Teaching the European Union From a Comparative Politics Perspective

This chapter discusses teaching about the EU from the standpoint of comparative politics. Comparative politics is concerned with how the EU has changed through time by comparing its political system diachronically or synchronically to other political systems to highlight variance or lack thereof, as well as the potential factors behind it. Specifically, the chapter addresses four questions: (i) ‘why teach the EU from a comparative politics perspective?’; (ii) ‘where are we now and how did we get there when it comes to teaching on EU?’; (iii) ‘what do we know now about teaching the EU from a comparative politics perspective and how do you construct your own course’;and (iv) ‘where to go from here’? The chapter emphasizes the significance of teaching students how to compare the EU with other political entities such as states and international organizations by employing both traditional political science theories and critical approaches.