CPO 3104: Politics of the European Union

Dr. Lukas K. Danner

Best Way to Contact Me: Canvas Inbox
Office Hours: By Appointment
Website: http://danner.lu

Course Time Zone | Eastern Standard Time (EST). Course due dates are according to this time zone

Course Description and Purpose

This course is an introduction to the structures, policies and current political issues of the European Union (EU). The focus will be on the institutions and policies of the EU as overarching integration project in Europe and its impact on the member states. This course examines the policymaking structures and functions of EU institutions, transitions and integration with particular attention to political cultures and the tension with national politics in Europe. The course will include pre-recorded lectures, discussion arenas, reading and concept challenges (quiz, midterm, final), weekly news video briefings, as well as a co-curricular activity writing challenge.

This class counts toward the FIU European Studies Certificate.

Course Objectives

The primary purpose of this course is to provide students with the analytical tools to understand the current state of politics in Europe.

In this course students will:

1. Gain a good understanding of the institutional makeup of the European Union;
2. Become familiar with the workings of the European Union and its impact on member states;
3. Become equipped with theoretical knowledge necessary to explain the evolution of European integration;
4. Improve their research and writing ability when formulating complex arguments.

Before starting this course, please review the following pages:

• Policies
• Netiquette
• Technical Requirements and Skills
• Accessibility and Accommodation
• Panthers Care & Counseling and Psychological Services (CAPS)
• Academic Misconduct Statement

Additional Course Policies

1. All times and deadlines are given in United States Eastern Standard Time (EST). Also, please note the Daylight Savings Time change on November 1, 2020.
2. No incompletes are given.
3. No make-up opportunities are given.
4. For discussion arenas and co-curricular activity report: Late submissions will result in point penalties according to this rule: one day late = -10 %, two days late = -20 %, three days late = -30 %, etc.
5. For online reading & concept challenges in Respondus LockDown Browser: reading & concept challenges will be open for one week. Once the reading & concept challenge closes at the deadline, it will not be re-opened for you and it will irrevocably count as a zero, if you did not take it before the deadline.
6. Copying from the textbook or cutting and pasting sections from websites or other reference materials or presenting someone else’s ideas as your own is plagiarism and will not be tolerated and will result in zero (0) points for that assignment. Please review the FIU Plagiarism Prevention Guide.  In addition, all work submitted must be original for this class.
7. This class will utilize the Turnitin originality software—integrated with the LMS.
8. Papers that are not properly cited will be issued a zero. 
9. If the instructor is unable to open an attachment, it must be resubmitted within 48 hours or the assignment will be issued a zero.
10. Always check the uploaded attachment is correct.  After the deadline passes, the content submitted will be used for grading.
11. Medical emergencies can generally not count as excuses for not submitting assignments, taking tests or posting essays/replies. This is because the assessments (whether they be discussion arena posts, online reading & concept challenges, or written assignments) are open for several days, sometimes weeks each and therefore you will have much leeway in deciding when to take an reading & concept challenge, or submit an assignment. The only exception would be a truly grave medical emergency/accident in which you are hospitalized for several days or weeks. In such case, obtain written documentation and send a scan to instructor.
12. Textbooks and the purchase thereof are the student’s responsibility. Some article readings will be offered as download online. Any readings from the assigned textbooks will not be made available for download.
13. There is no extra-credit in this class.
14. Appointments: I welcome students to contact me by email with questions or email me to make an appointment with me.
15. The instructor reserves the right to modify this syllabus should the need arise.

Zoom Video Conference

This class will use Zoom for pre-recorded lectures.

Course Prerequisites

Proctored Exam Policy

This course does not require proctored exams.

Textbook and Course Materials

Cini, Michelle / Borragan, Nieves (required)

Oxford University Press, 6^th Edition, 2019

ISBN-13 978-0198806530

Price: $53 (Amazon new/purchase); $50 (Wordery new/purchase); $47 (Blackwells new/purchase); $74 (B&N new/purchase); $55 (B&N used/purchase); $37 (B&N ebook/rent)

You may purchase your textbook online at the FIU Bookstore

Expectations of this Course

This is an online course, meaning that most of the course work will be conducted online. Expectations for performance in an online course are the same as for a traditional course; in fact, online courses require a degree of self-motivation, self-discipline, and technology skills that can make them more demanding for some students.

Students are expected to:

• Review the how to get started information located in the course content
• Introduce yourself to the class during the first week by posting a self-introduction in the appropriate discussion forum
• Take the practice quiz to ensure that your computer is compatible with Canvas
• Interact online with instructor(s) and peers
• Review and follow the course calendar
• Log in to the course several times per week
• Respond to discussion arenas by the corresponding deadline
• Respond to emails within three days
• Submit assignments by the corresponding deadline

The instructor will:

• Log in to the course several times per week
• Respond to discussion arenas within four days
• Respond to emails within two business days
• Grade assignments within four days of the assignment deadline

Course Communication

Communication in this course will take place via the Canvas Conversations Inbox. Communication in this course will take place via the Canvas Inbox. Check out the Canvas Conversations Tutorial or Canvas Guide to learn how to communicate with your instructor and peers using Announcements, Discussions, and the Inbox.

Visit our writing resources page for more information on professional writing and technical communication skills.

Discussion Arenas

Keep in mind that your discussion arena postings will likely be seen by other members of the course. Care should be taken when determining what to post.

The first part of this assignment is posting your own response to each quest and corresponding reading on Canvas’s “Discussion Arena.” Questions that you may respond to after reading are going to be provided in the heading of the discussion arena. The discussion arena that corresponds to each quest will be opened shortly after the quest becomes available. Your response should be between 300 and 350 words long, be structured like an essay, and ideally show reference to the studied quest and readings. At the end of your essay, please provide a question for further discussion that your classmates may reply to in the second part of this assignment. This first part of the assignment is graded with a rubric.

The second part of this assignment is reading and replying to the discussion posts of two of your peers. So after you have posted your own, original response in the first part of the assignment (reading others’ discussion posts is disabled until you post your own), you need to reply to, at least, two (2) discussion posts of your classmates: This will contribute to the discussion character of this task. This second part of the assignment is graded and included in the rubric.

This assignment corresponds to our quests in the course content and the assigned reading to it. We may use Turnitin to check the originality of your posted essay. If you borrow material, identify the sources via proper citation. Your essay post must answer the question(s) provided to guide you in this assignment. Your posts will be graded in the order that they are submitted. Opinions and examples are valuable to your posts but you need to show that you have read the assigned reading and class quest.

Items to consider when writing your discussion:

• Relevance to assigned material: the posted ideas indicate that the student has read the assigned material.
• Clarity and coherence.
• Critical thinking: there is evidence that the student has adequately analyzed, synthesized, and evaluated the assigned material.
• Your discussion includes a question for further discussion on the topic. The posting articulates a question for discussion that pertains to the assigned material.
• Spelling, grammar: the posting must meet university-level standards of spelling and grammar.
• Length: the initial posting for each discussion post essay must be between 300 and 350 words.
• Guidelines: First submit your essay (ca. 300-350 words), then separately submit your discussion question, and then proceed to look at your peers posts and reply to at least two different peers’ questions/react to their essay.
• Please note: You will not be able to see what your peers have posted prior to submitting your initial post (essay). This is to ensure originality and no copy-paste/filibustering mentality. Should your first post be an empty post (to circumvent this initial blocking view of others’ posts), it will count as zero (0) points.
• Late submission is subject to the deduction policy specified above under “Policies.”

Rubric:

Assessments

There will be THREE ONLINE READING & CONCEPT CHALLENGES (with Respondus Lockdown Browser).

Assessment Expectations:

• Complete the three online reading & concept challenges (Quiz, Midterm & Final) within this course
• Relevant material for reading & concept challenges are PowerPoints, Lectures, and—first and foremost—assigned required readings. Reading which are merely recommended are not directly relevant as reading & concept challenge material—unless they have been mentioned, summarized or introduced via lectures or quests, for example (nevertheless, you do not have to read them but just know what was mentioned about them, if they came up in lectures/quests). The quiz will also contain questions on the geography of Europe (important cities, provinces, bodies of water, islands, etc.).
• The reading & concept challenges are cumulative, meaning that they cover all material previously learned, though they have a focus on the material learned after the last test.
• Reading & concept challenges will consist of multiple-choice questions.
• The assessment duration is 60 minutes for the quiz and midterm, 120 minutes for the final.
• If you access the reading & concept challenge last minute then you will not receive the full amount of time on the challenge. Therefore, it is recommended to take the reading & concept challenge the latest two hours before the deadline. Please note that the assessment will close permanently after the deadline, so starting it late is not possible.
• Result details:
  • Students will be able to see their results after the availability period has ended (i.e. all of the questions and answers).
• The expected turnaround time for grades on online reading & concept challenges is immediately after the submission deadline.

Respondus Lockdown Browser

• Review the How to take a Quiz or Exam with the Respondus Lockdown Browser on how to install, access your assessments and view your grades.
• After installing the browser, please take the Practice Quiz to familiarize yourself with the testing environment and to ensure that you have downloaded the Respondus Lockdown Browser correctly.

Co-Curricular Activity Writing Challenge

Students will be required to attend a co-curricular activity or event, visit a museum exhibition, or watch a movie or documentary with relevance to European Union politics during the course of the semester, but no later than November 16. The instructor will announce eligible activities for this assignment to students on a regular basis—the choice is the student’s what in particular they would like to undertake. Whichever co-curricular activity is undertaken, a three and a half to four (3.5 - 4) page (1,000 - 1,200 words) report is required to be written by the student describing their co-curricular experience (summary), how they feel about it (personal opinion), and how it relates to this class (academic relevance). Submission is within one week of attending the co-curricular event, however, no later than the November 16th deadline (whichever comes first), through a Turnitin Dropbox. This assignment will count for ten (10) points of your class grade of 100 points.

• The co-curricular activity report cannot exceed 1,200 words. (Over 1,200 words would be deductions from the guideline rubric; the paper should not have less than 1,000 words but under no circumstances more than 1,200 words). The page count is secondary—word count determines whether this requirement of 1,000 to 1,200 words is met, but you should expect a paper length about 3.5 - 4 page
• Format: Normal margins, 12 pt Times New Roman (or Palatino Linotype) font, double spacing, no extra spaces between paragraphs.
• Quotations: Likely you will not need quotation as you are using your own words to paraphrase an experience. If you do want to quote, please stick with one quotation type, choose the one you feel most comfortable with/you are used to, i.e., either MLA, or APA, or Chicago, or Turabian—but stick with it/be consistent.
• Activity Choice: The co-curricular activity has to do either with a topic to do with a country of the European Union (Belgium, Italy, Spain, Germany, France, etc.) or the European Union as a regional actor/ institution. 
• Final Report: The co-curricular activity paper is due through the Turnitin dropbox on the Modules section of Canvas. This means it will be checked whether it is original in terms of compared to the world-wide-web, scholarly outlets, and reviews submitted with Turnitin—but also compared to your peers in this class. This is an individual assignment and you must work on it by yourself, i.e., it cannot be identical or similar to another student’s submitted paper.
• Late submission is subject to the deduction policy specified above under “Policies/ Additional Course Policies.” However, 10 days after the initial deadline submission will close permanently and no further late submission will be possible after that date.
• Grading timeframe is about one week after the submission deadline.
• Review the detailed Turnitin instructions on how to submit your assignments and how to review the Grademark comments (feedback) from your professor.

Rubric:

Important Dates and Deadlines

Discussion Arena Posts:

• September 3, 2020 (Thursday) - First discussion arena, essay & discussion question due by 11:59pm EDT.
• September 8, 2020 (Tuesday) – First discussion arena, two participation replies due by 11:59pm EDT (due on a Tuesday due to Labor Holiday; otherwise always Mondays).
• September 24, 2020 (Thursday) - Second discussion arena, essay & discussion question due by 11:59pm EDT.
• September 28, 2020 (Monday) – Second discussion arena, two participation replies due by 11:59pm EDT.
• October 22, 2020 (Thursday) - Third discussion arena, essay & discussion question due by 11:59pm EDT.
• October 26, 2020 (Monday) – Third discussion arena, two participation replies due by 11:59pm EDT.
• November 19, 2020 (Thursday) - Fourth discussion arena, essay & discussion question due by 11:59pm EST (Eastern Daylight Savings Time [EDT] Ends on November 1, 2020, Eastern Standard Time [EST] Resumes; make sure you have changed your clocks, or to note the changed time difference if you are taking this course remotely from a country without DST).
• November 23, 2020 (Monday) - Fourth discussion arena, two participation replies due by 11:59pm EDT.

Reading & Concept Challenges:

• October 5, 2020 – First online reading & concept challenge (Quiz) due by 11:59pm EDT.
• November 2, 2020 – Second online reading & concept challenge (Midterm) due by 11:59pm EDT (Eastern Daylight Savings Time [EDT] Ends on November 1, 2020, Eastern Standard Time [EST] Resumes; make sure you have changed your clocks, or to note the changed time difference if you are taking this course remotely from a country without DST).
• December 11, 2020 – Third online reading & concept challenge (Final) due by 11:59pm EST.

Assignments:

• November 16, 2020 – Co-Curricular Activity Writing Challenge due by 11:59pm EDT.

Weekly News Video Journal Entries:

• September 14, 2020 – First weekly news journal entry by 11:59pm EDT.
• September 21, 2020 – Second weekly news journal entry by 11:59pm EDT.
• September 28, 2020 – Third weekly news journal entry by 11:59pm EDT.
• October 5, 2020 – Fourth weekly news journal entry by 11:59pm EDT.
• October 12, 2020 – Fifth weekly news journal entry by 11:59pm EDT.
• October 19, 2020 – Sixth weekly news journal entry by 11:59pm EDT.
• October 26, 2020 – Seventh weekly news journal entry by 11:59pm EDT.
• November 2, 2020 – Eighth weekly news journal entry by 11:59pm EST (Eastern Daylight Savings Time [EDT] Ends on November 1, 2020, Eastern Standard Time [EST] Resumes; make sure you have changed your clocks, or to note the changed time difference if you are taking this course remotely from a country without DST).
• November 9, 2020 – Ninth weekly news journal entry by 11:59pm EST.
• November 16, 2020 – Tenth weekly news journal entry by 11:59pm EST.
• November 23, 2020 – Eleventh weekly news journal entry by 11:59pm EST.
• November 30, 2020 – Twelfth weekly news journal entry by 11:59pm EST.
• December 7, 2020 – Thirteenth weekly news journal entry by 11:59pm EST

University Deadlines:

• August 31, 2020 – Last day to add courses; last day to drop courses or withdraw from the University without incurring financial liability for Tuition and Fees
• September 7, 2020 – Labor Day Holiday (university closed)
• November 2, 2020 – Deadline to drop a course with a DR grade; Deadline to withdraw from the University with a WI grade
• November 11, 2020 – Veterans Day Holiday Observed (university closed)
• November 26, 2020 – Thanksgiving Holiday (university closed)
• November 27-28, 2020 – Thanksgiving Break (university closed)
• December 7-12, 2020 – Finals’ Week
• December 17, 2020 – Grades available on my.fiu.edu by 2:00am

Grading