The EU is the most ambitious international integration project to date. Do you want to know how decisions are made in the EU, which reasons are given for the current crisis, and learn more about the future of European integration? This course will help us to find the answers!
max. 18 participants
Participants will receive 5 ECTS credit points and a certificate if they attend regularly (at least 80% attendance) and participate actively. Additionally, six weeks after the end of the course a Transcript of Records is issued by Humboldt-Universität.
The course will reflect upon the history and the current challenges of the European Union as the most ambitious project of supranational integration to date. While the project of integration was initially based on the quest for peace, it became clear over the years that the economic benefits for members were becoming the main incentive for further integration. But today, facing a financial and institutional crisis, the European Union is beginning to question its roots and aims.
Thus, the course will explore the development of the EU as a political entity, will try to understand the reasons for the current crisis and, finally, will also try to look ahead - what is the future of European integration? In order to get a more plastic impression of the way the EU works, we will dedicate some sessions to a short simulation game on the ways decisions are taken within the EU.
The course aims to offer a better understanding of how the European Union works and why the decision-making process is so difficult within this body.
Academic lessons
The courses are grouped into different time tracks.Your course will take place in "Track C".
Cultural activitiesHUWISU offers a fine selection of interesting extra-curricular activities and aims to give all participants an unforgettable stay in Berlin. Your program includes excursions, sport activities and social gatherings providing you the opportunity to get to know the city, the university and to meet students from all parts of the world. The costs for these offers are included in the course fees.
Activities and tours we offer regularly: Federal Chancellery, German Parliament, House of Representatives, Topography of Terror, Political Archive, Museum Island, Kreuzberg Tour, Daytrip to Potsdam, Exhibitions…
Undergraduate students of all relevant subjects with a strong interest in the course topic.
This course is taught in English, including readings in English. For the understanding of the texts and the discussions in class a language level B2 (Common European Framework of Reference for Languages) is required.
Participating students need to be at least 18 years old.
Dr. Timo Lochocki studied Social Psychology and International Politics in Germany, Norway and the United States. In 2013 he finished his PhD at Humboldt University Berlin explaining why right-wing populist parties in Western Europe - like the German AfD or the French FN - rise or fall.
From 2014 to 2017 he worked as a Transatlantic Fellow for The German Marshall Fund of the United States (GMF), stationed in Berlin and Paris. He hereby advised federal decision makers in Germany, France and the US on the new nexus between national party politics and international policy planning.
In 2018 he worked as James Knox Batten Visiting Professor for European Politics at Bard College, NC. In the same year he published "The Formula of Trust" ("Die Vertrauensformel") stressing the key role of Political Communication to prevent increasing societal polarization in Germany. Since 2019 he works as Executive Staff for the German Ministry of Health, advising Minister Jens Spahn and being responsible for International Policy Planning and Political Communication.
