FSS:IREb2020 EU Enlargement Crisis - Course Information

IREb2020 The European Union - System in Crisis: EU’s Enlargement Policy

Extent and Intensity

1/1/0. 5 credit(s). Type of Completion: zk (examination).
In-person direct teaching

Teacher(s)

Mgr. Vladimir Vučković, Ph.D. (lecturer)

Guaranteed by

Mgr. Vladimir Vučković, 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

Thu 8:00–9:40 P21a

Prerequisites

! IRE220 EU Enlargement Crisis && !NOW( IRE220 EU Enlargement Crisis )
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: 38/48, only registered: 1/48

fields of study / plans the course is directly associated with

there are 39 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 I;
• Session 3 - Theories of European Integration II;
• Session 4 - EU enlargement policy;
• Session 5 - Case Study: First phase of the fifth enlargement: CEE countries, Cyprus and Malta (2004);
• Session 6 - Case Study: Second phase of the fifth enlargement: Bulgaria and Romania (2007);
• Session 7 - Reading Week;
• Session 8 - Case Study: EU enlargement policy towards Croatia (2013);
• Session 9 - Case Study: On-going enlargement process in the Western Balkans;
• Session 10 - European Union Involvement in the Western Balkans;
• Session 11 - “Stabilitocracy” and rising authoritarianism in Balkans;
• Session 12 - Democratization and Rule of Law (RoL) Promotion in EU enlargement policy;
• Session 13 - Final Exam

Literature

required literature
• Dokmanović, Mirjana and Neven Cvetićanin, “Serbia in Light of the Global Recomposition,” Journal of Balkan and Near Eastern Studies, 25(4), 2023, pp. 586-599.
• Freyburg, Tina and Solveig Richter, “National Identity matters: the limited impact of EU political conditionality in the Western Balkans,” Journal of European Public Policy, 17(2), 2010, pp. 263-281.
• Kmezić, Marko, EU Rule of Law Promotion: Judiciary Reform in the Western Balkans, London and New York: Routledge, 2017.
• Schimmelfenning, Frank and Ulrich Sedelmeier, The Europeanization of the Central and Eastern Europe, Ithaca and London, Cornell University Press, 2005.
• Gateva, Eli, European Union Enlargement Conditionality, Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan, 2015.

Teaching methods

• Sessions are composed of lectures and group presentations. Students are requested to attend the lectures and those who have attended 60% of lectures are qualified to take a final exam. Those actively participating in discussions, raising questions, and critically commenting on issues during the lectures and/or group presentations will increase the possibility of getting better grades by getting extra points as a reward. Points for activity during lectures are awarded only to active students and they will be given at the end of the course. Students active on more than 70% of the lessons – 10 points, those active on more than 50% – 5 points, those active between 20 – 40% – 3 points, and those active less than 10% - 1 point.
• Students are required to provide a one-group presentation during the course semester. Students are obliged to work in teams between 3-5 people and present a topic during the lecture. The length of the presentation should not exceed between 20-25 minutes. Work presentation will be executed during the sessions 5-6, 8-13. Group presentations should be uploaded in the respective homework vaults folder “Group Presentation” following the deadlines in the Informational System (IS). You are obliged to upload a presentation at least one day prior to the presentation day. Students shall be exposed to the risk of their presentation being rejected if they insert it after a defined period stated above.
• Students are expected to take one written test – the final exam during the period of the course. The last exam will have two questions deeply related to issues being introduced in required readings or in discussions/group presentations provided during semester lectures. The final exam needs to be taken by all students during the examination period, and if one chooses not to take the exam, he/she will fail the course regardless of the number of credits earned from group presentations or active participation in 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 group presentation >> total 50 points (50% group presentation)
3) The final exam>> 2 questions x max 20 points = total 40 points (40% 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

Study Materials
The course is taught annually.

• Enrolment Statistics (recent)
  
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