Contributor(s): Dr Sara Hagemann | This course analyses the European Union as an emerging 'political system', where there as an on-going interaction between the processes of government (the operation of the institutional and legal framework), public policy (the adoption and impact of policy decisions and EU legislation), and politics (the interests, ideas, opinions and values of the political actors - e.g. citizens, businesses, regions, government ministers, bureaucrats, party leaders). The principal aim of the course is to provide a detailed knowledge of how national and EU institutions interact in European policy making. To achieve this the course is divided into two parts. The first will introduce principal theories of policy making along three core policy dimensions: agenda setting, decision making, policy implementation. In the second part the conceptual insights gained will be used to analyse a number of substantive policy areas. These will typically include: the single market, social and environmental policies, justice and home affairs policies, common agricultural policy, economic and monetary union, immigration and asylum policy, energy and climate change policy, and EU foreign policy.