A Europe of the Regions?

Introduction

This course discusses the future of Europe, and it looks particularly closely at what may happen to the smaller political units presently existing below the level of the nation-state. These include nation-regions like Scotland and Wales, larger entities like the German Länder, and smaller more recently created regions with less existing cultural unity. Despite the very large differences between them, for our purposes, all these political entities are called ‘regions’. The course takes a historical glance at how they came into being and assesses how they are being affected by political and economic developments like globalization and the growth of the political institutions of the European Community. For the fate of the ‘regions’ depends not just on the nation-states of which they are a part: it cannot be separated from the future of the European Community (EC) itself. This course provides a sample of Level 1 study in Geography.

Course learning outcomes

After studying this course, you should be able to:

• Recognize the varieties of region and sub-state nations that exist within Europe
• Explain the growth of regionalism
• Critically assess the view that what is evolving is a ‘Europe of the Regions’
• Engage better with debates about the future direction of Europe, and the place of your nation or ‘region’ within it
• Improve your skills of academic reading and note-taking for future use.