International Relations and European Studies - Course Descriptions - Core Subjects

1st semester

THEORY OF INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS AND EUROPEAN INTEGRATION 1

This course aims at achieving two broad objectives. Firstly, it establishes a knowledge pool enabling advanced understanding of classical theories of IR. Secondly, it is designed to encourage enrolled students in developing critical thinking and transferable skills so they can meta-theoretically reflect on the gained knowledge. The required readings will be provided in the form of an e-reader.

INTERNATIONAL ECONOMIC RELATIONS

The course aims to help students understand the functioning of international economic relations and their main actors. Building on previous knowledge of basic micro and macroeconomic concepts, the course looks into the functioning of world economic organizations and international monetary and financial systems. Attention is also paid to the world economic centres and their shifting importance and how current international economy is embedded in local social-cultural and political system. Towards the end, the course briefly visits the topic of transition of global economy and future prospects.

INSTITUTIONAL FRAMEWORK OF EU INTEGRATION

The aim of the course is to enhance the students‘ understanding of the European integration process that started after the end of World War II, and their knowledge about the EU’s institutional framework, which is a result of this process. Throughout the course questions will be discussed relating to the causes and the driving forces behind the integration process. Firstly, the students will get a review of the history of European integration and an introduction to the heterogeneous world of European integration theories. Then students will look into particular aspects of the integration process and try to analyse the development using contemporary scholarly work. In conclusion of the course, students will be able to understand causes of the European integration proces and deepen their understanding of EU institute and its future objectives.

INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS RESEARCH METHODS

This course provides an introduction into various methods employed in International Relations research. Students will gain knowledge about the basic structure of scientific research project such as research design, data collection, data analysis and research presentation. This should aid them in developing their own research projects. The course is divided into several sections, reflecting the explanatory / interpretative dichotomy and quantitative / qualitative dichotomy. Special attention will be paid to the issues of research design, especially in the context of explanatory methods. The last session will be dedicated to the question how and where to publish research outcomes. Students gain knowledge about specific qualities of different genres of scientific outcomes: thesis, scholarly article, policy paper, etc.

GLOBAL GOVERNANCE

The aim of this course is to provide an overview of the evolving international architecture, its institutional, normative and theoretical foundations, and practice. It focuses on the concept of global governance (as opposed to global government), implying a variety of factors that guide states and (trans)form international relations. The course will focus on specific fields of governance such as security, trade, environmental protection and human rights. It will show, how specific actors (states, institutions, NGOs, TNCs etc.) shape the governance process.

2nd semester

THEORY OF INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS AND EUROPEAN INTEGRATION 2

This course aims at achieving two broad objectives. Firstly, it establishes knowledge pool enabling advanced understanding of modern theories of IR, namely rational-choice theory, game theory, the Critical Theory (the Frankfurt School ), Constructivism, Post-Structuralism, and Feminism. Subsequently, it uses these theories as lens to examine important historical events and/or contemporary issues of international politics. The course is designed to encourage enrolled students in developing critical thinking and transferable skills.

INTERNATIONAL SECURITY

The aim of this one-semester course is to familiarize students with the most important approaches to the study of security and with the key developments in international security after the end of the Cold war. We will first examine the key approaches toward the study of international security and the evolution of key concepts of security analysis over time. Students will learn about the contemporary topics in the study of security: terrorism, privatization of security, economic security, environmental security, cyber-security, weapons of mass destruction, arms trade, (trans-)national crime, and humanitarian interventions.

POLITICAL GEOGRAPHY AND GEOPOLITICS

Main goal of the course is to illustrate how and why objective geographical features (land area, size of population, presence of natural resources, etc.) are used and misused in politics and that political reading of such facts plays important role in everyday political life of all societies. Second part of the course will be focused on development of geopolitics – in both teoretical and practical sense, as distinct “art“ and practice of analyzing and forecasting political and military power over given territory.

LEGAL SYSTEM OF THE EU

The course aims at providing students with an understanding of basic principles of the EU legal system. First part of the course is dedicated to the very nature of EU law (primary law, supremacy, direct effect etc.) and the EU justice system. Second part covers EU material law in selected policies (free movements areas and competition policy). Students are required to work directly with the legal texts (treaties, ECJ cases) and interpret them for better understanding.

COMPARISON OF ECONOMIC SYSTEMS IN THE EU

This course is intended to give its participants a comprehensive understanding of the economic structures of the European Union and its member states. The course begins with a discussion of how to understand Europe from a perspective of political economy. The students then continue with a discussion regarding the consequences of the development of a single European market for the relationship between the state and the economy in Europe, a crucial component of the economic system, the question of, if we should talk of one or several economic systems in the European Union, and in particular within the countries of the Economic and Monetary Union. Special attention is paid to the causes and consequences of the eurozone crisis, and whether this crisis is caused by irreconcilable differences between the economies of the monetary area.

3rd semester

EU POLICIES

During the course students will get a detailed understanding of EU policy making. Some background knowledge of EU policy making from previous courses is expected. Special attention will be paid to the heterogeneous nature of both EU policy making and its output. Throughout the course the students will gain insight into the European Union functioning. The course literature consists of a mixture of current academic texts such as journal articles and book chapters, some text book chapters and think tank commentaries. The course is also intended to give the students a deeper understanding of the contemporary development within different EU policy fields. Thus, they will be encouraged to discuss and provide their opinions about the future development of EU policies.

EXTERNAL SECURITY OF THE EU

Students will be introduced to four major external challenges that confront the European Union today: territorial threats, terrorism, immigration, and transnational crime. At the end of the 13-week course, students will be able to follow and contribute to policy debates on all four of these issues.

EUROPEAN UNION: AREA OF FREEDOM, SECURITY, AND JUSTICE

The aim of this course is: (1) to introduce history and reasons of the existence of the AFSJ, (2) to discuss its development since the Maastricht Treaty till the Lisbon Treaty, including the most important milestones (Tampere Conclusions, Hague Programme, Stockholm Programme, Common European Asylum System, Schengen Agreements, establishment of EUROJUST, EUROPOL, FRONTEX etc.), and (3) to present main recent, post-Lisbon parts of the AFSJ. Numerous legal instruments and related non-legal measures in the area will be introduced during the course, as well as background of legislation process behind their adoption.

LEGAL ASPECTS OF EU POLICIES

This is a follow-up to the course EU Policies. It covers the EU competition policy, policy of non-discrimination in the area of free movement of goods, persons and services, equality policy, and policy enforcement mechanisms. The ECJ case-law is again combined with various doctrinal positions. The course is delivered in interactive tutorials with extensive participation of the students. At the end of the course, students will be able to understand the variety of tools and ways by which the policies are brought into practice.

REGIONALISM

The aim of this course is threefold. First of all, students will concentrate on the concept of region in social sciences in general and in Political geography/International relations in particular. Stein Rokkan´s Center-Periphery theory, Immanuel Wallerstein´s World System Theory and Regional Security Complex Theory of Barry Buzan and Ole Waever will be introduced and discussed. Secondly, students will pay attention to the question of spatial distribution of power within the state (concept of unitary and compound state, e.g. confederation, federation and regional state, will be introduced and discussed) and Regional and Structural policies of the EU will be examined. Thirdly every student (or group of students) will be encouraged to prepare and demonstrate his/her own presentation on a selected regional issue (political, security, economic, cultural or other aspects of regionalism).

4th semester

CONFLICT RESOLUTION IN INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS

This course aims to provide students with further intellectual tools to make sense of conflicts and means of conflict resolution. While this course is highly theoretical, it is also empirically aware and is designed to provide students with information on the current international relations environment as a means of preparing them for greater involvement in the nuanced world of peace making, peace keeping and conflict resolution.

DIALOGUE BETWEEN CULTRUES AND CIVILISATIONS: ISLAM AND EUROPE

The students will examine basic concepts of Islam, its religious authorities and the differences between its practices in various cultural settings and also to explore how Muslims integrated into Western societies. We will discuss the history of Islam and how it had developed in Europe, crystallizing in the so-called Western or EuroIslam. We will examine the main challenges of Islam in Europe as well as the reality of Muslim integration in Europe, namely in Germany, France, the UK, etc. This course also intends to address the questions of how changes inside Europe itself affect the perception of Muslim minorities living there.

CZECHOSLOVAK AND CZECH FOREIGN POLICY

The aim of the course is to analyse the development of the Czechoslovak and Czech foreign policy in light of the changing international as well as domestic socio-political conditions. Firstly, we will discuss the theoretical-methodological framework of foreign policy analysis, including the key concepts (such as isolationism vs. interventionism; Europeanization, Atlanticism etc.). The following part of the course will focus on different historical periods since the early existence of Czechoslovakia up to present. The third part will introduce the most important areas of foreign policy – security, economy and development, human rights and environment, assessed on (i) multilateral-; (ii) regional; (iii) sub-regional-, and (iv) bilateral level.