Core modules
Europe and the World
The changing international geopolitical context has intensified focus on the European Union’s foreign, security and defence policies. The EU, in response to challenges within its own borders, in its wider region and beyond, published its Global Strategy for European Foreign and Security Policy in 2016 and the Strategic Compass for Security and Defence was formally adopted by the EU member states one month after the invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. The British referendum result and Brexit also challenged the EU’s identity as a strategic actor in international affairs.
This module explores the evolution of the EU as a foreign, security and defence actor and the debates about its evolving identity. It does so through first, assessing the utility of conceptual and theoretical schools of thought in explaining and helping us to understand how integration has evolved in foreign and security policy, and second, in critically engaging in the debates relating to the EU’s identity as a global power and actor in the 21st century. The module applies the theoretical debates to practical examples of the EU’s capabilities in relation to its immediate neighbourhood, including issues of enlargement to the Western Balkans, the EU’s neighbourhood policy to the east and south, and the EU’s fitful relationships with Turkey and Russia. It also explores the way in which the EU can influence key global issues such as the environment, trade and cybersecurity and shape relations with key regional actors from Latin America and Africa.
Dissertation
The Dissertation is the final piece of assessment, worth 60 credits. It gives you a chance to treat a topic of your choice, related to your course. It is a personal and autonomous piece of research, conducted under the guidance of a member of staff in your disciplinary field, mostly during term 3 and summer.
Optional modules
Optional modules can vary from year to year. Example optional modules may include:
- Justice and Equality
- Theories and Issues in International Political Economy
- Secrecy and Spies: British Intelligence in the Modern World
The optional module listsLink opens in a new window are updated regularly.
You will have the freedom to select 2-4 modules from our extensive range of optional modules, up to a total of 120 CATS of taught modules.
