GRA 5915 Business and Politics in the European Union: The Political Economy of the Single Market
GRA 5915 Business and Politics in the European Union: The Political Economy of the Single Market
This is an international political economy course that focuses on the Single Market in the European Union. The course requires no previous knowledge of the subject. The central focus is on business and politics in the EU, and more specifically on the policy process and regulation in the Single European Market.
The course focuses on regulation and competition in the Single European Market, addressing the rationales and motivations for economic regulation and centering on the evolution of competition policy and sector regulation, as well as changes in the light of liberalisation and de-regulation. Students will become familiar with the EU policy process, the theory and practice of regulation and competition policy, and several selected policy sectors (e.g. financial services, energy, defence procurement, ICT etc) . The course covers several aspects of the regulatory state, such as liberalisation; self-regulation, flexibility and indirect regulation; regulatory competition, cooperation and/or convergence; as well as the legal, administrative and political bases for regulation. Central questions include: What kind of regulation or competition policy is necessary in order to make markets work as desired? Who demands and supplies regulation? How does regulation work and how can we explain regulatory successes and failures?
- Students will gain a thorough understanding of research methods in public policy, international political economy, EU governance and comparative politics, and be in a position to engage critically with the research-based literature in this field.
- Students will be able to analyze EU and EEA political, economic and social institutions and organizations, the relationship between them, and the dynamics of stability and change.
- Students will be applying analytical tools and empirical knowledge to practical problems in new settings related to EU public policy.
- Students will gain experience in identifying and assessing policy problems, choosing appropriate analytical tools and applying them to current issues in EU governance, political economy and public policy
- Students will be able to assess and evaluate EU public policy options and actual policies in terms of both efficiency and justice.
- Students will be in a position to assess the economic, ethical, social and political dimensions of EU public policy, and to evaluate it in term of norms such as the rule of law, transparency, accountability and legitimacy.
- Students will be able to adopt a multi-level (national, regional and global) perspective on political economy and public policy and understand the parameters within which policy is developed and implemented at the national and EU level.
- The Single European Market
- European Union institutions and the EU policy process.
- Business, politics and regulation; liberalisation and de-regulation.
- Regulation and liberalisation in a global economy. The international dimension of regulation. Regulatory competition and cooperation.
- Comparative competition policy: National (incl. Norwegian, US), European Union and international.
- Sector regulation. Specific aspects of and case studies from selected sectors, such as the ICT sector (communications and the media), the energy sector (oil, gas, renewables and electricity), and financial services.
Please note that while attendance is not compulsory in all courses, it is the student’s own responsibility to obtain any information provided in class that is not included on It's learning or text book.
This is a course with continuous assessment (several exam components) and one final exam code. Each exam component is graded by using points on a scale from 0-100. The components will be weighted together according to the information in the course description in order to calculate the final letter grade for the examination code (course). Students who fail to participate in one/some/all exam elements will get a lower grade or may fail the course. You will find detailed information about the point system and the cut off points with reference to the letter grades when the course start.
At resit, all exam components must, as a main rule, be retaken during next scheduled course.
All courses in the Masters programme will assume that students have fulfilled the admission requirements for the programme. In addition, courses in second, third and/or fourth semester can have spesific prerequisites and will assume that students have followed normal study progression. For double degree and exchange students, please note that equivalent courses are accepted.
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Exam category: Submission Form of assessment: Written submission Weight: 15 Grouping: Individual Duration: 1 Semester(s) Comment: Assignment Exam code: GRA59151 Grading scale: Point scale leading to ECTS letter grade Resit: All components must, as a main rule, be retaken during next scheduled course |
Exam category: Activity Form of assessment: Presentation Weight: 15 Grouping: Group Exam code: GRA59151 Grading scale: Point scale leading to ECTS letter grade Resit: All components must, as a main rule, be retaken during next scheduled course |
Exam category: Submission Form of assessment: Written submission Weight: 70 Grouping: Individual Duration: 1 Semester(s) Comment: Term paper Exam code: GRA59151 Grading scale: Point scale leading to ECTS letter grade Resit: All components must, as a main rule, be retaken during next scheduled course |
A course of 1 ECTS credit corresponds to a workload of 26-30 hours. Therefore a course of 6 ECTS credits corresponds to a workload of at least 160 hours.