Main teaching activities of the Chair

MA Programme of European Studies

1. Foreign and Security Policy of the EU

This course zooms in on the EU’s approaches to security issues Europe is facing in the region. It will introduce graduate students to the academic debate on the instruments and mechanisms of the EU’s impact on the regional security system and will ask students to apply the available conceptual models in order to explain how effective the EU is as a strategic/security actor. The students will practice tackling the foreign policy issues the EU is facing by proposing solutions to an identified policy problem in the form of policy briefs.

BA Programme of European Studies

1. European Union Studies

The course zooms in on the political process in the European Union. Over the last decades, the European Union has ensured peace, prosperity, and an unprecedented level of protection for European citizens. The course first explores what the EU is politicly, and how it evolved. It then analyzes the EU institutional framework, competence, and policymaking process in a variety of policy areas. Finally, it examines democracy nature of the European Union and its legitimacy.

2. Foreign Policy of the European Union

The main goal of this elective course is to reach students who do not encounter EU studies in their major bachelor programs and provide them with tools for understanding the special political nature of the EU and its foreign policy. The EU is not a classical actor in international relations which invites many perspectives. The course traces the development of the European Foreign Policy as a multi-level system and the EU as an international actor and offers a balanced and comprehensive assessment of what the EU does in its external affairs. Special attention is paid to the Eastern Partnership and relations with Ukraine.

3. Foreign Policy and European Integration of Ukraine

The course aims at providing students with the tools for analyzing the external relations of Ukraine including the strategic course toward full membership in the European Union. It first examines the main perspectives on the foreign policy of Ukraine, and its regional and international environment. Then it explores the foreign policy process from conceptual and institutional perspectives. Finally, the course traces Ukraine's relations with key partners, paying special attention to it's key foreign policy goal – European integration.