EU common foreign and security policy

Summary of content:

This optional course is offered for BA students of History, who are to choose between several courses. The course familiarizes students with the evolution and contemporary challenges of the European Union’s foreign and security policy. It is aimed at analyzing historical factors that influence European diplomatic agenda, characterizing core values that form the Union's foreign policy, giving an overview of comparative influence of the main national actors in shaping the EU’s external policy as well as characterizing  the main priorities of common European foreign and security policy. The course is intended to show the EU as unique and unprecedented actor on the international stage. The syllabus of the course includes the following sections:

1) Theoretical explanations of European integration with a focus on European foreign policy,

2) The main tendencies of EPC and CFSP evolution,

3) Procedural issues and institutional mechanisms of how foreign policy decisions are reached in the EU,

4) Peculiarities of the EU as international actor,

5) The main priorities of EU common foreign policy in some  areas and geographical regions,

6) Peculiarities of national foreign policy strategies of key European state actors (Germany, France, England),

7) Development of EU defense framework (WEU, Rapid reaction forces),

8) Transatlantic dimension of European security (NATO, American-European partnership, differences in European and American strategies and approaches).

Each section involves theoretical perspectives on the problem.