FSS:EVSn5044 EU foreign policy towards RF - Course Information

EVSn5044 EU foreign policy towards Russia and the Eastern partnership countries

Extent and Intensity

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

Teacher(s)

Mgr. Petra Kuchyňková, Ph.D. (lecturer)

Guaranteed by

Mgr. Petra Kuchyňková, 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 10:00–11:40 P21a

Prerequisites (in Czech)

! EVS444 European Neighburhood Policy && !NOW( EVS444 European Neighburhood Policy )

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 45 student(s).
Current registration and enrolment status: enrolled: 35/45, only registered: 1/45

fields of study / plans the course is directly associated with

there are 7 fields of study the course is directly associated with, display

Abstract

The aim of the course is to make students acquainted with the development of the engagement of the European Union as an actor in EU neighborhood. The emphasis is put on the Eastern dimension of EU neighborhood policy. Students will be taught about theoretical concepts concerning the activities of the European Union as an actor of International Relations in its neighborhood: EU as a normative power, EU as civilian power, europeanisation in relations to EU neighboring countries etc. Significant part of the course is devoted to the development, formation and functioning of European Neighborhood Policy with the emphasis on the policy of Eastern Partnership and and its current overlaps with the EU enlargement policy. After the end of the course students will be able to understand and explain the role of the European Union in the Eastern dimension of its neighborhood, the problems of particular partner and newly also candidate countries: Ukraine, Moldova, Georgia and also Armenia, Azerbaijan and Belarus as the Eastern Partnership countries. Attention will be devoted to such problems as  democratisation, political transformation of these countries, security issues in relation with current war in Ukraine and other conflicts concerning the post-Soviet area. The course will also be focused on the possibilities of the EU as the international and regional actor to contribute to the solution of these problems.

Learning outcomes

On successful completion of the course, students will be able to understand the most important current problems that the EU as international actor faces in the EU Eastern neighbourhood, also in the context of current security situation and the war in Ukraine. They will be able to discuss these problems not only in the context of internal peculiarities of the EU Common Foreign and Security Policy in the post-Lisbon era (e.g. institutional peculiarities), but also in the context of the geopolitics of Eastern Europe. The students will be able to analyse and debate the role of the EU and other important actors (esp. Russia) in contemporary Eastern Europe and South Caucasus; analyse various aspects and areas of the EU activities in relation to Russia and in the framework of the Eastern Partnership and EU enlargement policies; discuss particular relevant issues connected to the topic with external experts; work in groups; work with data in order to write the group project; present the group project or write a short individual policy paper and present its arguments in the class discussion.

Key topics

1) Course introduction - structure and requirements. 2) EU as an actor of international relations in its neighborhood: EU as normative power, civilian power Europe, europeanisation in EU neighborhood. 3) Development of Eauropean Neighborhood Policy - Eastern Dimension: Eastern Partnership; 2022 as a breaking point in the Eastern Partnerhip policy and the EU further potential enlargement to the East. 4) and 5) EU in relation to the Russian Federation. 6) Ukraine, war in Ukraine; EaP and the EU enlargement policy. 7) EU and Moldova, prospects for future EU membership; problems of separatism (Transnitria, Gagauzia). 8) EU and Belarus. 9) EU and South Caucasus countries (Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia). 10) The phenomenon of "in-betweeness", liminality and "liminality within liminality" in post-Soviet area + seminar discussion with the expert - Zinaida Bechná. 11) Future of ENP + seminar discussion; presentations of group projects and individual policy ppaers. 12) Discussion with the external expert: Czech MFA representative. 13) Final written exam.

Study resources and literature

• Veli-Pekka Tynkynen (2024): How Europe Got Russia Wrong. Energy, Violence and the Environment. Elgaronline: https://www.elgaronline.com/monobook-oa/book/9781035319503/9781035319503.xml?
• Bob Deen, Niels Drost and Milou Carstens (2023): After Putin, the deluge? Foresight on the possible futures of the Russian Federation. Clingendael Institute. October 2023. On-line: https://www.clingendael.org/pub/2023/after-putin-the-deluge/
• GEL‘MAN, Vladimir Jakovlevič. Russia's gamble : the domestic origins of Russia's attacs on Ukraine. First published. Cambridge: Polity, 2025, xi, 220. ISBN 9781509559435. info
• HOLZER, Jan; Miroslav MAREŠ; Tomáš ŠMÍD; Martin JIRUŠEK; Petra KUCHYŇKOVÁ; Lucie COUFALOVÁ; Libor ŽÍDEK; Tomáš VLČEK; Jiří GAZDA; Josef ŠAUR; Pavel BOČEK and Radomír VLČEK. Czech Security Dilemma : Russia as a Friend or Enemy? 1st ed. Cham: Palgrave Macmillan, 2020, 235 pp. New Security Challenges. ISBN 978-3-030-20545-4. Available from: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-20546-1. URL info
• Strategic culture in Russia's neighborhood : change and continuity in an in-between space. Edited by Katalin Miklóssy - Hanna Smith. Lanham: Lexington books, 2019, xxiii, 278. ISBN 9781498571692. info
• ORENSTEIN, Mitchell A. The lands in between : Russia vs. the West and the new politics of hybrid war. New York: Oxford University Press, 2019, xiv, 232. ISBN 9780190936143. info
• Routledge handbook of russian foreign policy. Edited by Andrej Pavlovič Cygankov. First published. London: Routledge, Taylor & Francis Group, 2018, xvi, 439. ISBN 9781138690448. info
• International relations and the European Union. Edited by Christopher Hill - Michael Smith - Sophie Vanhoonacker. Third edition. Oxford: Oxford university press, 2017, xxiii, 570. ISBN 9780198737322. info
• ÅSLUND, Anders. How Ukraine became a market economy and democracy. Washington, DC: Peterson Institute for International Economics, 2009, xxv, 343. ISBN 9780881324273. info

Approaches, practices, and methods used in teaching

Lectures are accompanied with seminars with class discussions and active participation of the students. Students are obliged to submit 2 compulsory position papers out of 5 topics offered + voluntary short seminar preparations (in order to obtain bonus points), based on particular texts and participate at class discussions, where their own ideas concerning particular topics will be presented. The aim of the seminars is to support and enhance the ability of the students to present own ideas and positions connected with the particular discussed topics in a logical and clear way. Reading consists of compulsory and complementary literature that broadens the knowledge obtained by the students during the lectures and seminars.

Besides of the short position papers and seminar preparations the students will prepare group projects or individual policy papers and write the final written exam.

Method of verifying learning outcomes and course completion requirements

Preparation and submission of 2 position papers during the course (out of 5 broader topics offered), preparation of 1 group project (ppt presentation + paper) or 1 longer individual policy paper; voluntary seminar preparations; seminar discussions; final written exam (open questions).

Language of instruction

English

Further Comments

Study Materials
The course is taught annually.

• Enrolment Statistics (recent)
  
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