Membership in the EU and the Problems of Democracy and Human Rights Protection (e-learning course)

general courses

Remote learning

The main aim of this course will be to examine the relationship between the EU membership (in particular, of Poland, but more generally, of all new member states) and the protection of democracy and human rights.

The target audience of the course can be students of all faculties, senior years of study, in particular the legal, administrative, political science and history faculties; recommended basic knowledge of European law and knowledge of the European Union.

The main aim of this course will be to examine the relationship between the EU membership (in particular, of Poland, but more generally, of all new member states) and the protection of democracy and human rights. It is sometimes said that the EU suffers from a "democracy deficit": does this deficit translate into the democratic deficit of member states, considering that a great part of legislation at the member state level is affected by the EU law- and policy-making? On the other hand, it is also often said that one of the main benefits of joining the EU was to consolidate and strengthen democracy and human rights protection in the new member states which have only recently shed their non-democratic regimes. Is it true as a matter of empirical reality, and also as a matter of political ideal? Can EU help protect human rights at the level of the member states, and help rectify departures from democracy?

The outline of the course (2 weeks per each topic):

1. European Union and Human Rights: What is the Relationship between the Protection of Human Rights in Member States and the General EU Commitment to Human Rights?

2. The Question of EU Citizenship: a Step Towards Participatory Democracy or a Bureaucratic Fiction?

3. The Impact of the EU Accession and Pre-Accession Conditionality on the Compliance with Democratic Principles by the New Member States

4. Minority Rights and the EU

5. The Relationship Between Supremacy of the EU Law, Sovereignty of EU Member States, and the Duties of Constitutional Courts to Protect Human Rights and Democratic Principles at the Level of Member States

Attention! Course will be conducted in English language.

Student's workload:

reading of the course material - 60 h

preparation to the tests - 60 h

preparation to the final exam - 60 h

total - 180 h

Wojciech Sadurski, Jacques Ziller and Karolina Zurek (eds.)Apres Enlargement: Legal and Political Responses in Central and Eastern Europe San Domenico di Fiesole (Florence): EUI - RSCAS, 2005http://www.eui.eu/RSCAS/e-texts/2006_ApresEnlargement_Sadurski&al.pdf

The rest of the literature is avialable on the site of the course.

After completion of the learning process, the student:

1. knows the rules regarding human rights protection in the EU, and its relationship to the protection of human rights in member states

2. is familiar with the functions and main principles of European citizenship

3. understands the impact of pre-accession conditionality on the compliance with democratic principles by the new member states

4. subjects to a critical analysis the role of EU law in shaping the principles of democracy in member states,

5. is able to assess the impact of EU membership upon minority rights,

6. interprets the role of National Parliaments in the EU law-making after the Treaty of Lisbon

The first part (51 percent of the total mark) will consist of five quizzes: one quiz after each part of the course. There will be several multiple-choice questions in each quiz, and each student enrolled will have only one attempt for a correct answer.

The second part of the assessment (remaining 49 percent) will be a 2-hours exam in which students will be given three general, open-ended questions, which they will be asked in answer in the form of a short essay (the length of which is unlimited).

This written exam will be in English and Polish: each student will have a choice of language.

No written materials (textbooks, printouts etc) will be allowed into the classroom during the exam.