KAFP 4375 - The European Union as an International Actor

The objective of this course is to provide students a reflection on the EU as an international actor in a period where the War in Ukraine and US President Donald Trump’s (re)election have changed the issues and perspectives. The course will start by analysing the concepts and theories of the EU’s international actorness. It will then examine how the EU contributes to international affairs in different policy fields and geographical areas. Week 8 will be a policy exercise on a concrete dossier of EU foreign policy, and a practitioner will be invited as guest speaker in Week 11. Students will acquire key theoretical concepts and the application of theories through empirical examples related to the EU’s external relations.

A good knowledge about EU institutions and modes of governance is strongly advised.

Due to the number of students, it is not possible to have individual presentations in class. Each session will be a lecture for about 1 hour and 30 minutes, followed by 30 minutes of discussion on the topic.

Students will experience a policy exercise on Week 8, and exchanges with a practitioner on Week 11.

For this this course, AI may only be used for: 1) the assistance with activities prior to the writing of assignments and 2) checking grammatical errors and spelling mistakes. In both cases, you must clearly and precisely mention the use of AI in the assignments.

The final mark will consist of two elements. Late submissions will not be graded.

• Individual final paper (60% of the mark). Students are required to write a research paper of 3500 words maximum (footnotes and bibliographical references not included). An abstract of the topic (200 words) shall be sent to the Teaching Assistant by 23:59 on Friday 28 February 2026. The student will then get feedback of an approval or a change.

The final paper shall be sent by email to the Earl Wang’s Urkund account by 23:59 on Tuesday 28 April 2026. This anti-plagiarism system will automatically send out a successful submission message within 15 minutes.

• Group policy exercise (40% of the mark). Students are organised in groups to produce a policy paper with recommendations on an assigned foreign policy issue. The same issue will be analysed by all groups. The policy paper shall be sent to the Teaching Assistant’s Urkund account and a hard copy be handed in at the start of the course on Week 7 (17 March 2026). On Week 8, each group will present its policy recommendations and will discuss with other groups in class.

In-class presence: 2 hours a week; one compulsory reading per session: 1-2 hours a week; Research and preparation for assignments: 2 hours a week.