Center: 
European Union
Program(s): 
Discipline(s): 
Political Science
International Relations
Course code: 
PO/IR 370
Terms offered: 
Fall
Spring
Credits: 
3
Language of instruction: 
English
Instructor: 
Dr. Gert Fehlner
Description: 

This course focuses on various aspects, policies and levels of EU-US relations in the post-cold war world, including European institutions. It will cover different aspects of transatlantic foreign and security policy, economic and trade relations, and shared and conflicting values. Moreover, it will examine the ongoing debate about the destiny of Europe. Students will be introduced to key players and fundamental policy concepts while investigating the transatlantic partnership from the above perspectives.

Prerequisites: 

Course in European History, Contemporary Politics or International Relations

Learning outcomes: 

In general, students will develop both intercultural awareness and competencies, including a fresh perspective on the students’ home country, as well as a deeper understanding of the history, the political and economic processes, the security challenges and the relevance of cultural considerations in contemporary transatlantic relations.

The course aims at encouraging the participants to analyze, as members of a group and on their own, the substance, the background and the future of the complex transatlantic relationship. Their views will derive from reflections triggered by academic debate, key documents, basic facts and first-hand information.

The above objectives will be achieved through a mix of teaching and learning techniques, including class room lectures and discussions, role play, independent study, first-hand experience on the field trips (including personal encounters with EU officials, specialized academics, and lobbyists working within the framework of the transatlantic relationship).

By the end of the course, students are able to:

  • identify the historical framework and operating constraints of the transatlantic relationship;
  • better understand and analyze different approaches to common transatlantic challenges;
  • evaluate the impact of shared values and differing attitudes on both sides of the Atlantic;
  • recognize the strategic importance and advantages of the partnership for both parties;
  • position the transatlantic relationship in relation to the BRICs.
Method of presentation: 

Lectures, student summaries, seminar discussions, group work, role play. However, students are expected to discuss the readings for each class with their fellow students and their professor. Participation is part of the students’ overall grade, therefore it is indispensable that all students do contribute during class meetings.

Required work and form of assessment: 
  • Reading assignments, active participation and small homework assignments (25%)
  • Term strategy paper (5%)
  • Paper (25%)
  • Midterm (20%)
  • Final exam (25%)

Seminar discussions are based upon the compulsory readings and teaching introductions to the subject given at each session. The students are expected to join the debate with (prepared) questions and arguments related to the readings as well as contributions from their own reflections. Occasionally, quizzes may be given.

Who is who? - Team Presentation (slideshow, factsheet, 10 minutes presentation) of “Brussels D.C.” and Washington: The diplomacy of transatlantic policy making – The European Institutions and their American counterparts. Preparation: European Union (2012) Institutions’ Websites on Relations with the United States, i.e. The European Union Delegation to the U.S. and the respective US Government Websites.

The strategy paper (2-3 pages) should present your positions and actions in one of the EU-US trade disputes the class selects as a case study. Here, you should reflect upon the issue of Transatlantic Economic Relations and how the party you represent views the issues at hand. You may use the opportunity to point out how the dispute covered represents different approaches of the US and EU on its resolution. The strategy paper also forms the basis for our classroom debate on the topic.

The midterm and final exam consist each of a number of short-answer questions on different aspects of the topics addressed in the class discussions (e.g. main facts and dates, political assessment of certain aspects of the EU-US partnership, proposals and ideas for the future development of the transatlantic relations), and an additional one-page essay question.

The Term paper (8 to 10 pages; double-spaced, cover page, tables, figures, and references excluded) is a research-paper and will be written on a seminar-related topic. Each student has to turn in an outline of the term paper including a list of at least five bibliographical sources by October 31, 2012 (paper copy in my mailbox at the IES center). The deadline for the term paper is December 6, 2012

Field Trip: “Germany and the U.S. – A local approach” The Carl-Schurz-Haus Freiburg, on Thursday, October 11, 2012

content: 

1. Bridging the Atlantic: An introduction to EU-US Relations

2. Are the times a-changin’? – Basic texts and stock-taking
Readings: Transatlantic Declaration, New Transatlantic Agenda, 2010 EU-US Summit Declaration

3. What do we think of each other? Transatlantic Trends Survey 201
Readings: German Marshall Fund Transatlantic Trends 2011

4. “Brussels D.C.” and Washington: The diplomacy of transatlantic policy making – Who is who?

The European Institutions and their American counterparts – Presentations
Preparation: European Union Websites, US Government Websites

5. Case study I: Germany and the U.S. – Partnership in leadership? Impact for Transatlantic Relations
Readings: Anderson pp.1-3, Stuchtey

6. Afternoon: Local Field TripGermany and the U.S. – A local approach: The Carl-Schurz-Haus Freiburg” 

7. Institutions field trip: Brussels – Briefing at the Agricultural Commission:
Meeting with Dr. Anastassios Haniotis (DG Agri), Director of Strategic Planning).

8. “Europe as Not-America” and “The Transatlantic Bargain” – Postwar history of transatlantic relations
Readings: Garton Ash pp. 54-95, Toje pp. 21-49.

9. The EU-US Economic  and Trade Relations: Basic features and key figures
Readings: EU Insight 2010, Cooper pp. 1-11, Jones pp. 79-90.

10. Mock debate on EU-US Trade Relations: Trade disputes & case studies
Readings: Mildner&Schmucker pp. 1-6, Rosecrance pp. 42-50.
Additional material/group presentation schedule on Moodle

Strategy paper due

Outline of the Termpaper due

11. Midterm / How to write a term paper

12. Learning from each other: Towards a greener relationship?
Readings: EU Insight & EU Focus, Smith pp. 139-153, Hill pp. 157-194.

13. A climate change for environmental policies? Approaches of the EU and the US
Readings: Kramer pp. 52-55, Swieboda pp. 111-123, Levi pp.1-4.

14. Multilateral vs. Unilateral: New Administration – Old Politics?
The European Security Strategy and the U.S. National Security Strategy – A comparison

Readings: Bohne pp. 48-53; Hill pp. 197-214, Jones pp. 63-77, Moravcsik pp. 203-206. Background information: The ESS (2003) & The NSS (2006) & (2010) (on Moodle)

EU Member States Trip: Thursday, November 22 through Saturday, December 1

15. NATO after 60 – Early retirement or Second Life? Afghanistan and beyond
Readings: Goldgeier pp. 48-51, Drozdiak pp.1-5, Pond pp. 1-4.

16. Case study II: “20 years ago:  1991 Operation Desert Storm”
Readings: Parsons pp. 55-73, Ambrose pp. 381-397.

17. 11 years after 9/11: The EU-US relations and the fight against terrorism: The role of International Law & Human Rights – Movie Reflection Session
Reading: Archick, pp. 1-17, Toje pp. 115-142, Spiegel Online pp. 1-11.

18. Optional viewing : award winning documentary ‘Taxi to the Dark Side’ (you tube)

19. Conclusion: The European Union and the future of the transatlantic partnership
Readings: Rifkin pp. 1-11, Baldwin pp. 1-8, Janes pp. 26-30.

20. Final Exam (on all sessions)

Required readings: 

Anderson, Jeffrey: Germany at 60 in Europe, In: AICGS Transatlantic Perspectives August 2009.

Ambrose, Stephen: Bush and the Gulf War pp. 381-397, In: Rise to Globalism – American Foreign Policy since 1938, New York, 1997.

Archick, Kristin: US-EU Cooperation against Terrorism, In: Congressional Research Service – Washington, 2010, pp. 1-17.

Baldwin, Peter: A narrower Atlantic, Prospect magazine, Issue 158, May 2009, pp. 1-6.

Bohne, Eberhard: Continental Divide, In: Internationale Politik, Global Edition, Vol. 8, 2007, pp. 48-53.

Cooper, William H.: EU-US Economic Ties: Framework, Scope and Magnitude, In: Congressional Research Service – Washington, 20th March 2009, pp. 1-11.

Drozdiak, William: The Brussels Wall, In: Foreign Affairs May/Jun 2010, Vol. 89, Issue 3, pp.1-5.

European Commission: EU Insight on Trade, the Transatlantic Relationship and the Global Economy, April 2010, pp. 1-8. EU Insight & EU Focus on Climate Change, July 2008, pp. 1-10. The European Union and the United States: A Long-Standing Partnership, December 2010, pp1-8.

Garton Ash, Timothy: “Europa as Not-America” pp. 54-95 in: Free World, London, 2005. Europe’s new story; Anti-europeanism in America, In:Facts are subversive, Atlantic Books, London, 2010.

Goldgeier, James: NATO`s Future, In: Harvard International Review, Spring 2009, pp. 48-51.

German Marshall Fund, The: Transatlantic Trends 2011 – Key findings www.transatlantictrends.org

Hill, Steven: Global Europe pp. 197-214; Sustainable Europe pp. 157-194, In: Europe´s Promise – Why the European way is the bet hope in an insecure age, Berkely, University of California Press, 2010.

Janes, Jackson: Sharing Global Responsibilities - In: Internationale Politik, Global Edition 3/2010, pp. 26-30.

Jones, Bruce: The coming clash ? Europe and US multilateralism under Obama, In: The Obama Moment EUISS, 2009,  pp. 63-77.

Jones, Erik: Transatlantic Economic relations, In: The Obama Moment, EUISS, 2009, pp. 79-90.

Kramer, Andreas: Learning from Europe´s Mistakes – Can the US catch up in climate protection? In: Internationale Politik, Global Edition, Spring 2009, pp. 52-55.

Lundestad, Geir, Ed.: Just Another Major Crisis?: The United States and Europe Since 2000. Oxford UP, 2008

Levi Michael: Beyond Copenhagen, 22. February 2010, pp.1-4. http://www.foreignaffairs.com/articles/65985/michael-levi/beyond-copenha...

Mildner, Stormy: Transatlantic Trade Tiff, In: Internationale Politik Global Edition, Winter 2008, pp. 70-75.

Moravcsik, Andrew: US-EU Relations: Putting the Bush Years in Perspective,

In: Federiga Bindi, Ed. The Foreign Policy of the European Union: Assessing Europe’s Role in the World. Washington D.C., Brookings Institution Press, 2010,  pp. 203-206.

Parsons, Anthony: The Gulf Crisis, In: From Cold War to Hot Peace, UN Interventions 1947-1995, London, Penguin, 2005, pp. 55-73.

Pond, Elizabeth:  Renewing the Aged Alliance - A new NATO strategic concept goes public, IP-Global 19. May 2010, pp. 1-4. , http://www.ip-global.org/archiv/exclusive/view/1274262243.html

Rees, Wyn: The US-EU Security Relationship, London, Palgrave Macmillan, 2011

Rifkin, Jeremy: Why the European Dream Is Worth Saving, pp. 1-11. In: SPIEGEL ONLINE Int. Edition http://www.spiegel.de/international/0,1518,366940,00.html

Rosecrance, Richard: Bigger is Better – The Case for a Transatlantic Economic Union,

In: Foreign Affairs May/Jun 2010, Vol. 89, Issue 3, pp. 42-50.

Smith, Julianne: The Transatlantic Climate Change Challenge, In: The Washington Quarterly Winter 2007-08, pp. 130-153.

Smith, Michael: The EU and the United States pp. 404-434,in: Christopher Hill, International Relations and the EU, Oxford, 2011

Stuchtey, Tim: Two Different Sides of an Equation: What Germany and the United States Should Learn From Each Other, In: March 18, 2010, AICGS Advisor.

Swieboda, Pawel: Climate policy: the quest for leadership, In: the Obama Moment, 2009, pp. 111-123.

Toje, Asle: The transatlantic bargain + The Kosovo war, pp. 21-79. The Iraq crisis, pp. 115-142. In: America, the EU and Strategic Culture, London and New York, Routledge, 2008.

Additional required reading consists of articles from current newspapers, political magazines and journals (like The Economist, IHT, Newsweek, Der Spiegel International Edition and others), that will be distributed in class.

Junger, Sebastian: War, New York, Hachette Book Group, 2010 (The bestseller author writes on his experience in Afghanistan as an embeded journalist)

Zakaria, Fareed: America´s Purpose, pp. 215-260 In: The Post-American World, London, Penguin, 2008 (The CNN host and Time Magazine contributor on the changing role of global actors)

Other Resources: 

EU - US RELATED WEBSITES

Brief Biography of Instructor: 

Dr. Gert Fehlner was born and lived in Eastern Bavaria, close to the Iron Curtain, until 1988 when he moved to Bonn to work in the US Embassy as a cultural affairs specialist. In 1991 he left the US foreign service to return to university, taking over the position of Head of Administration at the Albert Ludwigs-Universität Freiburg’s English Department. He has remained at Freiburg and, aside from his regular job in his department, has spent increasingly more time working on projects of modernization and Europeanization of higher education. Meanwhile, he has followed international relations (with an emphasis on Europe and the USA) with a keen interest. This stems from his professional career, and his studies of diplomatic history and political science at the Universität Regensburg (Bavaria) and universities in the US (University of Georgia at Athens; University of California at Berkeley, and University of Oregon at Eugene). Gert served as a visiting Fulbright professor at the UO in Eugene in 1998 and 2010 and hast taught seminars on US and European affairs at various institutions of higher education in the US and Europe.