European Union: History, Culture and Institutions
22MEP20 · Master in Business Management, European Union Business & Society · ICHEC
Practical information
ICHEC Brussels Management School · Course description · History part of the course · in English · Students: Moodle page of the course (deadlines, uploads, announcements)
Learning goals
At the end of the course, students should be able:
- to produce a definition of Europe and justify it;
- to understand the different definitions and projects of Europe;
- to use history to better understand the current challenges of Europe;
- to analyse critically the concept and practices of European integration and the functioning of the European Union;
- to make links between current challenges and those of the past in the field of European integration, and to communicate and work in a multicultural and multilingual environment.
Requirements: reading the compulsory reading before each lecture, active participation in class, and group work.
Slides
Slides of the lectures are embedded below.
Lectures
Introductory lecture: What is Europe? A historical perspective
What are the most important common features in the European nations’ history that could help to define Europe?
Compulsory reading: Triandafyllidou and Gropas (2022), chapter 1.
Lecture 1: Europe before Europe
What makes Europe in the nineteenth century? What were the consequences of the two world wars for the notion of Europe?
Compulsory reading: Triandafyllidou and Gropas (2022), chapters 2 and 3. Complementary reading: Mazower (2000), preface and chapter 2.
Lecture 2: Why this Europe? The European Union in the making
What were the main incentives and obstacles for a European integration process? What were the main achievements?
Compulsory reading: Pinder and Usherwood (2018), chapter 2. Complementary reading: Middelaar (2020), chapter 4; Meurs et al. (2018), chapter 1. Additional resources: TEPSA’s history of European integration, as videos and podcasts.
Lecture 3: Who makes Europe? Europe beyond governments and European institutions
Beyond governments and EU institutions, who else has shaped European integration, and how? How can we complexify the traditional narrative of European integration?
Lecture 4: Europe and (its) crises
Why can one say that Europe was built through crises? What are the main challenges and threats Europe must face nowadays?
Compulsory reading: Meurs et al. (2018), chapter 6. Complementary reading: Meurs et al. (2018), chapter 5; Fontan and de Cabanes (2022). Additional resources: BBC’s documentary on the “Greek” crisis.
Lecture 5: Who governs Europe? Understanding policymaking at the EU level
Is there a democratic deficit in EU policymaking? Who holds power in the European Union?
Complementary reading: Bonnamy (2026).