| CODE | EST2232 | ||||||||||||
| TITLE | World Politics and the EU | ||||||||||||
| UM LEVEL | 02 - Years 2, 3 in Modular Undergraduate Course | ||||||||||||
| MQF LEVEL | 5 | ||||||||||||
| ECTS CREDITS | 4 | ||||||||||||
| DEPARTMENT | European Studies | ||||||||||||
| DESCRIPTION | Over the past decades, the European Union has evolved into an actor that plays a limited but relevant role on the global stage. Each revision of the treaties provided the Union with new foreign policy institutions and instruments. Coming into force in 2009, the most recent treaty revision established a diplomatic service, created a de-facto foreign minister, and allowed the Union to sign international treaties and join international organisations. Against the backdrop of new security challenges and the decline of the rules-based international order, EU citizens and elites are increasingly sympathetic to further upgrades to the EU’s role in world politics. This has started to translate into efforts to enhance the EU’s capacity to act independently on the global stage, a process that is on-going. Study-unit Aims: This study-unit examines the European Union’s role as an actor on the global stage. It introduces the EU’s foreign policy architecture and its internal workings, discusses the actors involved in EU external action and examines how they are shaping it. In doing so, the course traces the on-going evolution of key tools and instruments that the EU institutions have at their disposal. Drawing upon concepts and theories from the discipline of International Relations, the course discusses what kind of an actor the EU is, as well as to what extent and how it exerts influence in the international arena. This involves analysing what the EU’s foreign policy objectives are, whether or to what extent it meets them as well as what determines whether it does. To address this, the study-unit explores key areas of EU external action, examines its relationships with other global actors, and analyzes its role in major issues of world politics. The knowledge attained also serves as a basis for other study-units in the course such as the EU and the Common Foreign and Security Policy (EST3200) and the EU's Mediterranean policies (EST3090). Learning Outcomes: 1. Knowledge & Understanding By the end of the study-unit the student will be able to: - Apply the main theories of International Relations to understand the development and functioning of EU foreign policy; - Demonstrate a solid understanding of the EU’s role in contemporary global affairs; - Critically assess bothpast and present EU foreign policy and its external impact; - Use the conceptual tools introduced in this study unit to better understand contemporary world politics and how it affects the EU. 2. Skills By the end of the study-unit the student will be able to: - Apply the knowledge acquired to better understand, analyse, and comment on contemporary world politics; - Apply theoretical and conceptual frameworks from the discipline of International Relations to make sense of global developments and the EU’s role in shaping them; - Analyse and write about international affairs and EU external action in a systematic and coherent way, and draw relevant conclusions for policy-making. Main Text/s and any supplementary readings: Main Texts - Bindi, Federiga, ed. The Foreign Policy of the European Union: Assessing Europe’s Role in the World. Third edition. Washington: Brookings, 2022. - Cottey, Andrew. Security in 21st Century Europe. Third edition. London: Bloomsbury, 2025. - Hill, Christopher, Michael Smith, and Sophie Vanhoonacker, eds. International Relations and the European Union. Fourth edition. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2023. - Keukeleire, Stephan, and Tom Delreux. The Foreign Policy of the European Union. Third edition. London: Bloomsbury, 2022. Supplementary Readings - Bouris, Dimitris, Daniela Huber, and Michelle Pace, eds. Routledge Handbook of EU–Middle East Relations. London: Routledge, 2021. - Christiansen, Thomas, Emil J. Kirchner, and Uwe Wissenbach. The European Union and China. London: Red Globe Press, 2019. - Romanova, Tatiana, and Maxine David, eds. The Routledge Handbook of EU-Russia Relations; Structures, Actors, Issues. Abingdon: Routledge, 2022. - Rose, Richard. European Security: From Ukraine to Washington. London: Bloomsbury, 2025. - Smith, Michael, Terrence Guay, and Jost Morgenstern-Pomorski. The European Union and the United States: Competition, Convergence and Crisis in the Global Arena. Second edition. London: Bloomsbury, 2024. - Schumacher, Tobias, Andreas Marchetti, and Thomas Demmelhuber, eds. The Routledge Handbook on the European Neighbourhood Policy. Abingdon: Routledge, 2018. |
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| STUDY-UNIT TYPE | Lecture | ||||||||||||
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| LECTURER/S | Ragnar Weilandt |
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The University makes every effort to ensure that the published Courses Plans, Programmes of Study and Study-Unit information are complete and up-to-date at the time of publication. The University reserves the right to make changes in case errors are detected after publication.
The availability of optional units may be subject to timetabling constraints. Units not attracting a sufficient number of registrations may be withdrawn without notice. It should be noted that all the information in the description above applies to study-units available during the academic year 2025/6. It may be subject to change in subsequent years. |
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