Level of studies: Undergraduate, 5th Semester, B.A. in Political Science and International Relations
Type of course: Compulsory in direction ‘International Relations’ & Elective in direction ‘Political Science’
Place in project: Taught on the 1st (months 1-6), 3rd (months 13-18) & 5th semesters (months 25-30)
ECTS: 5 (student workload includes 39 teaching hours: 13 weeks X 3 hours)
Teaching methods: Lectures & Interactive teaching with student engagement (incl. essay presentations)
Prerequisite: Introduction to International Relations, 2nd Semester, Language of instruction: Greek
Description: The course will offer a Foreign Policy Analysis perspective of decision-making and policy implementation in the domain of EU external relations. It will examine the complex interplay of EU supranational and intergovernmental institutions and member-state governments across different policy areas. It will demonstrate that the Union is a sui generis international actor and it will strive to shed light into the most important variables that determine its external influence. The course will be divided into three parts. The first part will discuss each major dimension of EU foreign policy (e.g., diplomacy, trade, and security and defense etc.) and will explain where competence for decision-making lies, which actors get involved and under which rules and processes of decision-making, the source of available means and instruments (e.g. capabilities), and the main adopted strategies and policy priorities. The second part will reexamine EU foreign policy from a theoretical perspective and will problematize questions such as the Union’s foreign policy actorness, the challenges of coherence, consistency and effectiveness, and the question of democratic legitimacy and accountability of policy-making. Finally, the third part will focus on a few recent empirical case studies on which students are expected to present papers that draw on the application of concepts and knowledge obtained throughout the course.
Learning Outcomes: By the end of the course students are expected to have been fully acquainted with the complexity of EU foreign policy making across different issue areas. They should know how EU foreign policy decisions are taken and be familiar with the complex interplay and balance between supranational, intergovernmental and national institutions in this policy domain. Students will also understand a series of analytical concepts (e.g. normative power, civilian power, and EU actorness) and they will be familiarized with different theoretical approaches to those concepts’ explanatory utility. Last, but not least, students will be equipped with the necessary knowledge to conduct basic empirical research about specific EU foreign policy issues and develop some capacity to critically assess policies and policy prescriptions.
Assessment Method:
- In-class presentations: 10% of grade. A 15’ presentation (with the projection of a powerpoint file) of an issue of EU foreign policy concern, discussing the Union’s objectives, the adopted policies and the attained results. The selected case study may be a specific issue, or the Union’s relations with a third country, or region.
- Written Essays: 20% of grade. It concerns academic essays of around 3,000 words that examine at greater depths the topics that have been earlier presented in class. Essays should fully observe academic rules of writing (e.g., structure, documentation) and should take note of the relevant scholarly literature.
- Final Written Exams: 70% of grade. The course material consists of the in-class lectures and the course textbooks.
Course Layout (by week)*
Week 1: Foreign Policy Analysis and the study of EU external relations: Issues and Questions
Week 2: The development of EC/EU foreign policy in historical perspective
Part A: Dimensions of EU Foreign Policy (Actors, Instruments, Processes, Objectives)
Week 3: EU diplomacy and the Common Foreign and Security Policy
Week 4: EU Trade Policy
Week 5: EU Common Security and Defense Policy and Missions
Week 6: EU Development Policy
Week 7: EU Enlargement Policy
Part B: Theoretical debates on EU Foreign Policy
Week 8: The EU as a Foreign Policy Actor: A Realist Approach
Week 9: The EU as a Foreign Policy Actor: A Liberal Approach
Week 10: The EU as a Foreign Policy Actor: A Constructivist Approach
Week 11: Bureaucratic politics, theories and EU foreign policy-making
Part C: Case Studies
Week 12: Case studies – Student essay presentations
Week 13: Case studies – Student essay presentations
* Detailed lists of suggested readings per week/theme are in the course’s handbook.
