The European Union and Its Challenges

OBJECTIVE

This course aims to ?open a critical window? to the future of this common project from the current situation, covering much more than just grasping the history of the historical events, the working of the political institutions or the economic integration. The role of the European Union with the international context has been more and more important in the last decades. This course will focus on the origins, development and current issues from a political and economical perspective. It will deal with topics such as: unity and diversity in Europe, European institutions, multiculturalism and multilingualism, the difficulties of a common market and the future of EU.

FIRST PART: WHY A EUROPEAN UNION? HISTORY, CULTURE AND IDENTITY IN EUROPE

UNIT 1- The antecedents of a united Europe. The process of integration in the European Union. Principals autors in the reconstruction of Europe: Winston Churchill, Jean Monet and Robert Schuman.

UNIT 2- The European Institutions. The European construction process: from the Treaty of Paris (European Carbon and Steel Community- ECSC- 1951) to the Treaty of Lisbon (2007).

SECOND PART: SPAIN AND EUROPEAN UNION INTEGRATION

UNIT 3- Spain in the EU (1986). Social and economic evolution from 1986 to 2009.
UNIT 4. Past, present and future from Spain in the EU. Ventages and disadventages.

THIRD PART: ECONOMIC INTEGRATION

UNIT 5- Impact and workings of the Euro (?). The European Central Bank. The Common Policies: Trade Policy, Agricultural Policy, Regional Development and EMU (Economic and Monetary Union).

UNIT 6- Communitary politics to get the united. The EU position in the world and its relationship with others countries. Can Europe compete in a globalized world? Europe corporate cultures. Europe and the world. The transatlantic relationship with the USA. European and the Mediterranean. European policy in the Middle East, Latinoamerica, Africa and East Asia. Europe and the multilateral international institutions: prepaing for a multipolar world.

FOURTH PART: POLITICAL INTEGRATION. EU INSTITUTIONS

UNIT 7- The political dimension of the European Union: principals institutions.
UNIT 8- The Bologna Agreements: European cooperation in higher education: Linguistic and cultural policies: the Media and Erasmus programmes.

FIFTH PART: THE UNION IN THE XXIST CENTURY: DILEMMAS AND CHOICES

UNIT 9- Future enlargement prospects: the Balcans, Ucraine, and the strategic dilemma posed by Turkey. European citizenship and the Charter of Fundamental Rights. Asylum and inmigration policy. Europe as a multicultural society: inmigrants, religion and minority rights.
UNIT 10- The political dynamics of todays's Europe: ?new Europe? vs ?old Europe?, integrationists -vs- expansionists. The current generation of leaders: Brown, Sarkozy, Merkel, Zapatero, Prodi. The future President of the European Council.

REFERENCE BOOKS

AA.VV. (1998): Historia de España, Tusell, J. (dir.), Madrid.
AHIJADO, M. (2000): Historia de la unidad europea, Madrid.
AZAOLA, J.M. (1997): La Unión Europea hoy, Madrid.
CRESPO, J. (2004): España en Europa (1945-2000), Madrid.
EUROSTAT (1999): Europa en cifras. Conocer la Unión Europea, Madrid, Mundi-Prensa.
JUDT, T. (2005) A History of Europe since 1945, Penguin Press.
MERCADO, S. Richard Welford and Kate Prescott. European Business. Fourth Edicion by Pearson.
MORENO, A. (1998): España y el proceso de construcción Europea, Barcelona.
MYRO, R. (2000): Economía europea. Crecimiento, integración y transformaciones sectoriales, Madrid, Civitas.
SANTINIELLO, R. (1999): El Mercado Único Europeo, Madrid, Acento Editorial.
RIFKIN, J. (2004): The European Dream: How Europe's Vision of the Future is Quietly Eclipsing the American Dream, Cambridge, Polity Press.

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