens in the single market will be the major topics.
On the other hand, dealing with recent developments about the EU answers about crisis outside the economic field, the course will provide students an insight on the EU foreign policy decision-making process, crisis management agenda setting and practices of multilateral diplomacy.

• Course : European Political Economy in Hard Times
The purpose of this course is to analyse the political and economic process of European monetary integration from an international perspective. The course is taught in three parts.
The first part examines the comparative history and co-evolution of national varieties of capitalism within Europe and how different phases of international monetary integration have affected these national economic systems. The second part examines the political and economic rationale for the establishment of the single currency. We will examine how member-states in the north and south of Europe reorganised their fiscal and wage policies to satisfy the Maastricht convergence criteria, and how these diverged after the introduction of the Euro. We will analyse the role of the European Central Bank (ECB), the Growth and Stability Pact, and the influence of the Commission and Council in shaping the process of integration. The final part of the course examines the political and economic policy response to the Eurozone sovereign debt crisis. We will examine the core actors and institutions determining this response at both national and supranational level. The course will conclude with a discussion on whether the policy response to the Euro crisis is exacerbating the
asymmetry of integration between core and peripheral member-states of the EMU, and leading to a crisis of the democratic welfare state.

• Course : Fiscal Federalism
This course will consist of instructor-led discussion of theories of fiscal federalism, with particular application to contemporary governance and the crisis in Europe. The opening session will focus on the long-standing theory of fiscal federalism and its purported advantages (including the “classic” reasons for federalism, decentralization, or multi-level governance), along with recent critiques and revisions. In particular, we will explore how recent crises in federations have raised questions about the conditions under which federalism improves economic governance and the conditions under which it worsens economic crises. The course will then turn to the contemporary crisis in Europe, especially since 2008. Students will identify European case studies of particular interest (in consultation with the instructor to ensure broad coverage) for further study. The course will posit different possible policy responses to the crisis, and these will be considered from different political and economic perspectives. The final day will feature discussion and debate based on brief country research statements brought in for discussion by the students. The group will also collaborate to critique and jointly work upon a “research note” drafted by the instructor. A main objective of the course is active engagement of all students in the discussion in order to explore contrasting views on the current governance challenges relating to fiscal federalism in Europe and beyond.

• Course: What do we know about the values of the Europeans today?
The European Union is a very complex political structure unifying a large range of cultures, from the North to the South, from the West to the East. Few citizens are sharing exclusively a European identity, even though European citizens enjoy largely the benefits of the Union (common currency, freedom of movement, peace…). The diversity of such a large union justifies the various studies held on social and political values of the European citizens. What do we learn from those studies? Is it possible to synthesize this information and to draw a specific knowledge? Recent books, surveys like the European Values Study will guide us during this week in the elaboration of a diverse image of the values share by “the” Europeans beyond regional or generational cleavages.

Course leader

Nathaniel Copsey (Aston University) ; Marc Maresceau (Ghent University) ; Aidan Regan (University College Dublin) ; Tyler Dickovick (Washington and Lee University) ; Bernard Fournier (Vrije Universiteit Brussel)

Target group

Sciences Po’s Summer School is open to International students from around the world, students from Partner Universities and Sciences Po Lille students.

Eligible for the Summer School:
Student Currently enrolled in an accredited college/university
• 1. Undergraduate : mandatory “European Affairs background”
• 2. Postgraduate : GPA 2.5 or above
• 3. Selection of partner’s University
Science Po Lille partner universities’ International Offices are asked to nominate their students via email to summerschool@sciencespo-lille.eu from February 2 to April 6, 2015.

Course aim

The program will be an opportunity for students to attend courses dealing with institutional, economical as well as diplomatic issues/questions. International academics will propose modules (taught in English) covering a large range of current EU challenges.
Courses consist of classroom sessions held on each weekday except on the field trip to Brussels on July 14, 2015. Local cultural visits, various social events will be offered to the students as well as conferences, a visit of Lille, a study trip to Brussels and the EU institutions.
Classes are held from Monday 6 to Friday 17 July 2015 inclusive with morning (core module) and afternoon (option) sessions. Participants may choose between two courses of specialty. Mornings will be dedicated to EU affairs orientated and the afternoons will be dedicated to Diplomacy or Political Economy orientated.

Credits info

6 EC
OPTIONAL FRENCH LANGUAGE COURSE
French Language and culture class can be taken as optional during the Summer Session (17:00 to 18:30), Monday to Friday, for two weeks, except on the day dedicated to the Field Trip to Brussels. It gives the student who chooses to do so one more ECTS.
Please contact the Summer School team: summerschool@sciencespo-lille.eu

Fee info

EUR 1900: Tuition fees include:

• Accommodation
• Conferences
• Optional French language and culture course
• Application fee
• Field trips on July 4 and 14
• Breakfast in the mornings
• Closing dinner

Don’t include:
• Health insurance
• Airplane ticket
• Living expenses and meals
• Caution in Youth Hostel
• Personal expenses