Contemporary European Politics
​(Topics in Politics and Economics)

Waseda University, undergraduate level

Overview

This course teaches contemporary developments in the politics and economics of the European continent. This includes a historical overview of key-developments since 1945 in addition to the study of major concepts of political science like political parties, party systems, elections, voting, political ideologies, economic ideologies, government formation, coalition politics, regionalism, federalism, markets, and military security. The course analyses individual countries as well as major institutions like the EU, NATO, the ECB, and the OECD, among others.
Students who successfully complete this course will have the necessary knowledge to independently evaluate current events in the politics and economics of Europe. Classes are taught interactively with reference to actual events during the time of the lectures. Active participation of students is highly desired.
  • Approach
  • Objectives
  • Learning Outcomes
  • Grading/Assignments
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 Approach
  1. Historical: The development of Europe’s politics (the interaction of individual states as well as intra-state politics) since the end of WWII, through the cold war, and up until today.
  2. Political: An analysis of modern European politics, policies and the institutions within and above the individual nation states that constitute Europe.
  3. Economic: A look at the rivaling understandings that different stakeholders in Europe have on core economic issues as (free) markets, debt, austerity, economic integration and the currency union.
Objectives
  • Be familiar with the different political systems that exist in European countries.
  • Understand the main socio-political developments and trends across Europe in recent decades.
  • Be able to formulate an informed position regarding current political challenges in Europe.
Learning Outcomes
  • Ability to evaluate the (scholarly) literature on contemporary European politics.
  • Develop oral communication skills.
  • Develop skills to conduct research and produce written material.
  • Enhance your (academic) writing skills.

Grading/Assignments
  • Ability to evaluate the (scholarly) literature on contemporary European politics.
  • Develop oral communication skills.
  • Develop skills to conduct research and produce written material.
  • Enhance your (academic) writing skills.

Lecture Plan

1. Introduction
This is an introductory class to the course. It covers to introductions:
  1. A short course overview, the logistics of the course, explanations on the grading, assignments, etc.
  2. A thematic introduction about the nature of Europe (what is it and how can we approach it?) and some thinking about politics and economics, why they matter and how to study them.
2. From WWII to the Cold War: A Transition into Peace for Europe?
Apart from a previously unimaginable level of destruction, the Second World War also brought along a change in the distribution of power in Europe that would change the continent forever. Britain, France, occupied Germany and Italy, the USSR and the US all emerged from the conflict with radically different cards from six years earlier. Among the most pressing questions for all involved parties was that of the post-war settlement of Germany. What should happen to that nation? The answers proposed and the one finally embraced (willingly or not) would prove to become one of the cornerstones of modern Europe.
In fact, many of the defining institutional mechanisms prevailing in Europe until today were constructed in their basic form under intense international political pressure in the early years of the Cold War. Successful examples as the European Coal and Steel Community (ECSC) as well as the unsuccessful bid at creating a common (Western) European Defense Community (EDC).
Reading Assignment: Tony Judt, Postwar. The Impossible Settlement (100–128)​
3. The Making of Western Europe: From the ECSC to the Cold War
​Many of the defining institutional mechanisms prevailing in Europe until today were constructed in their basic form under intense international political pressure in the early years of the Cold War. Successful examples as the European Coal and Steel Community (ECSC) as well as the unsuccessful bid at creating a common (Western) European Defense Community (EDC). In terms of world developments, he 1960's, 70's and 80's saw brutal conflicts and regimes killing millions of people in Asia, the Middle-East and Latin America. Europe, however, was remarkably peaceful. Divided into an Eastern and a Western sphere the continent did relatively well. The politics of détente even led to better relations among both sides of Europe. This class will be dedicated to a discussion of East-West relationship.
Reading Assignment: ​
Tony Judt, Postwar. The Coming of the Cold War (153–164 )
Tony Judt, Postwar. The Politics of Stability (241–247)
​David Williamson, "The Long Peace in Europe 1963–91". In Tony Judt, Postwar (136–159)
4. Ending the Divide
The beginning of the 1980’s saw a drastic political change in Western Europe with political heavy weights like Margret Thatcher, François Mitterrand and Helmut Kohl setting the agendas of their countries for decades to come. But the most dramatic shift in European politics since the end of WWII was to start only at the end of the decade. A “Wind of Change” was felt on the continent. It started with Mikhail Gorbachev’s “Perestroika” and “Glasnost” and ended in the reunification not only of Germany, but Europe as we know it today.
​Reading Assignment: 
​Tony Judt, Postwar. The End of the Old Order (585–608; 627 – 633)
Tony Judt, Postwar. A Fissile Continent (637–643)
5. The End of the Soviet Union & Yugoslavia
​“The disappearance of the Soviet Union was a remarkable affair, unparalleled in modern history. There was no foreign war, no bloody revolution, no natural catastrophe. A large industrial state – a military superpower – simply collapsed (…).” (Judt, 657). Whether or not one considers Russia to be European, the fact that Moscow determined to a large degree the political evolution of Eastern Europe is undeniable and disappearance not only of the USSR, but the system through which power on those states was excreted, marks a defining moment in the development of the whole continent. This class is dedicated to a look at how exactly the old order ended.
Reading Assignment: Tony Judt, Postwar. A Fissile Continent (643–664).
6. Student Presentations
7. Student Presentations
8. The End of Nation States?
The primary unit of governance in contemporary Europe is the legal construct of the state. In this chapter we will be looking at how to understand states made out of nations and the difference between the two. We will be looking in detail at regional examples (Belgium, Spain, the UK and France).
Pressure on nation states comes not only from “within,” but also from “above.” In the second part of this unit we will be looking at how the new construct of the European Union influences state sovereignty, how the EU grew, through which mechanisms it exerts influence on its member states and we will discuss what this process means for Europeans.
Reading Assignment: Tim Bale, European Politics. The End of the Nation State? (44–74)
9. Governments and Parliaments
​This unit will cover the governmental technicalities of European democracies. Who is the head of state? What roles have the individual cabinets? How do coalitions work and how does that impact Government duration? We will also look at parliaments. How do the people’s representatives win or lose their seats? How do they produce laws? How do they interact with the government and parties? And is the EU parliament a “real” parliament?
Reading Assignment: ​Tim Bale, European Politics. Governments and Parliaments (112–146)
10. Elections, Voting, and Referendums
​With the notable exception of Belarus, all European states of this day and age can be considered “real” democracies in the sense that free and fair voting in the form of elections and referendums takes place according to a constitutional or legal framework. However, the electoral systems, the party systems they are connected to and the variation in popular participation are different from country to country. We will also look at the preferences of the electorate and how they influence the voting pattern in Europe. We will also look at the Elections of the European Parliament and discuss the differences between representative democracy and direct democracy.
Reading Assignment: Tim Bale, European Politics. Elections, Voting and Referendums (191–224)
11. Participation and Pressure Politics
​After the excursion into direct democracy, we will now go deeper into the representative alternative and ask the question how participation of groups and individuals exactly work in different European states? What is that famous “civil society” all about? We will look at pressure groups, policy networks and the power of “framing.” " We will now explore how (worker) union’s still play a role in the political discussion, how they interact and compare with “business,” where NGOs fit into the picture and finally we will discuss how to think of all this “pressure politics.”
Reading Assignment: ​Tim Bale, European Politics. Participation and pressure politics (266–298).
12. Politics and Markets
​At the outset of this block on economic implications for Europe, we will first look at the (old) discussion of politics and markets. How much do states intervene to provide or help their citizens with goods and services? The functioning of the European welfare states – historically left policies – have been called into question from outside and inside the states than run them. We will look at left and right political approaches to this issue, individual party positions, the development of privatizations, EU policies, and the welfare state in Europe.
Reading Assignment: ​Tim Bale, European Politics. Politics over Markets (301–336)
13. European Security
​Today we will shift the view to security and international relations. The lecture will focus on the background of European security issues, ask if the old “German question” is still there today and what to make of Russia (and Ukraine) and Turkey. We will focus on the global environment, European trade and the domestication of international politics.
Reading Assignment: ​Tim Bale, European Politics. Protecting and Promoting (378–410)
14. The Europe of 2020
​There are a few "hot button" topics of 2020 and 2021 that we will be looking at today: Post-Brexit Europe, Migration, Nationalism, Trade Agreements, and the future of non-compliant member states.
Reading Assignment: TBD
15. The Europe of Tomorrow
​By studying the political and economic systems, parties, national particularities and international institutions of Europe, we have learned about the “mechanics” by which Europe today functions. By looking at historic developments we have seen how and why some of these mechanisms were built. It is probably clear by now that Europe has been in a constant political and economic change not only in past centuries but very recently too. And Europe (much like the rest of the world) keeps evolving. We will use this last lecture to bring it all together and discuss the possible futures of the continent, the policy choices available and what forces we should look out for when we continue studying that new old Europe.
Reading Assignment: TBD

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