Political Science

Trinity College Dublin, The University of Dublin

You are here Programmes > Undergraduate > Module Outlines

Module Code: POU33082

Module Name: European Union Politics B 2024-25

ECTS Weighting: 5
Semester/Term Taught: Semester 2
Contact Hours: 2 lectures per week; 1 tutorial per fortnight
Module Personnel: Lecturer - Professor Raj Chari
Office Hours: TBA or by appointment.

Learning Outcomes

This course offers the opportunity for students to better understand public policies presently found in the EU today. At the end of this course it is expected that students will have a detailed understanding of the EU political system and its public policy goals. Students will not only have the tools to critically analyse latest policies in EU politics, but also be able to assess cutting edge research on the EU’s contemporary challenges.

Module Learning Aims

The main of this course is to give students a comprehensive knowledge of public policies found in the European Union, a political system that has increasingly taken on responsibility in key policy areas. After briefly reviewing the EU’s institutional structure, analysis will be made of key economic policies of the EU, including the single market, economic and monetary union and competition policy. On the latter, we will spend time examining the fascinating aspects of merger and acquisition control and state aid. Attention will then be paid to other significant policies, including agriculture, social, freedom, security and justice, as well as the external policies of the EU.

Module Content

The underlying theme of this course is to examine the key public policies that are found at the EU level governance today, where public policies found at the domestic level of governance are increasingly irrelevant in certain areas.