How to teach the EU

Professor R. Daniel Kelemen Director, Center for European Studies Rutgers University

Teaching Resources: EU Centers of Excellence • Network of European Union Centers of Excellence : http://www.euce.org/education/ • Which includes: – Lesson Plans – Multimedia Resources – External Links • University of Washington • University of Pittsburgh : : http://jsis.washington.edu/euc/educators/#web_resources http://www.ucis.pitt.edu/euce/outreach/index.html

• Teach Europe Resources page: http://www.teacheurope.org/resources.php

• New York Times, Learning Network Blog: http://learning.blogs.nytimes.com

• Outreachworld http://www.outreachworld.org/

Outline

• The bad news: I don’t know how to teach high school or middle school students. You do!

• Resources for teaching the EU • Some Major themes • Discussion

Teaching Resources: EU resources

• EU Resources – EU Delegation to the US Teaching Resources: http://www.eurunion.org/eu/index.php?option=com_co ntent&task=view&id=2144&Itemid=9 – EU Teachers’ Corner: http://europa.eu/teachers corner/ – The EU in Slides: http://europa.eu/abc/euslides/index_en.htm

– EU Kid’s Corner: http://europa.eu/europago/welcome.jsp – EU Games/Quizzes Competitions: http://europa.eu/quick-links/eu-kids/index_en.htm

• EUtube: http://www.youtube.com/user/eutube

EU Resources: News

• • BBC Europe: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/in_depth/europe /2003/inside_europe/default.stm

• EU Observer: http://euobserver.com/ • • NPR: http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.p

hp?storyId=128407020

Major Themes: What does the EU help us teach?

• Interdependence and Cooperation • Nationalism, Language and Identity • Diversity, Multiculturalism and Immigration • Enlargement and challenges of political unification (parallels with the US) • Europe as model? Benefits of integration

Interdependence and Cooperation

• EU is most successful example in world history of countries working together to solve common problems • EU countries are interdependent. They face common challenges that none can solve alone: – Environment – Economic Globalization – Defense / Security

Nationalism, Language, Identity

• Nationalism discredited by WWII • But languages and identities remain national • Can Europe craft a stronger ‘common identity’ • First build Europe, then Europeans?

23 Official Languages

Can Europe Craft Common Identity?

• Common symbols • Exchange programs

Diversity, Multiculturalism and Immigration

• • Muslims in Europe http://www.euce.org/assets/doc/education/k12/mich_muslims_in_eur ope.pdf

• • The Veil Controversy http://www.unc.edu/depts/europe/conferences/Veil2000/burqa.htm

• • • The Danish Cartoon Crisis http://topics.nytimes.com/topics/reference/timestopics/subjects/d/da nish_cartoon_controversy/index.html

http://learning.blogs.nytimes.com/2006/02/06/printing-error/ • • EU vs. France over the Roma http://euobserver.com/9/31074

Enlargement

• Bridge to the Future: http://euce.org/assets/doc/education/k12/UW EUcurriculum_bridge.pdf

• Debating Benefits and Challenges of EU Membership: http://learning.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/02/16/western-union debating-benefits-and-challenges-of-eu-membership/ • • Council for Economic Education: Enlarging the European Union http://www.econedlink.org/lessons/index.php?lid=163&type=educator • • Outreach world: http://www.outreachworld.org/Files/university_of_washington_seattl e/enlarging_the_eu.pdf

Major EU Achievements

1. Peace 2. Enlargement 3. Internal market 4. The Euro 5. Environmental Policy ..and many more

From war to peace

… to the ‘Love Parade’ in Berlin From the rubble of Dresden…

From war…

• Centuries of warfare culminating in: – WWI – over 15 million casualties – WWII – over 50 million casualties, including 6 million Jews killed in the Holocaust

…to peace

• On Bastille Day 1994, a German battalion marched down the Champs Elysées… and they were invited!

• War between France and Germany is now unthinkable • EU is moving toward a common defense policy

EU Enlargement: From 6 to 27

1952

Enlargement: from six to 27 countries

1973 1981 1986 1990 1995 2004 2007

ENLARGEMENT

1957: France, Italy, Germany, Bel., Neth., Lux 1973: Denmark, Ireland, UK 1981: Greece 1986: Spain, Portugal 1995: Finland, Sweden, Austria 2004: Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Hungary, Poland, Czech Rep., Slovakia, Slovenia, Malta, Cyprus 2007: Bulgaria and Romania

Enlargement

• Helped spread and stabilize democracy across Europe • Brought prosperity to ailing economies

Travel

Internal Market

Investment Education Free Trade Retirement in the sun Communications

Internal Market

• Market power: The EU has the world’s largest market and is America’s biggest trading partner • Businesses benefit • Consumers benefit • Economic performance improves

From many….

… to one: the Euro

The Euro

• Value of € in circulation now exceeds $ • Gaining ground as reserve currency (roughly 25% of global reserves) • Business benefits • Consumer benefits

Environmental Policy

• EU has become world leader on environmental policy • EU has spread high environmental standards across Europe - Climate Change Policy - REACH Chemicals law – Automobile recycling

To stop global warming, EU leaders decided in 2007 to:

• reduce greenhouse gas emissions – by 20% by 2020 4 improve energy efficiency by 20% by 2020 4 raise the share of renewable energy – to 20% by 2020 (wind, solar, hydro power, biomass)

Europe as model?

• We mostly hear bad news about Europe • But ‘European Model’ is attractive to many around the world • Less militaristic foreign policy • Stronger support for environmental protection • More social security • Can it be sustained?