English

Today, the EU is a world leader in alternative energy efforts, most notably Germany's Energiewende, which aims to replace coal and nuclear with wind and solar electricity. However, the EU is also interconnecting member-state gas, electrical, and transport systems and unifying its energy markets aided by its new European Energy Union (EEU) — whose formation was spurred by the Ukraine crisis and Europe's heavy dependence on Russian gas. This course investigates how these transitions impact EU carbon emissions, resources, economy, society, and geopolitical security. It begins by surveying the EU's energy resources and infrastructure as compared to the USA's. It then studies Europe´s energy transitions from medieval times through its 20th-century energy crises and wars. With this preparation, the course covers Europe's intended 21st-century energy transitions. Topics include: Germany's Energiewende, its technical, economic, and social challenges and its impact on EU neighbors; problems of oil dependence and traffic congestion in the German and EU transport sectors; EU natural gas policy – external issues including dependence on Russia and pipelines through Ukraine, attempts to diversify with Norwegian, North African, and Caspian gas and with US liquefied natural gas (LNG); and internal issues such as market unification, interconnection of pipelines, anti-monopoly efforts, fracking, and competition from cheap carbon-intensive coal; finally, German rejection of nuclear energy is viewed in light of risks and promises of next-generation reactors. Throughout, students follow current German, EU, and related global energy affairs. This course should be of interest to students of both social and natural sciences.

The course is deepens students’ understanding not only of the substance of Irish politics but also of the academic research that aims to interpret and understand it. The course covers political culture, the constitution, elections and electoral behavior, parties and the party system, the electoral system and its political consequences, and the role of parliament. Students learn to understand the Irish political process and become familiar with the academic research into Irish politics. 

This course outlines the East Asian regional development in terms of the political economy, cultural, demographic, and social aspects. Each week focuses on one of the aforementioned aspects. Relevant readings are assigned for class discussion and students are required to actively participate in the discussion.