Course Catalogue

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This course focuses on processes of European integration in Central and Eastern Europe since accession to the Council of Europe and European Union and considers developments in politics and state-society relations in the region.

One 2 hour seminar per week

This course runs alternate years (biannually). For further information please check the CEES Moodle page or contact the subject directly.

Mandatory entry requirements
Entry to CEES Honours normally requires a grade point average of 12 (Grade C) over CEES 2A and CEES 2B as a first attempt.

None

None

Oral presentation (10-15 minutes in seminar) - 15%

Briefing report (1500 words) - 35%

Essay (2500 words) - 50%

For those students unable (for any reason) to present in person their presentation, they may record their presentation and send this instead to the course convenor.

Reassessments are normally available for all courses, except those which contribute to the Honours classification. For non-Honours courses, students are offered reassessment in all or any of the components of assessment if the satisfactory (threshold) grade for the overall course is not achieved at the first attempt. This is normally grade D3 for undergraduate students and grade C3 for postgraduate students. Exceptionally it may not be possible to offer reassessment of some coursework items, in which case the mark achieved at the first attempt will be counted towards the final course grade. Any such exceptions for this course are described below. 

This course focuses on the political transformation and European integration of the states of Central and Eastern Europe in the wake of accession to the Council of Europe in the 1990s and European Union since 2004. The course evaluates the effects of accession on state-society relations and the benefits and challenges that accession brought. The course critically examines the impact of accession on civil society, political behaviour and the courts. And a focus on how participation in European elections has shaped national political parties in the region is compared and contrasted with the influence of CEE parties and actors on European elections and EU decision-making more broadly. Theories explaining democratization and European integration are compared and contrasted. The course considers evidence of de-democratization in the region and the EU's innovation of instruments to secure and maintain the rule of law. The course in turn considers how the enlargement of the Council of Europe and EU has brought a growing practice to more critically evaluate and monitor performance in all member states which promises to enhance the quality of democracy across Europe. Students are encouraged to consider and interpret these developments from the perspectives of a variety of theoretical frameworks in the multi-disciplinary European studies literature and political science literature. 

By the end of this course, students will be able to:

■ identify and analyse the benefits and challenges to CEE of accession to the Council of Europe and European Union

■ apply key theories of European integration to explain accession and changes to political institutions in the region of CEE

■ critically examine the changing nature of state-society relations and the courts in CEE in comparative perspective

■ explain processes of democratization in the region using key theoretical frameworks and perspectives

■ evaluate competing theories to explain political behaviour and the development of political parties CEE

Students must submit at least 75% by weight of the components (including examinations) of the course's summative assessment.