French

This course aims at a broader and deeper understanding of Europe, developing a panorama of the meaning of the term “Europe” using a hybrid approach at once historical/cultural and institutional/political. It provides the basic knowledge needed to be an informed citizen of/in Europe and read and interpret accurately European current events. The course builds fundamental knowledge of the basics of European geography, and its common history and politics. It considers Europe as not simply a geographical area nor a multilateral treaty but a civilizational mosaic, and a whole. The course allows students to become familiar with the mainstays of French academic literature on European integration. The approach this course takes is to highlight and examine the key moments, what Solzhenitzyn called the nodal points, of the European adventure as a way of understanding what drove the artistic and religious revolutions that accompanied Europe's tremendous expansion on the basis of overseas conquest. Subsequently, and based on the understanding of the European historical ensemble, the course reflects on the political, economic, social, and even cultural convergence constituting the European integration which has been taking place over the past seventy years. 

This course is a collective exercise to establish a portrait of each of the past ten presidential elections in France and create a systematic comparison with the 2021-2022 campaign and the 2022 vote. Through close investigation of these elections, the course examines fundamental, far-reaching elements in order to better understand the 2022 election. Studying the candidates, their platforms, their profiles, non-votes, votes against the system, the campaign, the context, and the debates, it identifies the most relevant criteria and establishes a description of each election to draw conclusions as to the elements that characterize the current campaign.