This course covers the legal and political development of the European Union, highlighting the gradual functional and organizational changes that have taken place over the past five decades, and deals with its present-day constitutional structures including the Commission, the Council, Parliament, the European Court of Justice, and the European Central Bank. Specific emphasis will be placed on human rights protection and judicial review in the European context, the concept of a European constitution, the ongoing expansion process, and challenges connected to the introduction of a common European currency. The course also focuses on the tensions between an increasingly influential and supranational Union and its 28 sovereign Member States. Students are invited to draw comparisons between the European Union and the United States throughout the course. (2 Credits)