Regions, Federalism and EU Integration

Aim and Content

Much of comparative politics and EU integration research focuses on governmental institutions (such as executives and legislatures), non-majoritarian bodies (e.g. courts and agencies) or societal stakeholders (firms, citizens, trade unions, etc.). This course focuses on a different category of actors: regions. Sometimes directly elected and endowed with primary legislative powers, sometimes purely nominated with limited policy authority, regional governments and administrations are often neglected in comparative politics and EU analyses. Having defined and mapped the evolution of the regional level of governance in Europe, this seminar then seeks to explore the relationship between regionalisation and Europeanization, as well as the interaction between these different sets of actors. To this end, we will examine the most recent scholarly contributions as well as the classics in the field.

Learning Outcomes

Upon completion of the course the student should be able to:

- Demonstrate a basic understanding of the territorial make-up of the EU 27 (from fully federal countries to centralised unitary ones);

- Provide an overview of mainstream studies on (and explanations of) the role of regions in EU politics;

- Provide an insight into the key debates related to multi-level governance and European integration in their territorial dimensions;

- Demonstrate capability/willingness to read and understand research using different analytical methods, be they more qualitative or quantitative;

- Present strong skills in the critical reading of a variety of texts and the academic scholarship based upon those texts;

- Display ability to think critically but constructively;

- Demonstrate capacity to construct a coherent essay. Students must show awareness of the benefits and pitfalls linked to conceptualisation, hypothesis generation, variable operationalisation, choice of measurement indicators, as well as the choice of method to test for association.

Course offered (semester)

Spring

Exam offered (semester)

Spring

Language of Instruction

English

Course Unit Level

Bachelor

Department

Department of Comparative Politics

Access to the Course Unit

Open for all students at the University of Bergen

Pre-requirements

Fulfilment of general admission requirements

Recommended previous knowledge

SAMPOL115, MET102 and SAMPOL110/SAMPOL105, SAMPOL106 & SAMPOL107

Teaching Methods

Form: Lectures

Hours per veke: 2

Number of weeks: 10

Compulsory Requirements

None

Assessment methods

6-hour desk exam

Grading Scale

Grading A-F

Course Unit Evaluation

The course is evaluated regularly

Contact Information

studieveileder@isp.uib.no/ 55583316