The future is unknowable, but it can be made intelligible.  It raises practical and conceptual problems, as well as reasons for conflict, but also promises to resolve contradictions.  This course examines how the future is conceptualised in salient domains of contemporary politics, the implications arising for theory and practice, and the contestable assumptions on which perspectives rely.  It investigates the methods by which the future is ordered, anticipated, and factored into the practice of government.  

The course begins historically, looking at the future as an emerging theme in eighteenth-century European Enlightenment thought, the socio-cultural developments that prompted this, and some of the key features of its thematisation in the high-modern period.  It goes on to examine future-oriented ideas, ideologies and practices as they arise in contemporary settings.  The three fields of administration, economy and society are considered in turn.  Amongst the areas examined are: the changing time horizons of political institutions; risk analysis and emergency planning; state budgeting; debt and accumulation; demographic forecasting; climate change and sustainability; the contested rights of future generations; and the preservation of cultural heritage.  The course should provide students with a cross-disciplinary grasp of how present-day public affairs are shaped by the ways the future is conceived and acted upon.

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This page is relevant for all MSc students currently enrolled on the following European Institute Programmes:

LSE-Sciences Po Double Degree in European Studies
MSc EU Politics
MSc European Studies (Research)
MSc Global Europe: Culture and Conflict 
MSc Political Economy of Europe 
MSc International Migration and Public Policy

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The purpose of this course is to provide students with an understanding of the processes of domestic adjustment - in terms of institutional settings, political behaviour and policy processes - contingent on the participation of member states in the European Union. Thus, the course examines differing conceptualisations and empirical applications of 'Europeanisation' within comparative government, politics and public policy. Europeanisation has become an increasingly important focus in contemporary research, as parallel processes of convergence and divergence are apparent in the integration process and the relevance of distinct domestic settings is highlighted in this regard. With a focus on Europeanisation, the perspective is distinct from, but complementary to, existing courses on regional integration and allows students greater scope to examine patterns of domestic response to shared stimuli. At the same time, the course explores the conceptual and methodological issues that are relevant to 'Europeanisation', so as to facilitate an overall evaluation of scholarship to date.

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With the expansion of processes of economic integration in the European Union the traditional economic role of the state requires redefinition. Monolithic states progressively become more flexible structures to respond to constituents demands. This is especially the case of those policy areas that are highly relevant for European citizens such as language, culture and welfare. This course attempts to describe these phenomena and its detailed effects on the institutional structure of states. At the same time, given the European Union institutional structure is moving towards some form of federalism, the course discusses how theories of political and fiscal federalism can help to understand these phenomena. The constitutional design of the European Union brings up a large set of theoretical questions on the institutional design to be addressed from the perspective of constitutional political economy. The course is intended to provide an understanding of the political economy of both fiscal and political decentralisation process with a European perspective. The course examines the economic and fiscal incentives and competitive mechanisms of state integration. Finally, it addresses the effects of economic, social and political heterogeneity in the organisation of European Union member states and well as in the European Union itself. Topics include: Introduction to State and Institutional Design. Political, Economic and Fiscal Integration.Constitutional Political Economy of Europe.Economics of Nationalism. Elite Decision Making. Fiscal Federalism and Europe. Leviathan Paradox and Government Size.Competition, Coordination and Cooperation in a Federation. Vertical and Horizontal Competition National Identity and Public Goods. Economic Incentives for State Formation.. Incentives in State Design: Conflict and Cooperation. Experiences of Political and Fiscal Decentralisation in Europe.Language, Culture and Welfare Polices in the European Union member states.

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The course consists of three parts. In the first section we will discuss the basic arguments and methodological considerations of the Varieties of Capitalism literature and conduct a comparative analysis of the core issue areas in the political economy of contemporary capitalism: how capital, labour and product markets are structured. The next section will build on these thematic treatments to discuss the structure of and dynamics in the three main Western European models of capitalism. In the final section we will discuss how these different models react to new challenges as well as the emergence of capitalism in Central Europe. In week 2 of the summer term there will be a review lecture and seminars.

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This course investigates various ways in which the State’s authority to act – its legitimacy, in brief – has been underpinned in Europe, both ideologically and institutionally, since the end of the Second World War. It looks at how the State has been used to give expression to the democratic principle, and the ways this has been undermined or rejected. The module aims to provide students with a deep analytical understanding of the changing role of the State in European society.

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