Strategic Partnerships of the European Union 2751-KONJA-SPEU

The aim of the course is to present the relationships between European Union and its strategic partners among global and regional powers.

During the course students become familiar with 12 states considered as EU strategic partners: United States, Japan, Russia, China, Canada, India, Brazil, South Africa, Mexico, South Korea, United Kingdom and Vietnam. They would have an opportunity not only to learn about chosen aspects of each partnership, but also to compare studied relationships with each other.

Course schedule:
Ra – remote asynchronous classes, Rs – remote synchronous classes
1. Intrudaction_Organizational information – filling gaps in students' knowledge about who is the strategic partner of the European Union; introducing the course rules and schedule (Rs, 2h)
2. EU – US relationship – a 'pros and cons' discussion on whether Europe still needs a strategic partnership with the US (Rs, 2h)
3. EU – Japan relationship – 1 task – getting familiar with on-line materials and writing down 10 most important facts about EU-Japan relations since 2018 (Ra, 2h)
4. EU – Russia relationship – a 'Think–Pair–Share' discussion about the EU’s sanctions towards Russia, their effectiveness and possible change in European policy (Rs, 2h)
5. EU – China relationship – quiz – answering the questions about Sino-European relations after reading provided article (Rs, 2h)
6. EU – Canada – 2 task (the task would be done in groups) – reading strategic partnership agreement and tracing its actual execution by joint efforts (Rs, 2h)
7. EU – India relationship – 3 taks - reviewing the provided materials and comparing the EU's intentions (as expressed in official conclusions) with the actual state of EU-India relations.(Ra, 2h)
8. EU – Brazil relationship – quiz – answering the question about relations between Brazil and EU after reading provided article (Rs, 2h)
9. EU – South Africa relationship – 4 task (the task would be done in groups) – preparing recommendations for the European Union regarding its policy towards South Africa after searching need data on their own (Ra, 2h)
10. EU – Mexico relationship – 5 task – watching provided videos about EU-Mexico trade relations and answering the questions about its broader context and 6 task - preparing a short report on internal activities in Mexico and the European Union regarding human rights and their biggest challenges in this regard (Ra, 2h)
11. EU – South Korea relationship – 7 task (the task would be done in groups) - preparing a short multimedia presentation on the major achievements and remaining obstacles in one of the six selected spheres of EU-South Korea relations (Rs, 2h)
12. EU – United Kingdom relationship – 8 task – getting familiar with the provided videos on current EU-UK relations and materials on Brexit, and looking for signs of genuine rapprochement between Brussels and London since 2020 (Ra, 2h)
13. EU – Vietnam relationship – a 'roundtable' type of discussion about why the European Union chose Vietnam for its latest strategic partner (Rs, 2h)
14. Comparing all SP of EU – 9 task (the task would be done in groups) – preparing multimedia presentation using the database of the World Bank to compare 12 strategic partners of the EU in terms of 3 to 5 the most important indicators concerning: Economy & Growth, Environment, Science & Technology, Education (Ra, 2h)
15. Summary of the course and grading students – a 'roundtable' type of discussion about strategic partnerships as a tool of foreign policy of the European Union; proposing the grades based on earn points; if needed arranging the possibilities to enhance final grades (Rs, 2h)