The European Experiment
July 6-15, 2005
The ongoing, peaceful unification of Europe is one of the most important political, economic, and social developments of the past half-century but is little discussed and even less understood by Americans. This intensive seminar will give you all you need to teach the history, institutions, and politics of the EU and its rapidly changing context – the countries of today’s Europe. Among the topics covered: the history of unification from the Marshall Plan to date; the EU’s institutions – the European Commission, Council, Parliament, and Courts; EU enlargement; strengths and weaknesses of the modern welfare state; the nationalist backlash and new right-wing parties; immigration and population; Europe and the world economy; trends in art and literature; terrorism and security; US/European interdependence and how trade conflicts and the Iraq crisis have affected us; patterns in European politics; and a country-by-country survey of developments in France, Germany, the UK, Italy, Poland, Spain, Scandinavia, and Central Europe.
Tuition: $400
Sponsored by the Council on European Studies, YCIAS, and the U.S. Department of Education through a Title VI National Resource Center grant.