Taught In English

There is no language prerequisite for courses at this language level.

Since the early 1990s the question of Europe’s identity has been at the center of a lively debate. The expansion of the European Union (EU) - and the necessity to place limits on it - made it more urgent to define what it means to be European. More recently, in the aftermath of the war in Iraq, observers have expressed fears about an Atlantic divide which increasingly separates the United States and Europe. Divergences have emerged among the old and new EU member states, stressing once more the need to define what exactly Europe stands for. This course does not conceive of Europe only as a political institution, but focuses above all on Europe as a cultural construct. While trying to answer the question "What is Europe?" students will look at the characteristics which distinguish Europe from other regions such as America and at what the European member states have in common. The course will take a multi-disciplinary approach to answer a multi-faceted question while following closely new developments in international relations.