EVSb2096 Britain and the European Union
EVS196 Britain and the European Union
Course instructor: Mgr. Monika Brusenbauch Meislová, Ph.D.
Email: brusenbauch.meislova@mail.muni.cz
Brief characteristics of the course
 academic year 2019/2020, autumn semester
 5 credits, examination
 Tue 10:00–11:40 U44
Course overview
The aim of the course is to provide students with a general overview of the basic themes and
issues in the relations between the United Kingdom (UK) and the European Union (EU).
Having placed it in the appropriate historical context, the module helps students understand
the United Kingdom’s uneasy engagement and entanglement with the European Union. It also
sets out the key fundamentals for understanding the issues, events and development, both
short-term and long-term, that led to the 2016 in/out referendum (and its result),
Learning outcomes
Having successfully completed this course, you will be able to:
 place Brexit in its appropriate historical context;
identify and summarize key features and milestones in the UK-EU relations;
 describe key short- and long-term factors and issues behind the UK’s vote to leave the
EU
 identify current trends in negotiations on the UK’s withdrawal from the EU
 show an ability to place British attitudes towards the European integration process into
a wider context of British foreign policy-making
Teaching methods
Classes comprise lectures (first 50 minutes) and seminars (second 50 minutes), with the
seminars thematically related to the lectures. Apart from traditional teaching methods, also
various activating teaching methods (such as, for instance, discussions, heuristic or situational
methods and didactic games) will be regularly included. Moreover, the module will also
incorporate specialist guest lectures delivered by external experts (from the British Embassy in
Prague, Office of the Government of the Czech Republic but also others) with extensive
experience in dealing with Brexit. Students will benefit greatly from being exposed to additional
perspectives that these experts will provide.
Students are always encouraged to ask questions at any time. Student contributions to
discussion and presentation sections are valuable for the class.
Requirements for successful completion of the course
 Group projects = a presentation given in groups.
o The length of the presentation mustn’t exceed 10 minutes (the instructor will stop
any presentation that goes beyond 10 minutes). The presentation must conform to
the department’s standards (www.mves.cz) and be analytical, not only descriptive.
o In addition to the 10-minute presentation, the group will design a 5-minute class
activity, such as, for instance, a mini debate, a film clip, small group activity. Please,
be sure to explain the purpose of the activity exercise and its key points. The group’s
responsibility is to ensure broad participation, keep the discussion focused, and
enforce the time limits. Please, do not use the type of activity that the previous
groups used. It is the variety that keeps our attention 😊 Students who do not include
an activity fail the assignment.
o The presentation will be based relevant sources (journal articles, books) that the
students will find themselves (databases such as Cambridge, Oxford, SAGE, Wiley
Online available in the electronic resources of the FSS library are highly
recommended).
o Students will submit the PowerPoint presentation to the appropriate homework vault
(odevzdávárna) on the day of the presentation at the latest.
o The presentation will also include a list of sources with full citation information at
the end of the presentation.
o The presentation is worth a maximum of 10 points. It is, of course, possible to
discuss the concept of the presentation and its content in advance with the teacher.
o Students will also receive peer-to-peer feedback on their presentations.
 Keeping track with current Brexit-related news and events. Students are required to
keep up with current Brexit-related news events which can be done by regularly reading
quality newspapers, news magazine, or watching broadcast news. Each week (except for
weeks 1, 4, 14 and the classes during which guest lectures will be delivered), students will
prepare a brief report on three Brexit-related news.
o These reports will be submitted the day before the lecture (i.e. on Monday 8 pm) to
the appropriate homework vault (odevzdávárna) in IS. No late submissions will be
accepted.
o The scope of the report roughly one paragraph per a news story.
o Reports will not be copied from the website/source but will be written in students’
own words and will include a list of sources.
o One report is worth a maximum of 1 point. In total, students can earn as many as 9
points for reports. The report can be submitted (and rewarded a point) even if the
student is absent from the seminar.
o Students will bring the reports also the class.
 Preparing questions for expert lectures. For each of the two expert lectures, students will
prepare three questions which will be submitted the day before the lecture (i.e. Monday 8
pm) to the appropriate homework vault (odevzdávárna) in IS. Students will bring these
questions also to the class session. One set of questions is worth a maximum of 1 point (that
is, 2 points for both expert lectures).
 Participation in seminars. Seminar attendance is mandatory and will be taken by a signin
sheet. Maximum of two seminar absences is allowed. Students must attend the seminar
for which they have signed up to deliver a presentation.
 Active engagement in seminar discussion which are based on the study of the assigned
readings, and the monitoring of current news in Brexit. Students are expected to complete
course readings before the class. Thorough preparation is particularly important because the
class discussions will be designed to extend and critique (as opposed to summarize) the
ideas in the readings. Students are therefore ecouraged to bring individual copies (in their
PCs, for instance) of the required texts to all class sessions.
 Passing a final written test. The test is worth a maximum of 30 points.
Requirements for successful completion of the course are distributed as follows:
 Presentation: max. 10 points
 Current news reports: max. 9 points
 Questions for expert lectures: 2 points
 Final written exam: max. 30 points.
Students must meet an overall minimum of 60 % of the points to successfully complete the
course.
Course content
 Please have all the readings listed below in the course schedule read before the day of
discussion.
 If you want to find something or are keen to explore a topic, please ping me an email,
give me a call or drop by and I’ll help!
Week 1 (17. 9. 2019) Introduction
The first week serves as an introduction to the course and topic, but especially an introduction
to each other. We’ll cover the syllabus and a basic introduction to the course.
Week 2 (24. 9. 2019) British approach to the beginnings of the European integration; the
accession process to the EC
Assigned readings
 Geddes, Andrew (2004) The European Union and British Politics. Basingstoke:
Palgrave Macmillan, pp. 57-73.
 Bailey, David and Budd, Leslie (2019) Brexit and beyond: a Pandora’s Box?
Contemporary Social Science, Vol. 14, No. 2, p. 157-173.
Seminar discussion
Daddow, Oliver a Oliver, Tim (2016) A not so awkward partner: the UK has been a champion
of many causes in the EU. LSE Blog, 15 April, http://blogs.lse.ac.uk/brexit/2016/04/15/a-not-
so-awkward-partner-the-uk-has-been-a-champion-of-many-causes-in-the-eu/
Week 3 (1. 10. 2019) Referendum on the EC membership in 1975
Assigned readings
 Todd, John (2016) The UK’s Relationship with Europe: Struggling over Sovereignty.
Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan, pp. 31-55.
 Smith, Julie (2016). David Cameron’s EU renegotiation and referendum pledge: A
case of déjà vu? British Politics, Vol. 11, No. 3, pp. 324-346.
Week 4 (8. 10. 2019) Reading week. No class.
Assigned readings
 Tournier-Sol, Karine (2015) The UKIP Challenge. In: Tournier-Sol, Karine – Gifford,
Chris (eds.) The UK Challenge to Europeanization. The Persistence of British
Euroscepticism. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan, pp. 134-147.
 Hix, Simon (2016) Does the UK Have Influence in the EU Legislative Process? The
Political Quarterly Vol. 87, No. 2, 200-2008.
Week 5 (15. 10. 2019) British EU policy under Margaret Thatcher and John Major
Assigned readings
 Geddes, Andrew (2004) The European Union and British Politics. Basingstoke:
Palgrave Macmillan, pp. 74-88.
Group project no I: British budgetary question + UK in EU institutions (incl. key British
commissioners, EP elections in the UK)
Group project no. II: The UK and CFSP and CSDP (incl. Brexit implications for this area
and the UK’s standing in the world)
Week 6 (22. 10. 2019) British EU policy under Tony Blair and Gordon Brown
Assigned readings
 Oppermann, Kai (2008) The Blair Government and Europe: The Policy of Containing
the Salience of European Integration. British Politics, Vol. 3, No. 2, pp. 156–182.
Group project no. III: British media and the EU
Week 7 (29. 10. 2019) British EU policy under David Cameron; Eurosceptic
Mobilization of the Conservative Party
Assigned readings
 Glencross, Andrew (2018) Cameron’s European legacy: How Brexit demonstrates the
flawed politics of simple solutions. In: Martill, Benjamin a Staiger, Uta (eds) Brexit and
Beyond: Rethinking the Futures of Europe. London: UCL Press, pp. 22-28.
 Brusenbauch Meislová, Monika (2017) The Same Ol’ Story…or Not? Patterns of
(Dis)continuity in David Cameron’s European Policy. Romanian Journal of European
Affairs, Vol. 17, No. 2, pp. 56–71.
 Smith, Julie (2018). Gambling on Europe: David Cameron and the 2016 referendum.
British Politics, Vol. 13, No. 1, pp. 1–16.
Group project no. IV: Renegotiating UK’s EC/EU membership (comparing renegotiations
in 1975 and 2016) + analysis of key British opt-outs
Week 8 (5. 11. 2019) Guest lecture by Štěpán Pech (Section for European Affairs, Office
of the Government of the Czech Republic)
Assigned readings
 Dorey, Peter (2017) Towards Exit from the EU: The Conservative Party’s Increasing
Euroscepticism since the 1980s. Politics and Governance, Vol. 5, No. 2, pp. 27–40.
 Brusenbauch Meislová, Monika (2018) All things to all people? Discursive patterns on
UK–EU relationship in David Cameron’s speeches. British Politics (online first;
published online 23 April 2018).
Week 9 (12. 11. 2019) Road to the Leave vote: renegotiations and referendum campaign
Assigned readings
 Glencross, Andrew (2016) The EU Referendum Campaign. Basingstoke: Palgrave
Macmillan, pp. 35-46.
Group project no. V: UK, Northern Ireland and Brexit (including the Irish backstop issue)
Week 10 (19. 11. 2019) Analysing the referendum result
Assigned readings
 Goodwin, Matthew and Milazzo, Caitlin (2017). Taking back control? Investigating the
role of immigration in the 2016 vote for Brexit. The British Journal of Politics and
International Relations, Vol. 19, No. 3, pp. 450–464.
 Mckenzie, L. (2017). ‘It’s not ideal’: Reconsidering ‘anger’ and ‘apathy’ in the Brexit
vote among an invisible working class. Competition and Change, Vol. 21, No. 3, pp.
199-210.
Group project no. VI: Potential scenarios for the UK-EU relations: Norway, Canada and
others (incl. which one is the most likely?)
Week 11 (26. 11. 2019) Brexit: negotiations on the UK’s withdrawal from the EU
Assigned readings
 Allen, N. (2018). “Brexit means Brexit”: Theresa May and post-referendum British
politics. British Politics, Vol. 13, No. 1, pp. 105–120.
 Turner, E. et al. (2018). Negotiating as One Europe or several? The variable geometry
of the EU’s approach to Brexit. Contemporary Social Science, 1-16.
Seminar discussion
Hodson, Dermot and Peterson, John (2018) Brexit’s institutional irony: how the EU has
successfully outflanked the UK. 13 July,
https://blogs.lse.ac.uk/brexit/2018/07/13/brexits-institutional-irony-how-the-eu-has-
successfully-outflanked-the-uk/
Week 12 (3. 12. 2019) (Guest lecture by James Beeson (Head of Policy Team, British
Embassy Prague)
Assigned readings
 Cini, Michelle a Verdun, Amy (2018) The implications of Brexit for the future of
Europe. In: Martill, Benjamin a Staiger, Uta (eds). Brexit and Beyond: Rethinking the
Futures of Europe. London: UCL Press, pp. 63-71.
 Gamble, Andrew (2018) Taking back control: the political implications of Brexit.
Journal of European Public Policy Vol. 25, No. 8, pp. 1215-1232.
Week 13 (10. 12. 2019) The UK as an awkward partner? Making sense of UK-EU
relations
Assigned readings
 Hix, S. (2018). Brexit: Where is the EU-UK Relationship Heading? JCMS: Journal of
Common Market Studies.
 Mullen, Tom (2019) Brexit and the territorial governance of the United Kingdom.
Contemporary Social Science, Vol. 14, No. 2, pp. 276-293.
Week 14 (17. 12. 2019) Final exam (1st term)