Class The Governing System of the European Union

The Governing System of the EU focuses on the articulation between two main perspectives: first on the functioning of the European political system and second on governance mechanisms. Consequently, will be analysed the political processes involving the formulation, adoption and implementation of policies at the European level. This course takes advantage on the concepts and theoretical approaches from political science to analyse in depth the complex institutional structure of the European Union.

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I. Concepts and theories applied to the governing system of the European Union 1.1 Government, governing system and governance 1.2 Socio-political cleavages and European integration 1.3 Political identities and European citizenship II. The EU governance system 2.1 Intergovernmentalism, neo-functionalism and supranationalism 2.2 Institutional frameworks, politics and policies 2.2.1 Constitutional politics – treaties and negotiation processes 2.2.2 Legislative politics – Council of Ministers and European Parliament 2.2.3 Executive politics – European Commission and agencies 2.3 European political party system and interest groups III. The European Union in the world – global challenges and European commitments 3.1 European Union foreign policy 3.2 Contestation and democratic resilience – elections, crises (financial, migratory, pandemic, climate) and populism 3.3 The future of the governing system - challenges of artificial intelligence

In addition to the sessions dedicated to providing students with the key concepts and theoretical framework specific to this course Governing System of the European Union, this course adopts also a mixed pedagogical approach – TBL (team based learning) and PBL (project based learning). Through the formation of working groups, students are encouraged to develop group projects and/or activities, in which they are guided by the lecturer to (1) define goals, strategies and deadlines, (2) practice negotiation, debate and reflect on the problems proposed, (3) critically evaluate and present the results clearly. With a focus on group presentations, critical discussion of texts and written work, students are placed at the center of the learning process.

Cini, M.; Pérez-Solórzano Borragán, N. (Eds.). (2022). European Union Politics. Seventh edition. Oxford University Press Coman, R.; Crespy, A.; Schmidt, V. A. (Eds.). (2020). Governance and Politics in the PostCrisis European Union. Cambridge University Press. Moniz, J. B. (Org.) (2022). O Futuro da União Europeia: Política, Economia, Estado de direito e Religião, Lisboa: Edições Universitárias Lusófonas. Reis, L. (2020). Instituições, Órgãos e Organismos da UE. Lisboa: Almedina. Wiener, A.; Börzel, T.; Risse, Th. (Eds.). (2018). European Integration Theory. Third edition. Oxford University Press.