Maastricht University – University College Maastricht

This course analyses European integration from the late 1940s until today. In a chronological order, it introduces students to themes such as security, economic integration, and enlargement that continue to influence European integration in the present. In parallel, it also provides an overview of the main theories explaining (aspects of) European integration related to these themes, including big theories such as neofunctionalism and neorealism, but also theories dealing with issues such as democratic legitimacy and the EU’s normative power. While firmly based in history, the sessions continuously seeks to also reflect on the relation between past processes and current developments, such as Brexit, or the Rule of law crisis, as they are unfolding. The course closes with a critical discussion on the main challenges European integration is faced with today and the views developed for its future development.

This course introduces basic economic ideas and concepts. Students analyze behavior on markets, outcomes of markets, and different market forms. Game theory is introduced to study situations with strategic interaction such as oligopolistic competition. Comparative advantage is used as an explanation of trade patterns. Macroeconomic indicators, economic fluctuations, and economic policy are reviewed. Monetary systems are covered in tutorials. Through presentations and special debates, tutorials provide the opportunity to apply and reflect on some of the contents of the course. The first part of the course mainly covers microeconomic topics and the second part is devoted to macroeconomics

Prerequisites: standard high school knowledge of basic mathematical concepts such as solving equations, reading and working with graphs, and manipulating inequalities is expected. In economics, no prior knowledge is assumed.

The course first addresses the concept of the “atrocity triangle” and it looks into the relationship between the three actors (the perpetrator, the victim, and the bystander) involved in the triangle. An integrated criminological model is introduced which sets out the relevant etiological elements that are addressed in greater detail in the second part of the course. The second part of the course, which focuses on the perpetrators, starts with the forms, functions, and effects of (political) violence and the concept of torture in particular. The analysis continues on the macro level and addresses the role of policy and ideology. Subsequent analysis focuses on the meso level and the role of military organizations and other institutions. In this context, attention is paid to the influence of military training and students discuss how, with the help of a bureaucratic system, genocide can be planned, organized, and carried out. The course furthermore discusses several experiments (Milgram, Ash, Stanford, etc.) on obedience, institutional roles, and conformity, but also addresses other social-psychological mechanisms that help understand how and why people can participate in the perpetration of gross human rights violations. Lastly, the important role that language and discourse play in conflict and international crime is highlighted. The third part of the course focuses on the role of the bystander by looking into the phenomenon of the “bystander effect” to address the question of why bystanders fail to act. Secondly, the role of bystanders in international politics at the macro-level of both states and international organizations in the field of human rights is discussed. Special attention was given to the role of the UN Security Council when it was confronted with gross human rights violations. The course then looks more closely into the phenomenon of rescuing to find out what turns actors into rescuers. The fourth and last part of the course takes a more victimological perspective, which focuses on the position of the victim. Specific attention is paid to gender-selective violence. More particularly, the phenomena of rape as a “weapon of war” and gendercide (gender-selective mass killings) are discussed. Also, the complex case of child soldiers is addressed as they are victims and perpetrators at the same time. These lectures in this course are used to illustrate the discussed materials and to provide the participants with a deeper understanding of the subject matter by presenting the linkage between theory and (research) practice. During the lectures, various guest speakers address the subject matter from the practitioner's perspective. In addition, several documentaries are screened and then analyzed during the post-discussion. Case studies play an important role throughout the course wide variety of cases are covered including The Holocaust and other cases of genocide (Armenia, Australia, Cambodia, Rwanda, Srebrenica, Darfur, etc.). Prerequisites for this course include two intermediate-level courses in the Social Sciences or Humanities.