Undergraduate Module Descriptor

POL3196: Democracy in the European Union

This module descriptor refers to the 2023/4 academic year.

Overview

NQF Level 6
Credits 30 ECTS Value 15
Term(s) and duration

This module will run during term 1 (11 weeks) and term 2 (11 weeks)

Academic staff

Dr Sandra Kroger (Convenor)

Pre-requisites

None

Co-requisites

None

Available via distance learning

No

Despite Brexit, the EU remains the most integrated regional bloc worldwide. As such, it can teach us important lessons about how democracy can work in a supranational setting, what enables it and what constrains it – lessons that we can also apply to other regional blocs. The EU, ever since discussions about its alleged democratic deficit began in the 1990s, has tried to accommodate the uneasiness of its many critics by incremental steps of democratisation. This module focuses on the relationship between democracy and supranational integration by tracking the developments of the different channels of representation within the EU, and their possible interaction – or lack thereof. It will also engage with key contemporary political debates in and about the EU, such the ‘democratic deficit’, the management of the Euro debt and financial crisis, the rise of Euroscepticism, and democratic backsliding.

Module created

01/06/2015

Last revised

23/01/2023