210037 LK BAK6 The Austrian Political System and the EU (2023W)

The seminar offers an introduction to institutions, structures and processes of European governance and focuses on current developments in the area of efficient governance and democratic participation. By taking the example of Austria, decision-making and organizational processes in European politics are reflected against the background of theoretical approaches from European studies. The subject areas include the historical development of the EU, the role of central actors such as the European Commission, the European Central Bank, the European Parliament, interest groups and the member states (Austria in particular), as well as the design of democratic governance in the European multi-level system. Students acquire knowledge of how to systematically reflect on EU developments, the Austrian role in current reforms and the functioning and design of selected European policy areas. A willingness to read English-language specialist literature is required.

Students will work on content in both fixed and varying groups and will have the opportunity for student exchange in groups and for discussion in the seminar. Student preparation and follow-up of seminar content is expected, as in the face-to-face sessions of the course, students build on the basic knowledge they have acquired through different learning and discussion formats. Different group work, presentation and discussion formats are used.

In the course, in addition to active participation and appropriate self-study, students give a mandatory presentation on a topic of their own choosing. On the other hand, the students individually formulate an approx. 2-page discussion or thesis paper based on the basic literature. Finally, the students write an approximately 10-12 page seminar paper to answer a self-selected question with an EU connection.