Tamio Nakamura, Professor (Waseda University)
The European Union is a unique supranational governing body in Europe with its own legislative, administrative and judicial powers. It was created as European Economic Community in the 1950s and has been evolved into the EU in the 1990s.. This course offers a historical appraisal of the evolution of the law and institutions of the EU. The questions we explore in the course will include: -What was the original legal system of the EEC and how has it been evolved? -What difference has the law of the EU made to the lives of the Europeans and the politics of their countries? -Why do Europeans think that the rule of law is important? -To what extent can law transcend the boundaries of European countries? -What aspects of European integration could be regarded as universal and be learned by other regions of the world? No background knowledge of the EU is required to attend the course, although students are expected to study themselves history of the 20th century Europe alongside with the course.