2018/2019

2019/2020

DM270

SPS/04 (POLTICIAL SCIENCE)

DEPARTMENT OF POLITICAL AND SOCIAL SCIENCES

PERCORSO COMUNE

2°

2nd semester (24/02/2020 - 29/05/2020)

6

40 lesson hours

English

ORAL TEST

PANSARDI PAMELA (titolare) - 6 ECTS

Knowledge
• to gain a detailed understanding of theories of regional integration;
• to be familiar with different models of governance in multi-level polities;
Skills
• to interpret the outcomes of regional integration and of the policy outputs of regional organization in the light of the theories and the modes of governance in multi-level polities;
• to evaluate institutional arrangements and policy outputs of regional organizations in terms of legitimacy and problem-solving capability
• to assess the explanatory capability of theoretical approaches;
• to compare forms of regional integration across the word;
Competences
• to develop independently innovative research questions in the field
• to be a both knowledgeable and critical participant to the political process of a regional organization as an intern in a regional institution or in organizations (such as interest group, NGO or domestic institution) taking part in the policy making process .

The main aim of the course consists in providing the students the analytical tools to understand, analyse and critically evaluate the processes of regional integration and the performance of regional organization in terms of public policy and democracy promotion. The main focus of the lectures is on the EU, which represents the most institutionally developed and by far the most researched among regional organizations and the case on which theories of regional integration and models of governance in multi-level polities have been elaborated. In addition, the course discusses other cases of regional integration, namely NAFTA, MERCOSUR and ASEAN: assessing the adequacy of the aforementioned conceptual tools to account for non-EU cases of regional integration is also a priority aim of the course.

Lectures and seminars: students' presentations and class discussion lead by the lecturer.
General discussion on the course issues (final)

Background readings:
Nugent N., The Government and Politics of the European Union (8th Edition), RED GLOBE PRESS, 2017.
Boerzel T., Comparative regionalism. A new research agenda,
KFG Working Paper, n.28, August 2011.

Based on the following criteria:
(i) Class participation. Students are expected to participate actively in class discussions.
Participation will comprise 20% of the final grade. Precision on the concepts, appropriateness of the lexicon, capability to use the explanatory strategies of the theories studied to empirical cases will be the main criteria of evaluation of the students’ performance.
(ii) Class presentation, addressing a specific topic of the course agreed upon with the lecturer (see below) and informed by the conceptual tools developed in class and reviewed in the course compulsory readings. The presentation will be worth 25% of the total grade for the course. The presentation should prove the ability to apply the analytical tools acquired in the course to empirical cases and/or to critically discuss different theoretical approaches. The quality of the presentation in terms of clarity, communicative effectiveness and capability to elicit discussion among fellow students will be also evaluated.
(iii) Final paper – on a subject agreed upon with the lecturer. In exceptional cases could be a group paper (same as presentation). The paper accounts for 55% of the final vote. The paper should prove the capacity to select relevant and authoritative bibliography on the chosen topic; it should present clearly the research question and prove the capability to apply analytical tools to empirical cases and/or to critically discuss different theoretical approaches.

The full list of readings and the related material will ba avialable on the KIRO platform from the beginning of the course.