IREb1014 Institutions of the EU

Faculty of Social Studies
Spring 2025
Extent and Intensity
1/1/0. 8 credit(s). Type of Completion: zk (examination).
Teacher(s)
prof. PhDr. Petr Kaniok, Ph.D. (lecturer)
Guaranteed by
prof. PhDr. Petr Kaniok, Ph.D.
Department of International Relations and European Studies – Faculty of Social Studies
Contact Person: Olga Cídlová, DiS.
Supplier department: Department of International Relations and European Studies – Faculty of Social Studies
Prerequisites (in Czech)
! IRE114 Institutions of the EU && !NOW( IRE114 Institutions of the EU ) && !SEMESTR(1) && !SEMESTR(2)
Course Enrolment Limitations
The course is also offered to the students of the fields other than those the course is directly associated with.
fields of study / plans the course is directly associated with
Course objectives
This course aims at providing students with detailed knowledge and understanding of the decision-making system within the European Union (EU). The most essential part of this course is devoted to the lecturers that introduce the most important EU institutions as the European Council, the Council of the EU, the European Parliament or the European Court of Justice. Apart from this, several lectures focus on cross cutting topics related to the EU institutions as is for example interplay between domestic and EU levels of decision making process, or functioning of the most used and most important EU decision making procedures. Students are also encouraged to follow and monitor real life of the most important EU institutions and analyze them in terms of EU democracy. The course is taught in flipped format. For each week (week 2 – 9), students will have pre-recorded video .ppt presentations covering particular topic available in the interactive outline (is.muni.cz). It is recommended to watch the video prior class for particular topic takes place. The contact meetings will be used for students´ questions on particular topic and for discussion on EU institutions weekly news (see below). Each meeting will last approximately 60-90 minutes. In case of seminars (classes 11 and 12), the contact meetings will last standard 100 minutes (as there will not be any pre-recorded lecture).
Learning outcomes
Students will gain understanding of the decision-making system within the European Union.
Syllabus
  • Week 1: Introductory session
  • Week 2: Introduction in the EU institutions
  • Week 3: The European Council
  • Week 4: The Council of the EU
  • Week 5: Reading Week
  • Week 6: The European Commission
  • Week 7: The European Parliament
  • Week 8: Advisory bodies
  • Week 9: Supervisory power
  • Week 10: Domestic level of EU institutions
  • Week 11: EU legislative and budgetary procedures
  • Week 12: Seminar I: Problems of EU institutions
  • Week 13: Seminar II: EU institutional reform
Literature
  • Kajnč, S. (2011): The Council of the EU and the European Council. In: How the EU Institutions Work and..How to Work with the EU Institutions (ed. Hardacre, A.). London: John Harper Publishing, 47-84.
  • Costa, O. – Brack, N. (2014): How the EU Really Works. Farnham: Ashgate
Teaching methods
During this term, the course will be taught in flipped format using Zoom application. For each week (week 2 – 9), students will have pre-recorded video .ppt presentations covering particular topic available in the interactive outline (is.muni.cz). It is recommended to watch the video prior class for particular topic takes place. The contact meetings will be used for students´ questions on particular topic and for discussion on EU institutions weekly news (see below). Each meeting will start at 12.00 and will last approximately 60-90 minutes.
Assessment methods
Assignments and Grading The grading is based on the following assignments: Institutional monitor: Students will choose one of three major EU institutions (the European Parliament, the European Commission, the Council of the EU and the European Council) in order to monitor its real activities during the term. For each week (from week 2 until week 9 included), each student will be required to submit 400 words lasting report on: a) what particular institution did in previous week, b) what can be considered as the most important event related to this institution during this week Each submission will be graded on F/P basis with 2 points. Each submission has to be uploaded until Saturday 12.00 prior forthcoming class – delayed submissions will be graded as failed with 0 points. Students discussing their weekly reports will get 1 bonus point for each presentation during classes. Overall value up to 16 points + 8 bonus points for activity during class discussions. Students are encourage to use official websites of the institutions as well as sources as politico.eu, euractiv.com, eurobserver.com or news agencies as reuters.com. Seminar papers: Students are requested to submit two seminar papers on classes 11 and 12. Each paper should be around 1500 words long (references excluded, footnotes included) and should cope with assigned task. Each paper has to be uploaded until Saturday 12.00 prior seminar – delayed submissions won´t be accepted. Each paper will be graded from 0-5 points, overall value up to 10 points. Final exam: The exam will consist of six questions per 5 points. The questions will be focused on topics included in the assigned readings/class sessions. Overall value up to 30 points. In sum, students can achieve 56 points (+ 8 bonus points). The grading scale is as follows: F 0-30, E 31-36, D 37-41, C 42-46, B 47-51, A 52-56.
Language of instruction
English
Further comments (probably available only in Czech)
The course is taught annually.
The course is taught: every week.
Information on course enrolment limitations: This course is not available for exchange students.
The course is also listed under the following terms Spring 2021, Spring 2022, Spring 2023, Spring 2024.
  • Enrolment Statistics (Spring 2025, recent)
  • Permalink: https://is.muni.cz/course/fss/spring2025/IREb1014