Final exam

Please choose one of the following essay topics. If you like, you can suggest your own question instead, but you must get it approved by me before you start work on it!

1. In what sense(s) can a European public opinion be said to exist?
2. What are the advantages and the difficulties of “exploring the EU from the point of view of the people actually producing it" (Adler-Nissen 2016: 88)?
3. How is Europe "diffused" in transnational social movement networks? What kind of European integration is performed?
4. “The Brussels-based European institutions are a relatively autonomous institutional field in which actors deploy specific forms of social, cultural and symbolic capital.” Explain what this means using examples.
5. How can Europe be studied through the prism of local issues? Give examples and explain what they add to our understanding of European integration.
6. How and why has the notion of governance been used in the discourse of European policy-makers over the past two decades?
7. "The European public sphere is a normative concept that adds little to our understanding of European integration processes". Critically assess this claim.
8. "We need a better understanding of how civic resources like solidarity, trust and sociability are actually experienced by European citizens". Why?
9. Why has participatory decision-making been a matter of concern for the European Commission in recent decades?

If you are an MA student, the essay should be around 3 000 words; to include at least 5 references from the course reading list and at least 2 other references not on the reading list.

If you are a BA student, the essay should be around 2 000 words; to include at least 5 references from the course reading list (and others if you want).

This assignment counts for 80% of your final grade.

Deadline: 25 September. Please submit through Moodle.