Basics of the European Union Foreign Action
Code: 40890 ECTS Credits: 15| Degree | Type | Year |
|---|---|---|
| European Integration | OT | 0 |
Contact
- Name:
- Diego Badell Sanchez
- Email:
- diego.badell@uab.cat
Teachers
- Maria Ester Barbe Izuel
- Claudia Rives Casanova
- Marta Isern Busquets
- María Alejandra Peña Gonzalez
- Eduard Soler Lecha
- (External) Alfonso González (Universitat Rovira i Virgili)
- (External) Martijn Vlaskamp (Institut Barcelona d'Estudis Internacionals)
Teaching groups languages
You can view this information at the end of this document.
Prerequisites
Students have to work correctly in both languages Spanish and English.
Objectives and Contextualisation
Become familiar with the theoretical and political debates raised by the European Union’s role in the international arena.
Examine the EU’s external action across its various dimensions: political, economic, and security-related.
Acquire a solid theoretical understanding of the EU’s external action through the analysis of key readings and documents addressing its core aspects.
Analyze the instruments of EU external action through case studies, with particular emphasis on their versatility, limitations, and effectiveness.
Use of Artificial Intelligence (AI)
The use of AI technologies is permitted exclusively for support tasks: proofreading, or translations. Students must clearly identify which sections were generated with this technology, specify the tools used, and include a reflection on how they influenced the process and final outcome of the activity. Lack of transparency in the use of AI in assessable activities will be considered academic dishonesty and may result in a partial or total penalty on the grade for the activity, or greater penalties in serious cases.
Competences
- Analyse, synthesise, organise and plan projects and assignments related to the area of study.
- Analyse the legal, political and economic instruments implemented by the EU in its relations with other countries (specialisation in External Action).
- Analyse the mechanisms and standpoints adopted by the EU within its participation in various multilateral international institutions and other bodies (specialisation in External Action).
- Communicate and justify conclusions clearly and unambiguously to both specialised and non-specialised audiences.
- Continue the learning process, to a large extent autonomously
- Integrate knowledge and use it to make judgements in complex situations, with incomplete information, while keeping in mind social and ethical responsibilities.
- Seek out information in the scientific literature using appropriate channels, and use this information to formulate and contextualise a research topic.
Learning Outcomes
- Analyse, synthesise, organise and plan projects and assignments related to the area of study.
- Classify international agreements reached by the EU and/or other countries and international organisations.
- Communicate and justify conclusions clearly and unambiguously to both specialised and non-specialised audiences.
- Continue the learning process, to a large extent autonomously
- Identify the mechanisms used by the European institutions that design the EU's external action.
- Identify the unilateral instruments employed by European institutions in the implementation of external action in both regional and multilateral frameworks.
- Integrate knowledge and use it to make judgements in complex situations, with incomplete information, while keeping in mind social and ethical responsibilities.
- Interpret the positions that the EU defends within the framework of other international organisations or multilateral international meetings .
- Seek out information in the scientific literature using appropriate channels, and use this information to formulate and contextualise a research topic.
Content
Session 1. From Informality to Formality: From EPC to CFSP
Session 2. The European Union's External Action: Conceptual Delimitations
Session 3. Theories of External Action
Session 4. The EU and the Concept of Power
Session 5. Objectives and Principles of the European Union’s External Action
Session 6. Instruments of External Action
Session 7. The New Institutional Architecture of the European Union’s External Action
Session 8. The EU and Palestine
Session 9. Development Cooperation
Session 10. Europeanisation and De-Europeanisation
Session 11. The Analysis of the European Union’s International Competences
Session 12. The EU and Strategies
Session 13. The EU and Defence
Activities and Methodology
| Title | Hours | ECTS | Learning Outcomes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Type: Directed | |||
| Master class with ICT support | 25 | 1 | 6, 5, 7, 4 |
| Tutorials and regular monitoring of activities | 112 | 4.48 | 1, 3, 7, 4 |
| Type: Supervised | |||
| Seminar activities and practical sessions | 50 | 2 | 1, 3, 7 |
| Type: Autonomous | |||
| Individual study and work related to seminars and practical sessions | 188 | 7.52 | 1, 9, 5, 8, 3, 7, 4 |
The methodology combines active learning and problem-based learning approaches, structured around four main components: lectures, student presentations, debates among students, and practical case studies or simulation sessions.
Annotation: Within the schedule set by the centre or degree programme, 15 minutes of one class will be reserved for students to evaluate their lecturers and their courses or modules through questionnaires.
Assessment
Continous Assessment Activities
| Title | Weighting | Hours | ECTS | Learning Outcomes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Class discussion and follow-up practical session | 50% | 0 | 0 | 2, 6, 5, 8, 3, 7 |
| Delivery of assignments previously assigned | 50% | 0 | 0 | 1, 9, 2, 6, 3, 7, 4 |
The module is assessed through continuous assessment and is divided into three graded blocks.
To pass the module, it is essential to pass all three blocks with a minimum grade of 5 in each.
The weighting is as follows: Block I (60%), Block II (30%), and Block III (10%).
Each block is led by one or more instructors, and each of them provides specific guidelines regarding assessment in their respective part of the syllabus.
Bibliography
AAVV, The European Union: An Ongoing Process of Integration. Liber Amicorum Afred E. Kellermann, TCM Asser Instituut, The Hague, 2004.
Anderson, S., Crafting EU security policy. In pursuit of a European identity, Boulder, Lynne Rienner 2008.
BARBÉ, E. (ed.) Política exterior europea, Ariel, Barcelona, 2000. Barbé, E. (ed.), ¿Existe una brecha transatlántica? Estados Unidos y la Unión Europea tras la crisis de Irak, Madrid, Libros de la Catarata, 2005.
BARBÉ, E. (ed.), La Unión Europea más allás de sus fronteras. ¿Hacia la transformación del Mediterráneo y Europa oriental?, Madrid, Tecnos, 2010.
Bickerton, Ch. J., European Union Foreign Policy: From Effectiveness to Functionality, Basingstoke, Palgrave Macmillan. 2011.
BONVICINI, G.; TOSATO, G.I., (eds.), Le relazioni internazionali dell'Unione europea dopo i trattati de Amsterdam e Nizza, G. Giappichelli Editore, Torino, 2003.
Bretherton, Ch. y Vogler, J., The European Union as a Global Actor, London: Routledge, 2008.
Cameron, F., An Introduction to European Foreign Policy, London, Routledge, 2007.
Carlsnaes, W., H. Sjursen, y B. White, eds, Contemporary European Foreign Policy, London: Sage, 2004.
Casarini, N. y C. Musu (eds.), European Foreign Policy in an evolving international system. The road towards convergence, Basingstoke, Palgrave Macmillan, 2007.
CREMONA, M. y B. DE WITTE, EU Foreign relations Law. Constitutional Fundamentals, Hart Publishing, 2008.
Dannreuther,R., European Union Foreign and Security Policy. Towards a neighbourhood strategy, London: Routledge, 2004.
Dashwood, A. y M. Maresceau, Law and practice of EU external relations : salient features of a changing landscape, Cambridge, Cambridge University Press 2008.
DE BAERE, B., Constitutional Principles of EU external relations, Oxford, Oxford University Press, 2008.
EECKHOUT, P., External Relations of Europen Union. Legal and Constitutional Foundations,Oxford, OxfordUniversity Press, Oxford, 2005.
Elgström, O. y M. Smith (eds.), The European Union Role's in International Politics: Concepts and Analysis, Londres, Routledge, 2006.
ESTEVE, F y M. PI, (eds.), La proyección exterior de la UE en el Tratado Constitucional, Fundación CIDOB, Barcelona, 2005.
FENET, A. (et al.), Droit des relations extérieures de l'Union européenne, LITEC, 2007
Gamble, A. y D. Lane (eds.), The European Union and World Politics, Basingstoke, Palgrave Macmillan, 2009.
Ginsberg, R., The European Union in International Politics: Baptism by Fire, Lanham: Rowman and Littlefield, 2001.
GRILLER, ST. y B. WEIDEL (eds.) External Economic Relations and Foreign Policy in the European Union Springer, 2002.
Hill, C.., M. Smith y S. Vanhoonacker. (eds.), International Relations and the European Union, 4a edición, Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2022.
Hill, C. y K. E. Smith (eds.), European Foreign Policy: Key Documents, London: Routledge, 2000.
HILLION, C.; KOUTRAKOS, P., Mixed Agreements revisited. The EU and its Member States in the World, Hart Publishing, 2010.
Joergensen, K. E.(Ed.), The European Union and International Organizations, London, Routledge, 2009.
Keukeleire, S. y T. Delreux (3rd edition), The foreign policy of the European Union, Nueva York, Bloomsbury, 2022.
Khaliq, U., Ethical Dimensions ofthe Foreign Policy of the European Union: A Legal Appraisal, Cambridge, CambridgeUniversity Press, 2008.
Knodt, M. y S. Princen, (eds.), Understanding the European Union's External Relations, London, Routledge, 2003.
Software
No use of "programari".
Groups and Languages
Please note that this information is provisional until 30 November 2025. You can check it through this link. To consult the language you will need to enter the CODE of the subject.
| Name | Group | Language | Semester | Turn |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| (TEm) Theory (master) | 1 | Spanish | first semester | afternoon |