Admission requirements
This course is designed for the minor Global Affairs. For both Dutch-based and exchange students, it is not possible to follow single courses of this minor. You need to be enrolled in Usis for the minor to be accepted to this course. There are 200 places open for registration, on a first come, first served basis, where LDE students are given priority.
This course is also open for inbound exchange students if they wish to take the entire minor Global Affairs. Exchange students must be admitted by the FGGA International Office prior to the start of the minor; priority will be given to direct exchange partners of FGGA. For more information about the application procedure for exchange students, please contact the
FGGA International Office.
Description
The European Union (EU) has evolved as a part of an international liberal order that appears to be at its end. In a period that represents a rupture, a break with all familiar rules of the international rules-based order, the EU, a rules and values based multi-level system itself, is having to reinvent itself as an external power. In the last decade, it has become gradually clear that the EU’s economic power is not sufficient to keep its place on the world stage, especially if big powers set aside rules and behave as hegemons.
How is the EU reinventing itself and learning to speak the language of power but also develop the institutions, capacities and capabilities to stand up for itself in a continent affected by more than 4 years of war? This course will introduce students to the strategies and plans, institutions, policies and policy tools that the EU has been developing. We will also critically examine the constraints, obstacles and limitations to these institutions, policy tools and plans.
Starting with the Global Strategy of 2016, the European Union has aimed to develop institutions and instruments to add some hard power to the soft power which it claimed for the first several decades of its existence. Following the Russian invasion of Ukraine in 2022, the EU has been faced with much more pressing, even existential, security challenges and has tried to mobilize instruments to address the threat on the European continent, while at the same time facing the return of power politics in the global arena.
Special attention will be given to developments in the Common Security and Defense Policy, among others ideas of strategic autonomy, EU’s Strategic Compass adopted in 2022, recent instruments for joint defense procurement, and the role of enlargement. The nature of decision-making in the Common Foreign and Security Policy will be discussed alongside its implications for the Union’s effectiveness in the international arena.
Beyond foreign and defense policy, the Union has other ways to make an impact beyond its borders. These are based on different policies and instruments: from enlargement to external governance – participating in regulatory networks and concluding association agreements with third states. Therefore, next to the institutions and capabilities that constitute the EU’s still uneven foreign policy, the Union’s engagement with neighbours and candidates for accession will be analysed in this course. Special emphasis will be given to the policy instruments the EU developed in recent years and to making students familiar with decision-making for key policy areas such as sanctions or enlargement.
In addition, the course will look at perspectives and perceptions of the EU beyond its borders and examine to what extent the EU’s own view of its power is shared by others. Bringing these different aspects together, the course will enable students to understand and critically assess the EU’s impact in the world.
Course objectives
After successful completion of this course, students should:
Demonstrate knowledge of the various ways in which the European Union interacts with third states;
Demonstrate knowledge of key developments in recent years that affect the Union’s power in the international arena
Be familiar with various theories and concepts used to assess the EU’s role and impact in the international arena
Understand the decision-making rules under which the EU makes decisions in the Common Foreign and Security Policy, in enlargement and European Security and Defense policy
Understand the dynamics of the EU’s Common Foreign and Security Policy and the European Security and Defense policy and the way the relevant EU institutions and capabilities have evolved in recent years
Be knowledgeable of the different modes of governance that the EU has developed in addition to foreign policy that contribute to its impact in the world
Apply knowledge of developments in the EU’s external action to make arguments accessible to a broader public
Critically assess the EU’s impact in the world using different analytical perspectives.
Timetable
On the right side of programme front page of the studyguide you will find links to the website and timetables, uSis and Brightspace.
Mode of instruction
7 lectures of 2 hours, complemented by discussions, additional sessions, guest lectures and online video materials where appropriate.
Total course load: 140 hours
Hours spent on:
7 lectures x2= 14 (including 3x2 guest lectures or in class games or discussions = 6)
Preparation for each lecture: 2 readings, approximately 25 pages each, 7 hours before each session, for 7 sessions: 49 hours, additional readings are not mandatory but offer depth
Preparations for mid-term assessment: 32 hours
Preparations for the final assessment: 45 hours.
Participation in lectures, discussions and exercises is required in order to obtain a grade. One lecture may be missed. Being absent more than once may lead to expulsion from the course or require compensatory assignments
Assessment method
Midterm: group policy instrument assignment
40% of total grade
Re-sit possible
Re-sit will take the same form
Final
60% of total grade
Covers the course themes
Grade must be 5.50 or higher to pass the course
Re-sit possible
Re-sit will take the same form
Participation in lectures, discussions and exercises is required in order to obtain a grade. One lecture may be missed. Being absent more than once may likely lead to expulsion from the course.
Students will also be permitted to re-sit the final if they have a calculated overall course grade lower than 5.50 or with permission of the Board of Examiners.
Late hand in penalty: 0,5 minus per day, and after seven days we do not accept papers any longer.
In the case of written assessment methods, the examiner can always initiate a follow-up conversation with the student to establish whether the learning objectives have been met.
The Course and Examination Regulation of Security Studies and the Rules and Regulation of the Board of Examiners of the Institute of Security and Global Affairs apply.
Reading list
The reading list will be added on Brightspace.
Registration
Students with a valid minor registration will register for courses via a form, which they will receive details about in an email in June/July.
Leiden University uses Brightspace as its online learning management system. After enrolment for the course in MyStudymap you will be automatically enrolled in the Brightspace environment of this course.
More information on registration via MyStudymap can be found on this page.
Please note 1: Registration for the resit of an exam is mandatory, this has to be done by the student and can be done from TBA until 10 days before the exam. Until 5 days before the exam you can email OSC and fill in a form.
Contact
Remarks
All sessions will be in English.
Essays need to be written in English.
This course takes place in The Hague.
Please note that the re-sits of this minor will be organised in January.