Regulating Crisis in the EU

Full course description

In recent years, the EU had to handle crises in all sorts of policy fields: e.g. the mad cow disease (BSE), genetically modified maize (GMOs), volcanic ash, the Eurozone crisis, Ebola, the migration crisis, climate change, international terrorism, Brexit, COVID-19, and the war in Ukraine. Such problems are increasingly transboundary as geographical borders and policy boundaries become less and less relevant.

In the multi-level context of the EU – where different Member States are affected by different circumstances – regulating crises is often complex and challenging. More concretely: How does the EU regulate complex policy problems? This course will provide you with an interdisciplinary perspective on the regulation of complex policy problems. Following different disciplinary traditions – such as public policy, risk governance, crisis management, philosophy and psychology – the course applies a wide variety of perspectives on the handling of complex policy problems. The course will provide you the freedom to apply this newly gained knowledge to a crisis of your own choosing. 

Students will be assessed based on a portfolio consisting of several components, to be delivered throughout the module:

• A presentation on the chosen crisis from different perspectives
• A policy brief, targeted at the relevant DG at the European Commission, outlining advice on how to regulate this specific crisis situation