European Approaches to Societal Challenges

This inter-disciplinary Minor program introduces students to European approaches in addressing societal challenges. The program takes a broad approach, focusing on five major challenges facing European societies today, and presents different disciplinary perspectives to understanding and solving these challenges in an integrated way.

The program starts by providing the basic concepts and knowledge necessary for studying contemporary politics, societies and governance in Europe. The introductory course charts the institutional architecture of governance at the local, national, European and global levels. It presents the concepts and theories of the policy process and the major actors in democratic politics. Students will learn about the specificities of European approaches to manage core societal challenges. Compared to other parts of the world, these include multi-level governance, subsidiarity, decentralisation, coordination, regulation, as well as welfare states which characterise the ‘European way' to deal with complex societal issues and crises.

The program then focuses on five pressing societal challenges – security, migration, climate change, economic inequality and health. All these five challenges pose significant threats to European states, societies and international organizations. They are complex, transcend national borders, interact with each other and – as a result – require coordinated policy solutions. Accordingly, each societal challenge – and the European policy responses to it at different levels - is studied in-depth from a variety of disciplinary perspectives: historical, legal, political, and governance. Each course aims to go beyond multidisciplinarity and provide truly interdisciplinary lessons, which integrate insights from the individual disciplines. Each course also pays attention to processes of digitalization and the changes spurred by developments in artificial intelligence, social networks and digital technologies.

The individual courses provide the relevant background for students to understand the nature of the societal challenge and the analytical tools to analyze possible solutions, as well as the strengths and weaknesses of current approaches to solving these problems. At the end of the program, students will have a comprehensive understanding of the contemporary multilevel governance architecture in Europe and will be able to analyze practical solutions in their legal, institutional, political and economic context. The Minor program is an initiative of the Europe Hub. The Institute of Political Science (FSW), the Institute of Public Administration (FGGA), the Institute of Security and Global Affairs (FGGA), the Faculty of Law and the Faculty of Humanities all participate in the program.

• 1. have comprehensive knowledge of the legal, institutional, and political aspects of governance in Europe from the local to the trans- and international level; 2. be familiar with the main analytic tools – concepts, theories and models – needed to discuss and analyze the nature of transnational societal problems and policy solutions in contemporary Europe; 3. have in-depth substantive knowledge about the societal challenges and European approaches to addressing them in five different areas – security, migration, climate change, economic inequality and health; 4. have a comprehensive understanding how relevant actors, such as regional and national government, the European Union and international organizations, attempt to address societal challenges in the fields of security, migration, climate change, inequality and health.

• 1. have comprehensive knowledge of the legal, institutional, and political aspects of governance in Europe from the local to the trans- and international level; 2. be familiar with the main analytic tools – concepts, theories and models – needed to discuss and analyze the nature of transnational societal problems and policy solutions in contemporary Europe; 3. have in-depth substantive knowledge about the societal challenges and European approaches to addressing them in five different areas – security, migration, climate change, economic inequality and health; 4. have a comprehensive understanding how relevant actors, such as regional and national government, the European Union and international organizations, attempt to address societal challenges in the fields of security, migration, climate change, inequality and health.

• Six courses in total
• Three courses (5 EC each) in block 1 (September-October)
• Three courses (5 EC each) in block 2 (November-December)
• All courses are taught once per week (two-hour sessions)

Location: The Hague Language: English

Maximum number of participants: 60 students This is a non-selection minor, but the number of participants is limited by room capacity.

Placement is on a first-come, first-served basis. Registration through EduXchange: https://www.leiden-delft-erasmus.nl/en/education/minors/eduxchange.

For questions about registration, enrolment, and placement, please contact the Student Services Centre: ssc@leiden.edu. For questions about the content of the programme and courses, please contact: minor.european.approaches@fsw.leidenuniv.nl.