European Integration and Values in Political and Social Life 2751-KONJA-EIV

The course starts with general considerations on the importance of values in political and social life. Furthermore, the process of shaping common European values is presented, including the process of European integration. The next classes focus on values of human dignity (including discussion on particular issues such as death penalty and euthanasia), freedom (in particular freedom of religion and private life), democracy (both in the EU and its Member States), the rule of law and its core elements, respect for human rights and the rights of minorities (including their meaning and protection mechanisms). Tolerance, social justice, solidarity and cultural diversity are also important topics of discussion. Finally, during the course the mechanisms to ensure compliance with these values are presented.

Term 2021/22L:

The course will start with general considerations on the importance of values in political and social life. Furthermore, the process of shaping common European values will be presented, including in the framework of European integration. The next classes will focus on such values as human dignity, freedom, democracy, the rule of law, respect for human rights, including the rights of minorities. Tolerance, social justice, solidarity and cultural diversity will also be important topics of discussion. Finally, during the course mechanisms to ensure compliance with these values will be presented, including those in force in the EU.

Term 2024/25L:

Total student workload

Contact hours with teacher: - participation in discussion seminar or personal contact– 30 hrs Self-study hours: - preparation for discussion seminar – 20 hrs - writing projects- 20 hrs - reading literature- 30 hrs - preparation for test- 50 hrs Altogether: 150 hrs ( 5 ECTS)

Learning outcomes - knowledge

Student: W1: has advanced knowledge of the values and legal principles important in Europe, including the European Union W2: is familiar with globalisation and regionalisation processes related to European values W3: knows the main freedoms regulated in the EU Charter of Fundamental Rights and their possible limitations W4: knows different forms of discrimination and the grounds on which the prohibition of discrimination is based W5: has knowledge of democracy and rule of law definitions and their core elements W6: is familiar with the main categories and functions of human rights, with the meaning of social justice, tolerance and cultural diversity

Learning outcomes - skills

Student: U1: has language skills - speaks and writes in a coherent and transparent way at the B2 level of the European System of the Description of Language Education about the issues connected with the subject of the course and can justify his/her own opinions U2: is able to search, evaluate and process information about values from written and electronic sources U3: can interpret the basic legal acts concerning values U4: can analyse the role of particular values and their interactions

Learning outcomes - social competencies

Student: K1: understands the need for further learning K2: thinks and acts in a creative way K3: is open to new challenges

Teaching methods

During the course the following teaching methods will be applied: 1. passive methods connected with gaining knowledge (remembering) – Power Point presentations or articles to be read or video films to be watched at the beginning or before the meeting 2. active work with a text – fragments of legal text will be read by a lecturer or a student and the rest will ask questions about it in order to understand its content, analyse it and then apply in practice 3. search methods – inter alia the intelligent guesswork where the students will present their own solutions to the problems and then compare them with the reality e.g. statistics; the so-called traffic lights where students are given green and red cards and if their answer to a question is “yes” they raise a green card and if “no” they raise a red card 4. the problem method where the students will try to find the reasons for the current situation 5. additionally paper and case study methods will be applied

Expository teaching methods

- problem-based lecture
- participatory lecture

Exploratory teaching methods

- brainstorming
- case study
- panel
- project work

Online teaching methods

- exchange and discussion methods
- content-presentation-oriented methods
- methods developing reflexive thinking

Prerequisites

To fully understand the issues discussed during the course European Integration and Values in Political and Social Life, the student should have a general knowledge of the history of Europe after World War II..

Course coordinators

Justyna Maliszewska-Nienartowicz

Assessment criteria

Assessment methods:
1. presence and activity of the students during meetings, including participation in the discussion on the given topics (basic materials in English will be given by the lecturer and they should be read or watched before classes), participation in the intelligent guesswork or the traffic lights (30 points, 3 points are given for the activity during one meeting) - U2, U3, U4, K3
2. preparation of four posters or mind maps concerning issues discussed during the meeting (10 points for each poster or mind map, together 40 points) – U1, K1, K2, K3
3. the final test (30 points): W1,W2,W3,W4,W5,W6

Assessment criteria:
systematic assessment of the activity during classes, assessment of posters or mind maps and the final test
The students will get points for all these tasks and they will be added at the end.
There will be a range of points for the proper marks:
fail (2)- 0-51 pts (51 %)
satisfactory (3) - 52-60 pts (52-60 %)
satisfactory plus (3+)- 61-69 pts (61-69 %)
good (4) – 70-82 pts (70-82 %)
good plus (4+)- 83-91 pts (83-91 %)
very good (5) – 92-100 pts (92-100%)

Practical placement

not applicable

Bibliography

Selected books and articles:

1. W.Arts, L. Halman (2004), European Values at the Turn of the Millenium, Leiden- Boston.
2. S. Lucarelli & I. Manners (red.) (2006)Values and Principles in European Union Foreign Policy, Routledge.
3. J. Richardson (2002), The European Union in the World — A Community of Values, Fordham International Law Journal, 26,1: 12-35.
4. R. Kołatek (2018), The principle of human dignity in the primary and secondary legislation of the European Union, Zeszyty Prawnicze, 2(58): 29–44.
5. S. Fredman (2016), Substantive equality revisited, International Journal of Constitutional Law, 14, 3: 712–738.
6. F. Hendriks (2010), Vital Democracy A Theory of Democracy in Action, Oxford Univeristy Press.
7. A. Magen, L. Pech (2018), The rule of law and the European Union [in:] Handbook on the rule of law, eds. Ch. May, A. Winchester, Edward Elgar Publishing, pp. 235-256.
8. S. D. Scott (2011), The European Union and Human Rights after the Treaty of Lisbon, Human Rights Law Review, 11, 4: 645-682.
9. K. Nicolaidis, J. Viehoff (2015) Social justice in the European Union: the puzzles of solidarity, reciprocity and choice [in:] Europe’s Justice Deficit?, eds. D. Kochenov, G.de Búrca, A. Williams, Hart Publishing, pp.277-294.
10. Gabriel N. Toggenburg (2008), The Debate on European Values and the Case of Cultural Diversity, Minorities Research, 2: 109-129.

Term 2021/22L:

Selected books and articles:

Term 2024/25L:

Selected books and articles:

Notes

Term 2021/22L:

all articles and other publications will be available on the moodle platofrm

Term 2024/25L:

all articles and other publications will be available on the moodle platofrm

Additional information

Additional information (registration calendar, class conductors, localization and schedules of classes), might be available in the USOSweb system:

Description of 2751-KONJA-EIV in USOSweb