Training

GRADEU Jean Monnet Module Course Syllabus

Coordinator: Assoc. Prof. İsmail Erkam Sula

E-Mail: iesula@ybu.edu.tr

Office: AYBU Cinnah Campus – ULİSA Office 701

Description:

GRADEU (Global Risk Assessment Data and the EU’s role in the Governance of Global Risks) is an Erasmus Jean Monnet Module Project. The GRADEU module offers scientific data-based research on the transformation of global risks to facilitate the global governance capacity and management (identification, definition and tracking) of global risks, and act as an early-warning system before various global ‘risks’ turn into global ‘catastrophes’ and ‘crises’.  The project aims at training students and prospective experts. The Module is designed to teach the EU’s role in global governance comprehensively by including a wide range of topics in addition to  a rich variety of research outputs,  workshop, and policy recommendations.

The GRADEU Module is designed to deliver shorter (2 or 3 hours invited lecturers) and longer (6 hours Module Coordinator) lectures and seminars on 14 topics of global risks and their evaluation with regard to EUs role and capacity in global governance. The lectures will be delivered to undergraduate students and the seminars will take place with graduate students. All participating lecturers are experts on the topics that they choose to deliver lectures and seminars on.  At the end of each year of the module there will be assessments on the findings and discussions taken throughout the lectures and seminars.

GRADEU Jean Monnet Module Syllabus

Lecture 1&2 – Kick Off Lecture / GRAD and the EU’s role in the governance of Global Risks

İsmail Erkam Sula

This lecture and Seminar introduce the content and main topic of the GRADEU Module to the students. It first discusses the transformation of risks and challenges against humanity since the end of the Cold War Era. Then, shortly touches upon the EUs role in the global governance of those risks. The professor’s aim is to prepare and benefit from a dataset containing the global risks and threats that are mentioned in the annual published reports of various IGOs (UN, World Bank, World Economic Forum…etc.) and NGOs (Bulletin of Atomic Scientist, Global Challenges Foundation etc.). The preliminary findings from the Global Risks Assessment Dataset (GRAD) indicate that major global risks (some of them are potentially existential) may be categorized under 7 main headings: Artificial Intelligence (AI) & Technology, Development, Economy, Environment, Health, Nuclear Power, and Social Mass Mobility. In a time where global governance faces certain risks and challenges the EU prioritizes to become a stronger globalized actor and to take a more significant role in the global governance. Hence, in addition to introducing the GRADEU Module in detail the lecture discusses the EUs aims and priorities

Lecture 3&4 – Research Methods in EU studies I: Main Methodological Approaches

İsmail Erkam Sula

This lecture/seminar is designed as two interrelated flash-courses to train & introduce data collection for students that conduct EU related research. The first part will introduce research design in social sciences in general and then give general information on how philosophical and meta-theoretical positions of researchers affect how they conduct their research. This part is composed of three hours: 1) Introduction to the topic, 2) Lecture on components of a research design, 3) Discussion on why we need data/information social research? How a researcher connects his/her arguments with social phenomena? And how researchers collect data. This training is not inclined towards any philosophical position. It will encourage the students to think about (not to decide on) their stance in social research.

*Required Readings:

  • Barbara Geddes. Paradigm and Sandcastles: Theory Building and Research Design in Comparative Politics. University of Michigan Press, 2003. pp.27-88

Lecture 5 – The EU’s role in Global Governance

Emel Parlar-Dal

The European Union is a key participant in international organizations with its involvement taking different forms, ranging from full membership to mere observer. Moreover, there is also not only one status of observer, but different ones depending on the constituent charters of the organizations. This course provides a comprehensive overview of the EU’s relations with numerous international organizations at both regional and global levels. In sum, it seeks to provide a theoretical and practical look at the EU’s role, policies and positions in different international organizations the changing global governance architecture. This lecture also aims to assess the relations of the EU with formal, informal, and other regional international organizations. In doing so, it will explore the EU’s understanding of multilateralism and its relations with the Global South.

*Required Readings:

  • Bauhr M.& Nasiritousi N. (2009). Towards Better Governments? A Theoretical Framework for the Influence of International Organizations. QoG Working Paper Series, 31, 1-22.
  • Kissack R. (2010). “The European Union, Multilateralism and the Heterogeneous Multilateral System” (Chapter 1), The European Union, International Organisations and the Politics of Decision Making, Palgrave Macmillan, 1-24.

Lecture 6&7 – Research Methods in EU studies II: Qualitative and quantitative data collection techniques

İsmail Erkam Sula

The lecture/seminar is composed of two parts which will be conducted in two consecutive sessions. The first part is designed as a three-hour lecture and discussion and the topics covered are as follows: 1) Define and understand social science, 2) lecture and discussion on how different philosophical positions affect the researchers’ choice of the relevant method 3) Discuss “Science as a vocation” & contemporary standard of academic ethics and integrity.

*Requiered Reading:

  • Imai, Kosuke. 2018. Quantitative Social Science: An Introduction. Princeton University Press. Ch3. 75-123
  • Christopher Lamont, Research Methods in International Relations, London: Sage Publications, 2015. Ch.5

Lecture 8 – The EU’s role in the governance of global risks: AI & Technology

Hakan Mehmetcik

We witnessed it throughout the Industrial Revolution, which dramatically increased the ordinary living standard but also resulted in severe labor conditions and environmental destruction. And here we are, at the dawn of the AI revolution, with the advent of cloud computing and computer processing power, cheap storage, new algorithms, as well as new product and service innovations – from driverless cars and virtual reality to medical diagnostics and predictive machine maintenance –realizing the benefits of technology. However, we are also witnessing some negative, often unforeseen, repercussions of these technologies. Global tensions are a factor that amplifies technological risks. Weaponized artificial intelligence, digital espionage, and other technologies offer new threats to global prosperity. Newly developing technical ecosystems and technologies necessitate different ways of global governance that are specially designed to reap the advantages while also protecting individuals and societies. EU is one of the most important regional and global fore in setting the standards in numbers of areas, and this one is not an exception. Bearing in mind this background, in this lecture, we will talk about the way in which newly emerging technologies impact the EU and the EU in turn affecting the trajectory of technological changes happening at the global scale.

* Required Readings:

  • Akaev, Askar, and Vladimir Pantin. 2014. “Technological Innovations and Future Shifts in International Politics.” International Studies Quarterly 58 (4): 867-872.
  • Sambuli, Nanjira. “In my view: The promises, pitfalls and potential of global technology governance.” (2021).
  • Fay, R. B. Global Governance of Data and Digital Technologies: A Framework for Peaceful Cooperation

Lecture 9 – The EU’s role in the governance of global risks: Economy & Sustainable Development

Damla Cihangir-Tetik

This lecture introduces concepts of sustainable development, development cooperation, climate change and global actorness in foreign policy and IR. Secondly, it will focus on EU policy-making structures, institutions and EU member- states regarding sustainable development issues and development cooperation. Then, it will evaluate on the theoretical and empirical discussions about the EU’s global actorness in achieving the UN sustainable development goals in its external relations, particularly in its foreign, trade and development cooperation policies. Finally, the professor aims to provide information about the positions and policies of other global actors (the USA, BRICS, Japan, Global South states) regarding global economic and developmental problems and risks. Thus, students will be able to compare the EU and its role with other global actors in assessing global economic and developmental risks and providing solutions to them under the umbrella of global governance structures.

* Required Readings:

  • Zielonka, Jan. 2008. “Europe as a Global Actor: Empire by Example?”, International Affairs (Royal Institute of International Affairs 1944-), Vol. 84, No. 3, 471-484.
  • Rudiger K.W. Wurzel, James Connelly, Duncan Liefferink eds. 2017. The European Union in International Climate Change Politics: Still Taking a Lead?, “Part I: Introduction pp. 1-35 and Part VI: Conclusion pp. 285-303.”
  • Zuboff, S., & Schwandt, K. (2019). The age of surveillance capitalism: the fight for a human future at the new frontier of power. Profile Books.
  • Zuboff, S. (2015). Big other: surveillance capitalism and the prospects of an information civilization. Journal of information technology, 30 (1), 75-89.
  • Mazzucato, M. (2011). The entrepreneurial state. Soundings , 49 (49), 131-142.
  • Mazzucato, M. (2018). The entrepreneurial state: socializing both risks and rewards. Real-World Economics Review , 84 , 201-217.
  • Ricart, R.J. (2022). The EU and Japan: forging joint opportunities for global technology governance beyond great power rivalry
  • Csernatoni, R. (2019). The EU’s Technological Power: Harnessing Future and Emerging Technologies for European Security. In: Baciu, CA., Doyle, J. (eds) Peace, Security and Defence Cooperation in Post-Brexit Europe. Springer, Cham.
  • Monsees, L., & Lambach, D. (2022). Digital sovereignty, geopolitical imaginaries, and the reproduction of European identity. European Security, 31 (3), 377-394.
  • Ostry, S., & Nelson, R. R. (2000). Techno-nationalism and techno-globalism: Conflict and cooperation Brookings Institution Press.
  • Julian Ringhof, J. I. T. (2022, May 17). The geopolitics of technology: How the EU can become a global player. ECFR. Retrieved November 26, 2022, from https://ecfr.eu/publication/the-geopolitics-of-technology-how-the-eu-can-become-a-global-player/
  • Butcher, J., & Beridze, I. (2019). What is the state of artificial intelligence governance globally?. The RUSI Journal, 164(5-6), 88-96.
  • Daly, A., Hagendorff, T., Hui, L., Mann, M., Marda, V., Wagner, B., … & Witteborn, S. (2019). Artificial intelligence governance and ethics: global perspectives. arXiv preprint arXiv:1907.03848.
  • Lauterbach, A. (2019). Artificial intelligence and policy: quo vadis?. Digital Policy, Regulation and Governance.
  • Garcia, D. (2018). Lethal artificial intelligence and change: The future of international peace and security. International Studies Review, 20 (2), 334-341.
  • Andrew, J., Baker, M. The General Data Protection Regulation in the Age of Surveillance Capitalism. J Bus Ethics 168 , 565–578 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10551-019-04239-z
  • Bennett, C. J. (2018). The European General Data Protection Regulation: An instrument for the globalization of privacy standards?. Information Polity , 23 (2), 239-246.
  • Shaffer, G. (2000). Globalization and social protection: the impact of EU and international rules in the ratcheting up of US privacy standards. Yale J. Int’l L., 25 , 1.
  • Calderaro, A., & Blumfelde, S. (2022). Artificial intelligence and EU security: the false promise of digital sovereignty. European Security, 31 (3), 415-434.
  • Luo, Y. Illusions of techno-nationalism. J Int Bus Stud 53, 550–567 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1057/s41267-021-00468-5
  • Ernst, D. (2012). Europe’s innovation union–beyond techno-nationalism?.
  • Manning, R. A. (n.d.). Techno-nationalism vs. the Fourth Industrial Revolution. Global Asia. Retrieved November 26, 2022, from https://www.globalasia.org/v14no1/cover/techno-nationalism-vs-the-fourth-industrial-revolution_robert-a-manning
  • Csernatoni, R. (2021). The technology challenge in the transatlantic relationship. European View , 20 (2), 157-165.

Lecture 10 – The EU’s role in the governance of global risks: Environment & the EU Green Deal

Selin Türkeş-Kılıç

This lecture introduces an analytical perspective on the EU as a global actor in international environment politics. First, the lecture will set the framework of the pivotal leading role that the EU has undertaken in a broad range of environmental issues including climate change, global warming, climate induced migration, sustainable development. Secondly, the lecture will outline how the EU functions internally at the institutional level and how the member state positions vary in the making of international environmental policies. Finally, the potential impact of the Green Deal on the EU’s external relations will be discussed.

* Required Readings:

  • Oberthür, S. and Dupont, C. (2021), “The European Union’s international climate leadership: towards a grand climate strategy?”, Journal of European Public Policy, Taylor & Francis, Vol. 28 No. 7, pp. 1095–1114.
  • Teevan, C., Medinilla, A. and Sergejeff, K. (2021), “The Green Deal in EU foreign and development policy”, ECDPM Briefing Note 131.
  • Burns, C., Eckersley, P. and Tobin, P. (2020), “EU environmental policy in times of crisis”, Journal of European Public Policy, Taylor & Francis, Vol. 27 No. 1, pp. 1–19.

Lecture 11 – The EU’s role in the governance of global security and risks: Definitions and Main Concepts

Lecturer: Sinem Akgül-Açıkmeşe

The course will provide introductory knowledge on the EU’s role in global Security. It defines the key concepts, the referent objects of security, the concepts of risk and threat.

* Required Readings:

  • Baldwin, David A. (1997) The concept of security. Review of International Studies. 23(1): 5-26

Lecture 12 – The EU’s role in the governance of global risks: Millitary, Armament and Nuclear Proliferation

Giray Sadık

The objective of this lecture is to introduce the main factors, debates, and actors in EU’s foreign and security policy. Questions we will analyze include: What are the origins of the EU’s foreign and security policy? What is the role of EU’s foreign and security policy in international crises? What is the role of the international community in preventing crises from escalating to war? What are the relationships of EU Foreign policy and international organizations such as UN, NATO, EU, OSCE in maintaining world peace and managing complex relations among states?

* Required Readings:

  • Peter Hough, Shahin Malik, Andrew Moran and Bruce Pilbeam, eds. International Security Studies: Theory and Practice, Routledge, New York, USA, 2015. Additional readings will be provided during the semester.

Lecture 13 – The EU’s role in the governance of global risks: Defense and Technology

Çağlar Kurç

This lecture focuses on the debates surrounding the European defense architecture and how it shaped the defense industrial base and its governance. While investigating the debates, we will focus on the preferences of different actors, such as national governments, international armament organizations (OCCAR and EDA), European Union, and defense companies, and how their priorities have changed or remained the same since the 1990s. Thus, the relationships between these different actors and how they shaped each other choices will be the main framework of the lecture. Throughout the course, we will analyze the debates on integration among defense companies, the responsibility of governing the European defense industrial base, and promoting increased cooperation among the member states in terms of defense and military technology.

* Required Readings:

  • Schilde, K. (2017) The Political Economy of European Security. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
  • Calcara, A. (2020). European Defence Decision-Making: Dilemmas of Collaborative Arms Procurement (1st ed.). Routledge.

Lecture 14&15 – The EU’s role in the governance of global risks: Mobility and Mass Migration

Çağla Lüleci-Sula

Lectures #14-15 introduce main concepts and arguments about the relationship between the governance of risks and mass migration as a challenge for the EU to manage. The courses are designed to interpret how migration is governed through multiple policy options. Within this scope, the lecture first defines concepts such as global governance, different types of mobility and migration (i.e. documented, undocumented, refugee, asylum seeker, economic, brain drain, etc.), and the EU’s cooperation with third countries on the governance of mobility and borders. It then focuses on the recent mass migration from the MENA to the EU territories and the ways in which the EU actors manage mass mobility as a ‘risk’. Seminars #13-14 are designed as graduate seminars that add an interactive discussion session to the lectures. They aim to familiarize the students with conceptual and theoretical perspectives on migration and border governance and discuss the prospects and critiques of the politics of security in migration governance with a specific focus on the EU and its neighborhood.

* Required Readings:

  • Balzacq, T. (2009). The Frontiers of Governance: Understanding the External Dimension of EU Justice and Home Affairs. In T. Balzacq (Ed.), The External Dimension of EU Justice and Home Affairs: Governance, Neighbors, Security.
  • Bigo, D. & Guild, E. (2005). Controlling frontiers. Aldershot, Hants, England: Ashgate.
(pp. 1-34). London: Palgrave Macmillan.

Lecture 16 – The EU’s role in the governance of global risks: the COVID19 Pandemic & Health

Lecturer: Çiğdem Nas

The lecture concerns the effects of the Covid 19 pandemic on the EU and the EU’s role in the governance of public health risks. The lecture will include the following topics: the onset of the pandemic and the EU’s initial reactions, the effects on the freedom of movement in the EU, health-related measures adopted by the EU, economic and social measures adopted by the EU, analysis of the situation from the point of view of EU security strategy and international relations, EU’s attempts at a health union, conceptual analysis of the pandemic as a global risk and governance.

* Required Readings:

  • Andrea Renda, Rosa Castro, “Towards Stronger EU Governance of Health Threats after the covid 19 Pandemic”, European Journal of Risk Regulation 11(2):1-8, 2020.
  • Jonas Brendebach et al., “The Eu Response to the covid 19 Pandemic: Achieving Relevance, Mobilising solidarity and preapring for the Future”, EUI Policy Brief, April 2020.
  • Eleanor Brooks & Robert Geyer (2020) The development of EU health policyand the Covid-19 pandemic: trends and implications, Journal of European Integration, 42:8,1057-1076.
  • Vivien A. Schmidt (2020) Theorizing institutional change and governance inEuropean responses to the Covid-19 pandemic, Journal of European Integration, 42:8, 1177-1193.
  • Sarah Wolff & Stella Ladi (2020) European Union Responses to the Covid-19Pandemic: adaptability in times of Permanent Emergency, Journal of European Integration, 42:8,1025-1040.

Lecture 17&18 – GRADEU: End of the Year Seminar I: findings, fact sheets

İsmail Erkam Sula

This is the first round GRADEU end of the year lectures/seminars where we discuss the findings of the research so far and their implications for the future of EUs role in the global governance of global risks

* Required Readings:

  • The participants will be asked to read the Policy recommendation reports, fact/sheets made available to them based on the GRAD data. Check the GRADEU website and be ready to discuss their potential contributions.

Lecture 19&20 – GRADEU: End of the Year Seminar II: EUs Role as a Globalized Actor

İsmail Erkam Sula

This is the second round of the GRADEU end of the year lectures/seminars where we discuss the policy implications of the GRADEU module with specific reference to the Priorities of the EU Commission. The main aim is to understand EUs Role as a Global Actor by discussing its policies according to the findings of the research activities of the GRADEU module.

* Required Readings:

  • The participants will be asked to read the Policy recommendation reports, fact/sheets made available to them based on the GRAD data. Check the GRADEU website and be ready to discuss their potential contributions.