Бакалавриат 2025/2026

Европейский Союз как международный актор

Статус: Курс по выбору (Международная программа «Международные отношения и глобальные исследования»)

Кто читает: Факультет мировой экономики и мировой политики

Когда читается: 3-й курс, 3, 4 модуль

Охват аудитории: для своего кампуса

Язык: английский

Course Syllabus

Abstract

IR scholars used to consider the European Union, the United States of America and China three pillars of the post – Cold War international system. In particular, in 2000s the US as a superpower acquired the role of a steward of the world order, while China became a custodian of the global economy. The EU in its turn was to set the agenda for global development, be it in the human rights area or with regard to green transition. Brussels was relying on normative power, trying to shape its partners’ development via conditional engagement with them, thereby installing institutional change, promoting democracy, and aiding market opening. Yet, in middle-to-late 2010s, it became apparent that the international environment was getting increasingly hostile towards all three designated leaders. Traditional great powers have engaged in geopolitical competition, racing for resources and status. Ever since, the EU as a non-traditional actor, whose decision-making results from an interplay between Brussels and Member States, has been facing particular difficulties in adapting to new reality. On the one hand, there has been a remarkable discursive shift towards “strategic autonomy” and “strategic sovereignty”, calling for increased security and defense cooperation within the EU and a more pragmatic foreign policy approach. On the other hand, limited competences of the EU institutions and lack of cohesion among Member States remains a significant obstacle for Brussels to diversify its foreign policy instruments beyond normative ones. This poses a question whether the EU can remain competitive in the future world order. The course will discuss the historic, institutional and practical foundations of the EU actorness over the years. It will pay particular attention to its manifestations with regard to major individual players, such as the US, China and Russia; smaller regional powers; as well as regional spaces, such as Asia, Latin America, and Africa. Proceeding from actorness criteria, suggested by academic literature, the course aims to study, how the EU works with various partners, where its interests and objectives lay and what methods Brussel has at its disposal in order to achieve them. At the end of the course, students are to acquire in-depth understanding of what the EU foreign policy look like, and, on a broader level, to be able to assess if integration projects could play an independent role in international relations.