External Relations of the European Union

Recommended Prerequisites

  Adequate command of English.   

Teaching Methods

Sessions include lectures and seminars devoted to the analysis, debate and discussion of the topics, including group discussion of the reading materials.  

Learning Outcomes

 This curricular unit aims at four main goals. First, to introduce students to the main conceptual and theoretical debates on European foreign policy. Second, to explore the EU’s political and institutional status in the international system. Third, to analyse the implementation of different lines of foreign policy and its available instruments. Finally, to understand the main tendencies of the EU as a global actor. As a result it is expected that students will reveal a deep and critical understanding of the EU’s external action, both in terms of policies and procedures.

   

Work Placement(s)

No

Syllabus

1. Conceptual framework: the EU as an international actor
2. Legal and political-institutional framework of European foreign policy: decision-making in external relations; institutional balance – intergovernmentalism and communitarianism; post-Lisbon foreign policy
3. European identity and foreign policy: from enlargement to the wider Europe; the ENP (a particular focus will be given to the EaP)
4. EU global actorness: regionalism, effective multilateralism, development assistance, strategic partnerships
5. The EU as a global actor: possibilities and limits.

Assessment Methods

Assessment
Periodic or by final exam as given in the course information: 100.0%