KDEC 9780 - Social Rights and Economic Governance in the European Union

European Union law has had an enormous impact on struggles for social rights – as well as on economic activity – within the member states. Future lawyers and policymakers would therefore do well to study European social and economic integration closely. This course offers that kind of training. We will start with an overview of various domestic social protection and labor law regimes, investigating the effectiveness of those regimes in the current context of inflation, widespread precariousness, and high unemployment. We will then examine EU internal market rules on the free movement of goods, persons, services, and capital, both in general and as they bear on domestic social and labor law. We will also briefly look at EU competition law through a case study of “gig economy” workers. We will then go on to consider European attempts to foster worker voice in multinational firms. Finally, we will cover two current policy debates: that concerning Eurozone monetary governance and mass unemployment in the wake of economic crises and that concerning the social repercussions of the EU's “Green Deal” environmental policy. The prospects for egalitarian redistribution in favor of low-wage workers and other disadvantaged social groups, at both the European and the member state levels, will be a central theme throughout.

Pascal MCDOUGALL

Séminaire

English

N/A

Autumn 2023-2024

Class participation (20%); two 1000-word reaction papers handed in before class sessions of the student's choice (40%); final take-home exam (40%).