This compulsory course investigates the rapidly evolving external dimensions of European Union (EU) internal policies with the help of several emblematic case studies chosen from policy areas that fall within the remit of the European Green Deal. It enables students to explore the manifold intersections between EU internal and external policies and the different ways in which the European Union mobilises internal policies externally to attain internal and/or external policy objectives. Four forms of EU external engagement based on internal policies are considered: (i) a first form that revolves around the EU leveraging its internal policies – deliberately or unintendedly - by means of the “Brussels Effect” (Bradford 2020); (ii) a second form that relates to the EU’s attempts to proactively externalize its internal policies, notably in the wider European region; (iii) a third form by which the EU seeks to pursue objectives related to internal policies by interlinking them with, or integrating them into, external policies such as development and trade policies; and (iv) a final form of external engagement amounting to genuine bi- and multilateral ‘sectoral diplomacies’ in areas of initially internal EU policies. In the discussion of each of these four forms of EU external engagement, specific attention is paid, in a theory-informed way, to the EU’s presence and capacity (being) as a basis of its external action, the precise ways and instruments through which it acts (doing), and how and to what extent its external action based on internal policies can be and is effective (impact). Throughout the course, students are invited to reflect on the broader implications of the specific case examples taken from the policy areas of climate change, energy and the environment and will work together to design an ‘EU Green Deal 2.0 Diplomacy’ strategy. A concluding section extracts cross-cutting insights and offers the opportunity for an appraisal of the growing relevance of the rapidly evolving external dimensions of EU internal policies in the discussed issue areas and beyond.
Professor: Simon SCHUNZ