1. Regional Integration and the European Union International organizations The European Union (EU) as an international organization Ideas to explain the nature of the EU system of administration and government: confederalism and federalism Theories of the European integration: -traditional approaches: neo-functionalism and intergovernmentalism -The rationalist research programme

2. International Organizations IR conceptualization of the international organizations: definitions and issues - Intergovernmental organizations (IGOs) International non-governmental organizations (INGOs) Hybrid international organizations The EU as an international organizations: ‘international organization’ features and the sui generis nature of the Union

3. Confederalism and Federalism Ideas The confederal system- definitions and examples The federal system- definitions and examples The EU confederalist features The EU federalist features

4. Theories of the European integration- traditional approaches Neofunctionalism- Ernst Haas - Integration as a gradual and self-sustaining process - Functional spillover and political spillover; - Supranational institutions. Intergovernmentalism- Robert Keohane and Stanley Hoffman The role of the national governments Comparison between the two approaches - Explanatory logic; - Key actors conceived; - The ‘N=1 problem’.

5. Theories of the European integration- the rationalist research programme Realist approaches -Neo-realism- no security concerns in Western Europe; -Grieco- the ‘voice opportunity hypothesis’. Liberal Intergovernmentalism (LI) -Moravcsik’s three-fold model: generation of national preferences at the domestic level, intergovernmental bargaining and theory of institutional choice (pooling and delegation of sovereignty). - critics of LI- constructivist, intuitionalist (historical and rational-choice institutionalism) and governance literature. Rational-choice Institutionalism: assumptions on the role of institutions, focus on ECJ and P-A analysis, comitology and analysis of the legislative process.