Germany & the European Union

Catalog description

This course offers an overview of contemporary Germany, its problems and its promise, with a particular focus on German politics, the German economy, and Germany's role in the European Union and in the world system. Primary topics include: 1) Germany on the World Stage; 2) Germany and the Past; 3) the German political system; 4) the German economic system; 5) the European Union, its challenges, and Germany's role in it; 6) Germany, the EU, and multiculturalism and ethnic and cultural pluralism, including the role played in Germany and Europe by ethnic, religious, and cultural minorities. Each of these topics will take about 2-3 weeks of the course. Students in the course will be required 1) to complete all required course readings (the equivalent of about three books in English, although in most cases we will be reading chapters from books rather than entire books, plus about five separate articles in English), 2) to take five short fifteen-minute quizzes on the some of the various themes of the course, 3) to do a book review of a book of their choosing dealing with contemporary Germany and/or the European Union and to make a presentation about that book in class, 4) to write three short (four page) papers on the themes of the course, and 5) to participate in two debates about A) Germany's response to the past; and B) Whether or not Germany and the EU should be more open to ethnic, cultural, and religious minorities.