Admission requirements
Admission to the Master International Relations, track European Union Studies.
Description
Famously described as an economic giant and a military dwarf, the EU has become an increasingly assertive actor in the international arena by relying on a host of non-coercive policy tools. Consequently, the scope, nature and effectiveness of EU external powers have generated a heated academic debate.
This course focuses on the external powers of the European Union, providing an overview of the different foreign policy tools available to EU institutions, ranging from trade and development policies to the European Neighbourhood Policy and military and civilian crisis management operations. By doing so, the class will debate some broader questions regarding the nature, drivers and implications of EU action, exploring what type of power the EU is and whether and to what extent its foreign policy is effective, consistent and democratically legitimate. Focusing on these questions will provide students with the possibility to analyse EU external policies from both an international relations and comparative politics perspectives, enhancing their understanding of the EU and international studies at large.
Course objectives
By the end of the course, students should be able to:
Understand and criticize the debate on EU external “actorness” and the nature of EU power
Identify the institutional actors involved in and the decision-making processes underlying different types of EU external policies
Assess the effectiveness of EU external action in different geographic and policy areas
Debate whether EU foreign policy and EU decision-making as a whole are democratic or suffer from a democratic deficit
Timetable
See the website
Mode of instruction
Seminars
Course Load
Total course load for the course: 140 hours.
Hours spent on attending lectures: 4 hours per week x 6 weeks = 24 hours
Readings and presentation: 7 hours per week x 6 = 42 hours
Preparation for the paper: 74 hours
Assessment method
Participation: 20%
Presentation: 20%
Final Paper: 60%
Retake paper: Students who submitted a paper but failed the course can resubmit their final paper three weeks after the grade has been released.
Blackboard
Yes, see the site.
Literature
A reading list will be distributed at the start of the course.
Registration
Via uSis.