Lecturer: Dr. Wulf Reiners / Eva Lynders

Course Nr.: 15304.0122

Date/Time: Mon, 16:00-17:30h

Location: virtual

The course provides an introduction to economic cooperation and its relationship with sustainable development in Europe and beyond. It concentrates on two main components. First, we will analyse the contemporary global architecture for economic cooperation and development and its main characteristics, including relevant actors, international organisations, treaties, and patterns in trade and development economics. Second, we will examine the European Union as an example of regional economic integration, its internal market, the framework for economic coordination and its external economic relations. The course will take up topical economic and political processes such as the United Nation’s 2030 agenda for sustainable development, China’s Belt and Road Initiative and the EU’s trade and economic partnership agreements. In this way, the course seeks to contribute to the understanding how economic cooperation and development are interconnected with environmental and social questions.

Lecturer: Thilo Zimmermann

Course Nr.: 15304.0127

Date/Time: Wed, 16:00-17:30h

Location: virtual

The course provides an introduction into economic theories, which are used to describe, explain and justify European integration. The course presents theories on economic integration and explains how they have applied to the case of the European unification process. Presented theories are for example international trade theories, such as Ricardo’s model of comparative advantage or the Heckscher-Ohlin model, fiscal federalism, public goods, as well as theories of monetary integration, such as monetary theories in general and the optimum currency areas approach. The course will set a special focus on the link between theories of economics and political science. Does economic integration presuppose political integration? To which degree do economic theories deal which questions of sovereignty and institution building?

The course will present economic theories and therefore also its mathematical equations. However, the focus lies on the description and discussion of these theories and how they have been used to explain and justify European integration. It is therefore possible to follow the course without previous knowledge of economic theories and methodology. The course is therefore addressed for an interdisciplinary audience with different backgrounds and might also be of interest for students of economics in order to debate about theories and their political implications.

Lecturer: Dr. Johannes Müller

Course Nr.: 15304.0121

Date/Time: Mon, 14:00-15:30h

Location: virtual

The European Legacy in the History of a Central European City

Historiography tends to focus its objects like through an optical device: From bird’s eye view World History and panoramic European History, to macroscopic National History, to microscopic Local History. However, these levels are, of course, interconnected and overlapping.
In this course we will look at the historical trajectory of Cologne during the 19th Century and ask how the local events and experiences reflect Europe-wide historical processes, in which ways they are interconnected with overarching transnational trends, and if and how they are comparable or contrasting to contemporary developments in urban centers elsewhere in Europe. In doing so, we will recreate the history of Cologne from a pre-modern city to a regional economic and industrial hub. But at the same time, we will identify the European legacy within this development and outline the specific “Rhenish” variant of the European Identity in Cologne.
As we will try to argue during this course: European Identity – as any identity in historical perspective – is polymorphic and a result of local, regional, national and transnational experiences. But it relates to a core of common historical references, common developments and trends, of which the particular local historical mix is one possible combination. Some European Identities are more spicy than others, some are less contoured than others, but all are brewed in the same European kitchen.
Let’s see, what defines the European Identity of Cologne in the 19th century.

Lecturer: Benjamin Naujoks

Course Nr.: 15304.0125

Date/Time: Tue, 14:00h-15:30h

Location: virtual

Can we learn from history?
On the one hand, Susan Neiman postulated in 2019 that one can “learn from the Germans” — with regard to the Erinnerungskultur (culture of remembrance) and Vergangenheitsbewältigung (coping with/working through the past) that is considered to be successful. Many experts share this view. On the other hand, with the onset of the pandemic, those socio-political developments that were already visible before are intensifying: quite a few observers speak of a global shift to the right.
This course therefore aims to provide an insight into various European Erinnerungskulturen and Vergangenheitsbewältigungen (as plurals) since 1945. So, the course follows three leading questions:
1. Basic knowledge: What is Erinnerungskultur? What is Vergangenheitsbewältigung? Which types and forms of both exist? And, what is remembered, especially where, how and when?
2. Practical approach: What concrete historical examples are there? How can these be critically classified, especially with regard to national or nationalistic narratives? In other words: What role can or do these play in forming (collective) identities and memories and do they also have functions of social integration?
3. Theoretical approach: How do both work? What forms are there? Are the forms of
Erinnerungskulturen as well as of Vergangenheitsbewältigungen dynamic or static?
The course aims to answer these and — most important — your questions by working on concrete examples in modern European history. In doing so, emerging competitions of memories will also be discussed in order to show that in most cases this concurrences can lead to relativizations, which are very evident in current developments. Special attention will be paid to the differentiation of written, oral and visual history.