The Common Foreign and Security Policy of the European Union

Since its inception, the European Union (EU) – and earlier the European Communities (EC) to a certain extent – has developed comprehensive and diversified foreign policies. Many theories have been mobilised to grasp the development of a European foreign Policy, ranging from realist to constructivist ones. These theories will be presented among others on the empirical example of the European neighbourhood policy, initiated in 2003-04 when the EU Eastern enlargement was about to be completed. Nowadays, the EU channels most of its activities towards Eastern Europe, the Southern Caucasus and the Mediterranean via the framework of the European Neighbourhood Policy (ENP), initiated in 2003-04. However, this general policy framework does not comprehend all aspects of the EU presence and actions in the neighbourhood. This course will therefore not only look into the setup, rationale and practice of EU's foreign policy, it will also analyse the overall role of the EU in addressing overarching policy areas such as crises and conflicts, migration, democracy and human rights promotion, trade, energy and environment and so on.