Overview: Introduction to the EU, the causes and consequences of Brexit, some contemporary issues in the EU. Day by day is broken down below or here is access to the whole folder.
Notes: The work listed below was created during remote instruction so all the work is on Google Docs. There are also videos I made to help students work asynchronously. Listed out in terms of “days” but many can be consolidated depending on the class format. The boxes/fields in the docs are meant for students to fill in their own responses. Some may already have text in them from working through the questions with my students after the fact. This work was done in December 2020 so it may already be outdated.
Key concepts focused on in this unit: Sovereignty, interdependence, legitimacy
Global Political Challenges: Borders, Identity
Other global politics terms: Populism, liberalism, free trade, nationalism
Unit Question: Why did the UK vote to leave the European Union?
Final Assessment: Adapted Paper 2 task with a specific focus on Brexit and the EU
Day 1: Background
Day 2: What is the EU?
Introductory video I made to summarize old work and introduce day 2 work (12 minutes)
What is the EU? reading and work
Day 3: EU Core Ideas
Day 4: Why free trade?
Vocabulary and activity around free trade. Fun podcast to listen to for students.
Day 5: Why did the UK join the EU?
Historical motivations and benefits of joining
Day 6: Problems in the EU
A look at the rise of illiberalism in the EU, particularly in eastern Europe
Day 7: Structure of the UK Parliament
Intro video I made to review some ideas on this topic (15 minutes)
Quick summary handout comparing and contrasting US Congress with UK Parliament
Days 8 and 9: Brexit Intro and Overview
Great reading summarizing the Brexit debate
Activity on watching videos and summarizing the Brexit debate
Days 10 and 11: What does Brexit mean?
A look at global trends of populism and other interpretations of the Brexit vote.
My video introduction to the work which has three parts (15 minutes)
Day 12: Brexit Political Cartoons
Cartoon analysis, Paper 1 skill practice (in the future, should have more balanced selection of cartoons)
Day 13: Conflicts on the Irish Border
Days 14 and 15: Brexit outcome and wrap up work
(With more time I would have done more on Scotland and borders in general)
Final Assessment: Adapted Paper 2 task with a specific focus on Brexit and the EU
Other Resources
The World: A Brief Introduction by Richard Haas has a nicely written historical summary on Europe that leads up to the current moment and should provide a good context (pp. 67-81).
“Political Cartoon Analysis” Understanding Brexit
https://www.choices.edu/teaching-news-lesson/political-cartoon-analysis-understanding-brexit/
Now that Brexit has been (mostly) negotiated, here is a well designed image to show some relationships
An IB Global Politics Site 