Geopolitical shifts, mounting global competition, and a fractured international order have fundamentally transformed the European Union's place on the international stage. This track is built around exploring how the EU elaborates its foreign policy, projects power, and both influences and is influenced by a rapidly changing world. Grounded in economic, legal, and political analysis, the track offers in-depth study of crucial areas including trade policy, enlargement, and the legal dimensions of external relations. Students will examine the EU’s ties with its immediate Eastern and Southern neighborhoods in times of peace and war, as well as its complex relationships with global actors. This specialization addresses also contemporary issues such as the politics of international development, comparative regionalism, digital-age power dynamics, and how the EU is perceived by external partners and competitors.

Academic Programme
MA in European Interdisciplinary Studies: The European Union and the World Study Track 

The College of Europe reserves the right to modify its academic programme subject to the decisions of its Academic Council.The study programmes are reviewed annually to ensure their continued quality and relevance.
 

1ST SEMESTER

Introductory courses

• BOBROWICZ, B. – Introduction to Economics  
• BUTTERWICK-PAWLIKOWSKI, R. – History of European Civilization
• CHRISTIE, E. H. - Elementary Foundations in Economics and Econometrics  
• HAMMAMI, A.; STEINGASS, S. – Introduction to Political Science  
• SCHIRMANN, S. – L'Histoire de la construction européenne  
• SCHUMACHER, T. – Introduction to International Relations  
• SZOSTAK, R. – Introduction to Interdisciplinarity and Transdisciplinarity  
• VAN ELSUWEGE, P. – Introduction to Law  
• WESSELS, W. – Introduction to Theories and Strategies of European Integration  

Core Courses 

European Regional Studies

• BUTTERWICK-PAWLIKOWSKI, R. – East-Central Europe, 1815-1940 (14h)  
• MINK, G. – L'Europe centrale et orientale depuis 1940 (16h)  

Pluridisciplinary Foundation

• LORD, C. – EU Institutions and Decision-making (20h)
• VAN ELSUWEGE, P. – The EU Legal Order: Rights, Norms and Values (20h)
• WESSELS, W. – EU Economic Governance (20h)

Interdisciplinary Foundation

• SMITH, K. E. – The International Relations of the EU (20h)
• MAYR-HARTING, T. – The European Union and Bi- and Multilateral Diplomacy (20h)
• LANNON, E. – The EU Enlargement and Neighbourhood Strategies: a Geo-Legal Approach (20h)

Contextual Courses

European Regional Studies

• CICHOCKI, M. A.; DĘBSKI, S. – Cold War Strategies from the Central Eastern Europe Perspective (10h)

Simulation Games 

• SCHUMACHER, T. – EU Foreign Policy-Making in Times of Conflict in the EU's Neighbourhood (10h)

Master’s thesis and Research strategies and tools

In addition to the courses they take during the first and second semesters, students must write and defend a Master’s thesis in English or French.

• STEINGASS, S. (coord.); BOBROWICZ, B.; CHABAN, N.; EXADAKTYLOS, T.; LONGHURST, K.; MINK, G.; ROZUMALSKI, J.; SZOSTAK, R.; VAN ELSUWEGE, P.; VANNONI, M.; WINAND, P. – Research Strategies and Tools (20h)
• Master Theses Colloquia

Study trip

The first semester study trip offers students a deeper understanding of European identities and a first-hand experience of policies in practice at the EU’s borders. The study trip is an integral part of the academic programme, participation is obligatory and students are expected to attend all related conferences and activities.

2ND SEMESTER

Specialist Courses

European Civilisation

• CICHOCKI, M. A. – From the Greek Agora to the Ukrainian Euromaidan and War: the History of Ideas of Democracy in Europe (20h)
• LEWIS, M. A. – Crimes against Humanity, Genocide, and International Justice (20h)
• MINK, G. – Histoire, mémoire, usages et mésusages politiques, de la Seconde Guerre mondiale à Poutine (20h)
• MOORHOUSE, R. – Totalitarian Ideologies and Dictatorships in Twentieth-Century Europe (20h)
• SEGRETO, L. R. – Europe and the Global Economy from the Industrial Revolution to the Internet (20h)
• STODDARD, E. – Changing Character of Warfare from Antiquity to the Present Day (20h)
• WONGSURAWAT, W. – The End of Empires: Decolonization of Asia with comparative references to Africa and Latin America (20h)

Legal and Political Frameworks

• BLOCKMANS, S. – The Legal Dimension of EU External Relations (20h)
• SCHLEGELMILCH, R. – EU Trade Policy from Rules based Trade to Trade Wars (20h)
• CARBONE, M. – The European Union, the Global South and the Politics of International Development (20h)
• YORK, J. – Politics in the Digital Age: Power, Platforms, and Participation (20h)
• TARDY, T. – NATO and European Defense Policy (20h)
• ŁAZOWSKI, A. – Enlargement Policy of the European Union (20h)

Partners and Competitors

• WINAND, P. – Comparative Regionalism (20h)
• CABESTAN, J.-P. – China and the World (20h)
• FRÖHLICH, S. – Transatlantic Fracture: Europe, the US and the Erosion of the World Order (20h)
• SCHUMACHER, T. – Whither Neighbourhood? The EU, Eastern Europe, and the Southern Mediterranean in Times of Peace and War (20h)
• HILLION, C. – The EU’s Relation(s) with a Wider Europe – The Legal Dimension (20h)

European Regional studies  

Central Europe:  

• DĘBSKI, S. – Between a Rock and a Hard Place: Central European Strategic Thought And Practice (20h)
• DUIJZINGS, G. – Flow and Friction along the Danube: Globalization and its Local Discontents (20h)
• PIĄTKOWSKI, M. – The Golden Age of Central Europe: The Path from Poverty to Prosperity and the Way Forward (20h)

Eastern Europe & Russia:

• GILES, K. – Contemporary Russian Foreign and Security Policy (20h)
• LANOSZKA, A. – War and Conflict in the Post-Soviet Space (20h)
• NOWAK, A. – Russian Ideologies: The Last Two Centuries (from Pushkin and Karamzin to Dugin and Putin) (20h)
• ONUCH, O. – Revolutions and Mass Mobilization in Eastern Europe (20h)
• TYUSHKA, A. – The EU, Russia and the EU’s Eastern Neighbourhood: Power, Performance, and Perceptions (20h)
• WILSON, A. – The Making of Modern Ukraine: History, Independence and War (20h)
• WOLCZUK, K. – State-building, Democratisation and Economic Transformations in Eastern Europe (20h)

Mediterranean:

• AYDIN, M. – Turkey Between Europe and Eurasia: Historical and Contemporary Evaluation (20h)
• BOURIS, D. – EU-Middle East Relations: Conflict, Peace and Security (20h)
• DEMMELHUBER, T. – Autocratization in the Middle East and North Africa: Transregional and Global Perspective (20h)
• LANNON, E. – The EU and its Southern Neighbourhoods (20h)

Balkans:

• LEWIS, M. A. – Politics and Diplomacy in the Balkans from the Nineteenth Century to the Present (20h)
• TEOKAREVIC, J. – Western Balkans: EU Enlargement, External Influences, Post-Conflict Transition (20h)
• Nordics & Baltics:
• BERGMANE, U. – The Baltic Region from the Fall of the Soviet Union to the Enlargement of the EU and NATO (20h)

Compact Seminars

• CHABAN, N. – External Perceptions of the EU and EU Public Diplomacy: Views from the EU’s Neighbourhoods and around the World (10h)
• GARDINI, G. L. – The International Relations of Latin America and its Interaction with the EU (10h)
• ISLAM, S. – The EU and the Indo-Pacific (10h)
• SHAGINA, M. – Sanctions and Economic Statecraft (10h)

European Regional Studies

Central Europe:  

• PUDŁOCKI, T. – The Cultural History of Central Europe from Fin-de-Siècle to Totalitarianism (10h)

Eastern Europe & Russia:

• ISAACS, R. – Central Asia as the EU's Wider Neighbourhood: Power, Politics, and Foreign Policy (10h)
• SABADUS, A. – Opportunity in Adversity: Moldova’s way to energy resilience (8h)

Mediterranean:

• AL-SABBAGH, R. – Investigative Journalism in the Southern Neighbourhood (8h)
• SHEIKH, N. – Religion and the State in the EU’s Southern Neighbourhood: Politics, Authority, and Religious Movements in the Middle East and North Africa (10h)
• Nordics & Baltics:
• ALIYEV, N. – Geopolitics and Geoeconomics of the Arctic (8h)

Simulation Game

• BUTTERWICK-PAWLIKOWSKI, R. – Creating a System of Euopean Security: The Congress of Vienna 1814-15 (8h)
• ANDRIUKAITIS, L. – Disinformation in Diplomacy (8h)

Cooperation with external partners

• MIKOS-SKUZA, E. – Introduction to International Humanitarian Law (17h)
• Workshops in history organized in cooperation with the Max Weber programme of the European University Institute (TBC)  

Language courses

In addition to benefitting from a bilingual study programme, students can take advantage of language courses on offer implemented by the Languages and Intercultural Dialogue Office. The following languages are on offer: English, French, Italian, German, Polish, Russian, Spanish and Arabic.