210157 SE EC: The EU and Global Governance (2021S)

This course looks at the international relations of the European Union (EU) and its role
in global governance. While European integration started off as an internal project centering on the making of the Single Market and the harmonization of Member State policies, the external dimension of major EU policies gained in importance over time. The EU has not only emerged as a foreign policy and security actor, it also became involved in managing globalization in areas such as commerce, the environment or social affairs. The course gives a brief overview of the EU's unique institutional set-up as an external actor and examines its international relations with a focus on (a) the Union's relations with its neighborhood; (b) inter-regional cooperation and (c) the EU’s relations with international organizations (e.g. WTO; UN). Additionally, the course will deal with the changing domestic and international realities faced by the EU as an international actor. Domestically, the EU faces severe internal challenges, marked by Brexit, growing nationalism, populism and new protectionism and, most recently, the COVID-19 crisis. Externally, he EU’s global environment is characterized by the reconfiguration of power, growing divisions, and the contestation of established liberal order. Simultaneously, the EU’s neighbourhood is increasingly conflict-prone and unstable, triggering migration flows and the proliferation of illiberal values.
The course will take place in a digital format. The main course contents and materials will be provided through the moodle-platform, including video recordings, online lectures, small group meetings and individual exercises. This will ensure an interactive format that relies on student participation.
• Phase one of the seminars presents key theoretical and empirical works on the EU’s role in global governance as described above.
• The second phase consists of plenary sessions to hold and discuss student presentations of their seminar papers. Students will be divided into groups in line with their selected topics and guided in developing the research design of their seminar paper. The sessions will allow for in-depth debt debate of individual topics, and student-only meetings in each group. Methods include individual work, peer feedback, presentations, and debate.