Interdisciplinary workshop: Europe as it is thought

Teacher(s)

Arens Nicolas;

Language

French

Learning outcomes

At the end of this learning unit, the student is able to :

- To acquire the ability to confront different models and paradigms from the theoretical reflection on Europe. - To develop a critical and interdisciplinary understanding of representations of European integration.

Content

The seminar “Thinking Europe” proposes an interdisciplinary reflection on both the originality of European societies and the process of European integration. The seminar will highlight how Europe has represented and theorised about itself, using different paradigms that correspond to the disciplines covered in the study program. The themes addressed will come from political theory and will be considered in regard of their application to Europe and to the European Union. The first session aims to differentiate Europe from the European Union and the European integration while avoiding the pitfalls of identification, historicisation, and institutional mimicry from national institutions to the European context. The issue of recurrent European crises will be also discussed. The subsequent seminars will discuss federalism, cosmopolitanism, European democracy, the history and identity of Europe by examining various texts. Far from a lecture, students will be asked to read various texts beforehand and actively discuss the suggested themes within sub-groups during the seminars.

Teaching methods

At each session, students must have printed out the three texts to be discussed, bring them to class and are expected to have read them. Students are divided into three sub-groups according to their surname, and each student is personally responsible for being able to give an oral account of one of the three texts discussed in the seminar (according to their surname). The debates are structured by questions relating to the different texts (e.g. What kind of “Europe” is the author talking about? What type of achievement does the text speak about in the EU? Is the author's approach realistic? etc.). After a period of discussion in sub-groups, the debates are compiled together and a “student-secretary” records the discussion. The notes are subsequently circulated among students.
The seminar will not work unless the students read the texts and take an active part in the discussions. The seminar is designed to ensure a friendly and nurturing environment for university-level discussions.

Evaluation methods

Seminar evaluation is continuous all along the semester and is determined by seminar attendance and active participation. Attendance and participation can account for up to 20% of the final grade. The rest of the assessment depends on an individual 7-10 pages written essay focusing on one of the topics discussed in the seminars. The Master's level essay requires academic rigor, including a well-formulated research question, problem statement, hypothesis, use of theoretical and/or empirical sources, and more. Failure to reference sources correctly or plagiarism will result in a zero grade and could lead to disciplinary sanctions.

Other information

The seminar will refer to the following texts :
- Europe, European union and european integration:
1) Delsol, C., « l’affirmation de l’identité européenne », in l’identité de l’Europe, C. Delsol & J-F Mattéi (dir.), PUF 2010, pp. 1-4, Ferry, J-M., La république crépusculaire, Cerf, 2010, pp. 72-75.
2) Nicolaïdis, K., « Notre Démoï-cratie européenne », Politique européenne, 2006, 19(1), pp. 58-63, Van Middelaar, L., Quand l’Europe improvise, Gallimard, 2018, 19-24.
3) Habermas, J., « Citoyenneté et identité nationale », in L’Europe au soir du siècle, Demandre N. & Lenoble J. (dir.), 1992, Esprit, pp. 20-23, Manent, P., La raison des nations, Gallimard, 2006, pp. 21-27.
- Constitutional form of the EU, the nation and the issue of sovereignty:
1) Altiero Spinelli, Manifeste des fédéralistes européens (1957), Éditions Fédérop, 2012, chap. III, V et VI.
2) Pierre Manent, Entretiens : « Démocratie et nation » et « La nation : entre l’individualisme et l’universalisme », revueargument.ca, automne 1998 et printemps-été 2003.
3) Céline Spector, « Briser l’idole. Sur la souveraineté européenne », Le grand continent, novembre 2020.
- The EU and the cosmopolitanism:
1) Emmanuel Kant, À la paix perpétuelle (1795), in Œuvres philosophiques, III, Paris, Galllimard, 1986.
2) Ferry Jean-Marc, « Comprendre l'Union européenne en un sens cosmopolitique » Quelle participation civique ?, Archives de Philosophie, 2012/3 Tome 75, p. 395-404.
3) Hugues Dumont, « The European Union, a plurinational federation in sensu cosmopolitico » in M. Seymour et A.-G. Gagnon (dir.), Multinational Federalism. Problems and Prospects, 2012, Palgrave Macmillan, p. 83-106.
- Democracy, people, and populism in the EU :
1) Vivien Schmidt, « La politisation de l’Europe », in Pierre Ignazi, Dominique Reynié (dir.), La vie politique. Pour Pascal Perrineau, Presses de Sciences Po, 2021, p. 353-362.
2) Antoine Vauchez, Démocratiser l’Europe, Paris, Seuil, 2014, Chapitre premier : « Une ‘démocratie Potemkine’ ? », p. 11-32.
3) Bastien Nivet, « Union européenne : une dépolitisation propice au populisme », + Étienne Balibar, « Comment résoudre l’aporie du peuple européen ? », Le Symptôma grec, Paris, Lignes, 2014
- The cultural roots, the identity, the borders question, and the historical narrative of Europe:
1) Gesine Schwan, « La démocratie loin d’Athènes », in Etienne François et Thomas Serrier (éd.) Europe, notre histoire, Paris, Arènes, 2017, p. 243-249 + Remi Brague, « La « voie romaine » », in Vingtième siècle, 2001/3, n°71, p. 63-66 + Etienne François, « Un seul Dieu tu adoreras », in Etienne François et Thomas Serrier (éd.) Europe, notre histoire, Paris, Arènes, 2017, p. 333-349.
2) Jean-Louis Bourlanges, « De l'identité de l'Europe aux frontières de l'Union », Études 2004/6 (Tome 400), p. 729-741 + Étienne Balibar, « L’Europe-frontière et le « défi migratoire » », in Vacarme 2015/4 (N° 73), p. 136-142.
3) Constanze Itzel, « The House of european history. A reservoir of the diversity and complexity of the memories of Europe », Magazine of the European observatory on memories (http://europeanmemories.net/magazine/the-house-of-european-history-a-reservoir-of-the-diversity-and-complexity-of-the-memories-of-europe/) + Wolfgang Kaiser « The limits of cultural engineering : Actors and narratives in the European Parliament’s House of European history project  » in Journal of common market studies, 2007, vol. 55, n°3, p. 518-534.

Online resources

The texts will be posted on Moodle.

Bibliography

Aucune

Faculty or entity

IEEB