210159 SE EC: EU institutions and decision-making (2022S)

Students are required to attend classes and come prepared (i.e., having done and thought a bit about the readings). In addition, there will be three types of assignments that together make up the final grade.

- First, students need to deliver a very short presentation, either summarizing key points of the text (in Part I) or making the case for one side in a key controversy (in Part II). In both cases, they also need to prepare some questions or examples that can kick off the discussion. The point is *not* to comprehensively summarize the reading; this is usually boring for most people involved. Rather, it is to identify key points of the reading and spin them further, for example by connecting them to other things you've read, real-world examples, or something you've seen in the news recently. For the presentations in Part 2 it is particularly important to actually make the case for whichever side of a controversy you were assigned to - a bit like in a debating class.^[Practically, groups will be assigned sessions and can then decide for themselves who wants to argue which side.] Presentations can be really short, perhaps 4 and not longer than 5 minutes per person. It's more important that you independently think about the reading and about how to make it interesting for the class. For example, when we discuss whether the EU should have a common army, maybe you find a survey about what Europeans actually think about this topic. The presentation will make up *30%* of your grade.

- Second, there a short exam towards the end of the seminar that tests whether students remember key arguments from the readings and the sessions. You will get a reading week (a week without a session) to go over the readings and slides again and prepare for the test. The test will consist of around 15 short questions, most of them in multiple choice format. The test will not be overly difficult but merely test whether you have done the readings and followed the course. This will also make up *20%* of your grade.

- Lastly, students need to write a relatively short term paper, which will make up *50%* of your grade. The term paper is actually a collection of two short papers of around 1000-1500 words each. The two papers will focus on one key controversy of European integration (not necessarily ones covered in the course). One paper is supposed to use the scientific literature to make the case for one side of such a controversy (e.g. the Euro is good for Europe); the other paper is meant to take the opposing side on the *same controversy*. Crucially, the final grade will be an average of the grade of the two individual papers. The idea is to encourage you to think as hard as you can about both sides of an issue, even if you have a personal preference . If you just make good arguments for your favored side, but bad ones for the 'other side', this will be 'punished' by the bad paper dragging down your average.