Lecturers:

Asst. Prof. Katya Hristova-Valcheva, PhD

Course Description:

Competencies:

SKILLS:

After completing successfully this course the students will:

1) know:

- What distinguishes the political institutions of the EU from the traditional political institutions of the modern nation-state;

- Who are the main actors in the decision-making process within the multi-level governance system of the European Union.

2) be capable of:

- Explore and analyze the specifics of the political process within the European Union;

- To construct a comparative analysis of the political institutions in the member-states of the European Union.

Prerequisites:


Types:
Full-time Programmes

Types of Courses:
Lecture

Language of teaching:
English

Topics:

1. 1.The specifics of the European Integration Beginning, development and core of the European integration. Basic theories regarding the European integration. 2. Legal framework of the European Integration Legal foundations of the European Union. Legal principles of the EU law. The problem of constitutionalizing of the EU. 3. Political institutions of the European Union. Theoretical approaches in the analysis of the supra-national institutions. Historical institutionalism. Sociological institutionalism. Institutionalism of the rational choice. 4. The European Commission College of the European commissioners: staff, structure, political profile, vested powers and procedures. Administrative apparatus of the European Commission: staff, structure and procedures. 5. European Parliament The European Parliament: staff, structure, political profile, vested powers, procedures. The Parliamentary commissions of the EP: staff, structure, vested powers, procedures. 6. Council of the EU Council - staff, structure, vested powers, procedures of conduct, COREPER - staff, structure, vested powers, procedures of conduct. European Council - staff, structure, vested powers and procedural conduct. 7. The Process of political decision-making in the EU Main characteristics of the community principle and interstate cooperation. Contractual basics. Levels of political decision-making. The relation between the process of crafting and the process political decision-making. 8."Making politics" and negotiating in the EU Stages and levels of the process, "political making" models according to the branch specifics of the integration problems and their influence on the process of negotiations. 9. Participation of the European Parliament and the National parliamentary institutions in the political decision-making process The European Parliament: consultative and cooperation forms with national parliaments of the member-states. 10. Interests and Interest Groups in the EU Definition of interests. Types of interests in the EU. Business interests, professional and labor interests in the EU. Civic and territorial interests in the EU. Ecological interests. Consumer rights interests. 11. Political system of the EU and the Role of the political parties History of the party politics in the EU. Social base of the EU politics. National and transnational cleavages. Formation of the EU party system. Functioning of the EU's party system. Party adaptation to the EU specifics.
2. 12. Interactive seminar: discussion of student analyses from pre-defined topics. 13. Interactive seminar: EU Parliament debate - pro and cons entry of new members 14. Interactive seminar: European Commission negotiations about member-states tax harmonization - pro and cons
3. Test

Bibliography:

SUGGESTED READINGS:

FISHER, Roger & William URY, Getting to Yes: Negotiating Agreement Without Giving In, Hutchinson, London, 1981

HAYES-RENSHAW, Fiona & Helen WALLACE, The Council of Ministers, Macmillan Press, 1997

IKL?, Fred Charles, How Nations Negotiate, Harper & Row Publishers, 1987

MORAVCSIK, Andrew, Negotiating the Single European Act: National Interests and Conventional Statecraft in the European Community, pp. 211-236 in: NELSEN, B. & A. STUBB (Eds.), The European Union: Readings on the Theory and Practice of European Integration, Lynne Rienner Publishers, London, 1994

RIKER, William H., The Art of Political Manipulation, Yale University Press, New Haven and London, 1986

URY, William, Getting Past No: Negotiating with Difficult People, Business Books Ltd, 1991

WALLACE, Helen, Ch. 2 - Negotiation, Conflict and Compromise: The Elusive Pursuit of Common Policies, Ch. 3 - Distributional Politics: Dividing up the Community Cake, pp. 43-80, 81-114 in: WALLACE, Helen, William WALLACE & Carole WEBB (Eds.), Policy Making in the European Community, 2nd edition, John Wiley & Sons, Chichester, 1983

WALLACE, Helen, Ch. 1 - Politics and Policy in the EU: The Challenge of Governance, Ch. 2 - The Institutions of the EU: Experience and Experiments, pp. 3-36, 37-70 in: WALLACE, Helen & William WALLACE (Eds.), Policy Making in the European Union, 3rd edition, Oxford University Press, Oxford, 1996

WALLACE, Helen, The Best Is the Enemy of the "Could": Bargaining in the Europen Community, Royal Institute of International Affairs, London, 25 p.

WINHAM, Gilbert R., Negotiation as a Management Process, in: World Politics, October 1977, pp. 87-114

LAURSEN, Finn, Sophie VANHOONACKER & Robert WESTER, Overview of the Negotiations, pp. 3-24 in: LAURSEN, Finn & Sophie VANHOONACKER, The Intergovernmental Conference on Political Union: Institutional Reforms, New Policies and International Identity of the European Community - Professional Research Paper, European Institute of Public Administration, Martinus Nijhoff Publishers, 1992

VANHOONACKER, Sophie, Role and Position of the Community Actors - the European Parliament, pp. 215-228 in: LAURSEN, Finn & Sophie VANHOONACKER, The Intergovernmental Conference on Political Union: Institutional Reforms, New Policies and International Identity of the European Community - Professional Research Paper, European Institute of Public Administration, Martinus Nijhoff Publishers, 1992

WESTER, Robert, Role and Position of the Community Actors - the European Commission, pp. 205-214 in: LAURSEN, Finn & Sophie VANHOONACKER, The Intergovernmental Conference on Political Union: Institutional Reforms, New Policies and International Identity of the European Community - Professional Research Paper, European Institute of Public Administration, Martinus Nijhoff Publishers, 1992

KIRCHNER, Emil Joseph, Decision Making in the European Community: The Council Presidency and European Integration, Manchester University Press, 1992

COLSON, Bruno, ch. IV - Styles diplomatiques et cultures strategiques, pp. 85-108 dans: COLSON, Bruno, Europe: Repenser les alliances, Economica, Paris, 1995

MORAVCSIK, Andrew, Negotiating the Single European Act, pp. 41-85 in: KEOHANE, Robert O. & Stanley HOFFMANN (eds.), The New European Community: Decisionmaking and Institutional Change, Westview Press, Oxford, 1991

HIX, S. and C. LORD. Political Parties in the European Union. Macmillan 1997

GREENWOOD, J. Representing Interests in the European Union. Macmillan 1997

Assessment:

CONTROL DURING THE SEMESTER:

TEST - 50 %

PARTICIPATION IN SEMINARS - 50 %