IRS 301 European Union: Policies and Current Issues

The aim of the course is to provide a solid understanding of the EU institutions, decision-making and key policies in the light of main theories used in the EU studies. The course builds upon the EU integration course and it is divided into two parts. First - introductory part reviews milestones and logic of the EU integration; examines main integration theories and explores the EU institutions and formal as well as informal decision-making process and its shortcomings. Second part is devoted to the key EU policies including trade, agriculture, monetary policy, foreign policy and defense. All individual topics will be supplemented with concrete case studies analyzing major current problems and trends such as Eurocrsis, Brexit, migration crisis, Euroscepticism and extremism, energy security, etc.