Europe and International Security (PO42014)
Module Convenor: Dr Christian Kaunert and Dr Sarah Léonard
Credit Rating: 30 SCQF credits
Level: Level 4 optional module
Module Content
This module aims to introduce students to the new security challenges affecting Europe and the policy responses that they have triggered. It will start by exploring how security is organised in Europe, looking at the role of NATO and the European Union, as well as the influence of the United Nations. It will then consider the various theories that have sought to explain international security issues, in particular why states cooperate (or not). The module will then focus on the European Union and how it has developed policies to tackle security challenges both inside and outside its borders. Finally, the module will examine some of the most pressing issues faced by European states and the European Union, such as terrorism, climate change, transnational organised crime, and the spread of weapons of mass destruction.
Module Aims
- Knowledge and understanding of the development and functioning of European security, its institutions, decision-making, and negotiations.
- A familiarity with the key debates among European security scholars, including CFSP and JHA policy scholars, concerning the nature of the actorness of the European Union, its foreign policy agenda, and its relations to institutions, such as the UN, and other regional, international and supranational organisations, such as NATO, and their functioning.
- An appreciation of the range of political and institutional influences that have shaped security inEurope.
- The opportunity to develop transferable skills such as the appreciation of different interests and the ability to defend a point of view in the seminars.
Intended Learning Outcomes
Having successfully completed this module, students should have:
- Describe and analyse the dynamics behind European security policy.
- Demonstrate an informed understanding of the European Union's role in international relations, and its foreign policy agenda, as well as other international organisations, such as NATO, the UN, and other regional organisations.
- Demonstrate a practical understanding of decision-making in European Security Policy.
- Analyse the major foreign policy agendas and demonstrate the ability to use primary documents.
- Critically assess the central problems facing European Security Policy currently and in the future.
- Through the essay research process, students will learn to manage time pressure, and make concise explanation of their arguments, and:
- Demonstrate the development of research skills
- Demonstrate subject specific research techniques
- Apply a range of methodologies to complex political problems.
- The essays will develop students’ critical capacities to assess both political and documentary evidence, and to make written arguments in a coherent, structured and persuasive way.
- Preparation of the essays will help develop skills of information technology (word processing and the use of the internet for research purposes).
- Through their seminar participations, students will be able to:
- Perform their cultivated inter-personal skills
- Perform their oral and written communication skills
- Increase their confidence in making oral arguments and giving short presentations before an audience.
- The seminar format will further encourage discussion and debate of differing viewpoints.
Teaching
The module will be delivered through lectures and seminars. Teaching will be delivered in a block of lectures and seminars (2 hours per week). Lectures will introduce the basic information necessary for comprehending each segment of the module and identify key issues for further reflection. Seminars/workshops will be organised by assigning students within workshop teams. These teams will then be provided with supporting briefing material.
Assessment
- one 4,000 word essay (50%)
- one 4,000 word workshop report (50%)
Indicative Reading
- Baylis, J. and J. Roper (eds.), The United States and Europe (London: Routledge, 2006)
- Bretherton, C. & Vogler, J., The European Union as a Global Actor, 2nd ed. (London: Routledge, 2006)
- Brown, M.F., Grave New World: Security Challenges in the 21st Century, (Georgetown University Press, 2003).
- Caldwell, D. and R. E. Williams Jr., Seeking Security in an Insecure World (Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield, 2006)
- Cameron, F., An Introduction to European Foreign Policy (London: Routledge, 2006)
- Collins, A., Contemporary Security Studies (Oxford University Press, 2007)
- Eeckhout, P., External Relations of the European Union – Legal and Constitutional Foundations (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2004)
- Elgstroem, O. and M. Smith (eds.), The European Union’s Role in International Politics (London: Routledge, 2006)
- Friedrichs, J., Fighting Terrorism and Drugs (London: Routledge, 2005)
- Hill, C., The Changing Politics of Foreign Policy (Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan, 2003)
- Hill, C. and M. Smith (eds.), International Relations and the European Union (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2005)
- Hix, S., The Political System of the European Union 2nd edition (London: Palgrave, 2005)
- Hough, P., Understanding Global Security (London: Routledge, 2004).
- Lucarelli, S. and I. Manners (eds.), Values and Principles in European Union Foreign Policy (London: Routledge, 2006)
- Mahncke, D., Wyn Rees, and W.C. Thompson, Redefining Transatlantic Security Relations – The Challenge of Change (Manchester: Manchester University Press, 2004)
- Marsh, S. and H, Mackenstein, The International Relations of the European Union (Harlow: Pearson Ed., 2005)
- Mitsilegas, V. , J. Monar, and W. Rees, The European Union and Internal Security – Guardian of the People? (Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan, 2003)
- Sheehan, M., International Security: An International Survey (London; Boulder, CO: Lynne Rienner, 2005)
- Smith, H., European Union Foreign Policy: What It Is and What It Does (London: Pluto Press, 2002)
- Smith, K.E., European Union Foreign Policy in a Changing World (Cambridge: Polity Press, 2003)
- Terriff, T. et al., Security Studies Today (Cambridge: Polity, 1999)
- Tonra, B. and T. Christiansen (eds.), Rethinking European Union Foreign Policy (Manchester: Manchester University Press, 2004)
- H. Wallace, W. Wallace and M. Pollack (eds), Policy-Making in the European Union, 5th edition (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2005)
- Wyn Rees, Transatlantic Counter-Terrorism Cooperation (London: Routledge, 2006)
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