IRE220 The European Union - System in Crisis: EU’s Enlargement Policy

Faculty of Social Studies
Autumn 2019
Extent and Intensity
1/1/0. 4 credit(s). Type of Completion: zk (examination).
Teacher(s)
Mgr. Vladimir Vučković, Ph.D. (lecturer)
Dr. Branislav Radeljič (lecturer)
Mgr. Petr Čermák (lecturer)
Guaranteed by
Mgr. Martin Chovančík, Ph.D.
Department of International Relations and European Studies – Faculty of Social Studies
Contact Person: Olga Cídlová, DiS.
Supplier department: Department of International Relations and European Studies – Faculty of Social Studies
Timetable
Tue 18:00–19:40 U32
Prerequisites
The course aims to provide comprehensive insights about reasons of the failure of the EU enlargement policy in the Western Balkans (Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro, North Macedonia, Kosovo, and Serbia) despite the fact that membership perspective to the region was given at the Thessaloniki Summit in 2003. By analyzing various strategic enlargement documents and raising open discussions students shall have the opportunity to gain more knowledge of the EU’s inconsistent and insufficient approach towards the integration process of South-East Europe despite numerous statements of the high-ranking EU officials that the future of the region belongs to the European system of values.
Course Enrolment Limitations
The course is only offered to the students of the study fields the course is directly associated with.

The capacity limit for the course is 48 student(s).
Current registration and enrolment status: enrolled: 0/48, only registered: 0/48
fields of study / plans the course is directly associated with
there are 37 fields of study the course is directly associated with, display
Course objectives
At the end of the course, students will be able to understand the reasons for the problematic process of Europeanization of the candidate countries followed by the EU’s external incentive model by mainly introducing reward-threat balance.
Learning outcomes
After passing the exam students will be able:
• to understand reasons for inconsistent and insufficient EU enlargement policy towards the Western Balkans through the establishment of the “potential membership perspective” instead of the "credible membership perspective";
• to gain valuable knowledge of why EU membership perspective of candidate countries has not changed in the terms of the normative process of accession, but rather that it has changed in terms of the final goal of this process i.e. accession into the EU itself;
• to provide grounded opinion why the “EU enlargement fatigue” has demonstrated a discrepancy between the enlargement process and necessity of deepening of the Union policies (i.e., issue of widening vs. deepening) which opened questions of the so-called absorption capacity of enlargement for a certain period of time;
• to critically assess the evolution of the EU enlargement policy following the fifth (2004, 2007) and sixth (2013) waves of the enlargement and ongoing Western Balkans accession process analysis three key criteria for assessing the development of EU enlargement conditionality: conditions, reward-threat balance, and monitoring;
Syllabus
  • Class Schedule:
  • Session 1 - Introduction;
  • Session 2 - Theories of European Integration;
  • Session 3 - EU Enlargement Policy;
  • Session 4 - Case Study: First phase of the fifth enlargement: CEE countries, Cyprus and Malta (2004);
  • Session 5 - Case Study: Second phase of the fifth enlargement: Bulgaria and Romania (2007);
  • Session 6 - Reading Week;
  • Session 7 - Case Study: EU enlargement policy towards Croatia (2013);
  • Session 8 - Case Study: On-going enlargement process in the Western Balkans;
  • Session 9 - European Union Involvement in the Western Balkans;
  • Session 10 - “Stabilitocracy” and rising authoritarianism in Balkans;
  • Session 11 - Democratization and Rule of Law (RoL) Promotion in EU enlargement Policy;
  • Session 12 - Role of Civil Society Organization and Veto Players in the EU accession process;
  • Session 13 - Final Exam;
Teaching methods
• Majority of the sessions are composed of lectures. Students are asked to attend lectures and those who have attended 60% of lectures are being qualified for taking the final examination. Please note that active participation is welcomed but it is not obligatory;
• Students are expected to write one policy paper during the period of course. The length of the policy paper should not exceed a number between 1.500 - 2.000 words including references. Students are free to choose the topic of policy paper based on the subject of the course;
• Students are expected to take one written test – final exam during the period of course. During the written test, students are free to choose and answer 3 out of 5 questions deeply related to issues being introduced in required readings or in discussions provided during semester lectures;
Assessment methods
The final grade will be calculated as a result of a compulsory assessment of three parts:
1) Class participation>> total 10 points (10% active participation)
2) One policy paper >> total 30 points (30% policy paper)
3) The final exam>> 3 questions x max 20 points = total 60 points (60% final test)
The student has to reach at least 61% of the highest defined evaluation is he/she wants to complete the course successfully.
Language of instruction
English
Further Comments
The course is taught annually.
Listed among pre-requisites of other courses
  • Enrolment Statistics (recent)
  • Permalink: https://is.muni.cz/course/fss/autumn2019/IRE220