The European Union in Global Politics
Course Code: PUBLG020
Course Tutor: Dr Christine Reh (Department of Political Science)
Assessment: 1,000 word exercise (40%) + 2,000 word essay (60%)
Credit Value: 15
About this course
From 2008-2011, this course was supported by the European Commission under
the aegis of the Jean Monnet Programme.
This course is designed to equip students with the empirical knowledge, theoretical understanding and analytical skills necessary to grasp, explain and critically assess questions of external governance faced by European policy-makers today.
The course first introduces the conceptual and normative debate about Europe's global role; discusses the origins of the EU as a global actor; and familiarises students with the institutions, instruments and decision-mechanisms of EU foreign policy-making. We will then analyse key issues of external governance, including trade, aid and development, crisis management and conflict resolution, and "soft" foreign policy questions such as global environmental policy and the external dimension of internal security. The course concludes by looking at EU enlargement and Europe's "near abroad".
By the end of the course, students will have
- acquired an in-depth knowledge of EU foreign policy-making;
- discussed key questions and challenges of EU external relations;
- learned to conceptualise and evaluate Europe’s global role;
- interpreted their knowledge through theories of European integration and International Relations;
- learned to critically assess empirical evidence and present theoretical arguments;
- trained transferable skills for the analytical study of politics and policy-making.
