Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin - Vergleichende Demokratieforschung und die Politischen Systeme Osteuropas

Courses

The courses provided through EU4Law enable the participating students to apply theoretical concepts from the social sciences in an interdisciplinary perspective.
They learn in detail how the EU multi-level system works and which opportunity structures shape political actors' behaviour. Moreover, they train their methodological skills on how to conduct a policy or a case study analysis and how to undertake an analysis of EU documents, among others.
The courses offered in the framework of the Jean Monnet Module cover 60 hours of teaching, focusing on topics that investigate the EU Policies to foster the Rule of Law.

 

The Rule of Law – a concept in political science and an EU policy area
(winter term 2020/21)

This course served as an introduction into academic and political discussions on the concept of the rule of law. It fostered their background on and critical understanding of relevant EU institutions and their decision-making processes and practices regarding the rule of law. The course provided training on how to find relevant content on EU websites, identify relevant political players and how to read EU documents.

 

Policy-Making in the EU – a focus on the rule of law and policy measures
(summer term 2021)

Students learned different academic concepts for the analysis of policy-making in the European Union and discussed related political debates. The course engaged in a detailed analysis of relevant EU institutions and used a case study approach. Additionally, the seminar hosted guest lectures from practitioners (Gregor Pfeifer from the European Parliament`s Liaison Office in Berlin and Wenzel Michalski from Human Rights Watch Germany). It also offered the opportunity to develop and work on the EU4Law-Wiki and engaged in interactive online discussions with students from University of North Carolina in Chapel Hill. These four students took the course as a virtual study abroad option. Thus, the whole group both contributed to and benefited from an expanded virtual classroom allowing to integrate and reflect upon different backgrounds and learning experiences.

 

Euroscepticism and Democratic Backsliding
(winter term 2021/22)

The seminar presented students the opportunity to improve their understanding of the academic reflection on the concept of Euroscepticism, the nature of democratic backsliding. It fostered their background on everyday practices of EU institutions and decision-making processes in order to enhance their ability to analyse the dynamics within the member states. Students were able to discuss their insights in class and again they interacted in online sessions with students from the UNC. Moroever, a joint block seminar with two profound experts, Prof. Dr. Astrid Lorenz from the Leipzig Jean Monnet Centre of Excellence, Prof. Dr. Ellen Bos from Andrássy University Budapest and their students from Leipzig University, was conducted on January 7, 2022. This special, day-long event covered the rule of law and development of democracy from a comparative perspective by having various inputs from students and lecturers and ended with a practical discussion on how to use the insights gained for improving political education in schools and in the university. The schedule can be found here.

 

Policy-Making in the EU – focus on rule of law
(summer term 2022)

The course offered students the opportunity to improve their understanding of academic and political discussions on the concept of the rule of law and fostered their background on everyday practices of EU institutions. They learned about decision-making processes that aim to enhance the functioning of the rule of law among the member states. The course focused on research methods, training them to find relevant content on EU websites and to analysing EU documents. The students increased their knowledge on theoretical approaches to analyse policy-making, such as the Advocacy Coalition and the Multiple Streams Framework and they learned how to identify relevant political players. Again, a student from UNC attended the course online as a virtual study abraod exerience. During the seminar an excursion to Brussels including several site visits (see schedule here) took place. Since not every students was able to make the trip, the visit to the European Commission took place online so that everybody was able to join, in Berlin and in Brussels.

 

Political Actors engaging in the policy field “rule of law”
(winter term 2022/23)

Actor-centred concepts in political science and sociology were at the core of this seminar.  It enriched the students' expertise on the analysis of attitudes, perceptions and political behaviour. They studied individuals or groups, such as politicians, judges, entrepreneurs, parties or civil society groups who engage in defence of the rule of law or contribute to its decline. During the seminar, a special activity took place. HU-students went on an excursion to the Université catholique de Louvain in the course of the Circle U alliance. In mixed teams from both universities, the students simulated an EU Council Meeting on Ukraine's application to become an EU member state and they visited the European Commission as well as the Representation of Belgium to the EU. The concept and schedule of the excursion can be found here. It provided a unique experience to put theory into practice and to profit from a collaborative, international learning experience.


Researching the European Union
(summer term 2023)

The seminar focused on various topics that train students to research the European Union. It  deepened their background on methods and theories for the analysis of Europeanisation, integration and multi-level governance. It concluded the establishment of the EU4Law Wiki.

A talk with Danish foreigh minister Lars Løkke Rasmussen and the German Secretary of State for Europe and Climate, Dr. Anna Lührmann on May 9, and a conference with Deutsche Gesellschaft e.V. again  allowed to add practical and theoretical knowledge.