Sylabus
In the course of the seminar, students you will deal with substantive issues of the foreign policies of Poland, Czech Republic and Germany. Main focus will be on the comparison of the foreign policies of the three named countries. Besides, a brief introduction into theories and methods of Foreign Policy Analysis will be provided as well as ways and means of its application on individual cases.
The structure of the course reflects its specifics. It consists of four modules: After the introductory module, students will focus on three topics (each being covered within a four-week period) which have been lately relevant for the foreign policies of the three countries: position towards the enlargement of the EU, national policies towards Eastern EU neighbours, and the role played by the countries during the recent war in Iraq (this part will take the form of a role-play). All these activities will proceed online, using a dedicated educational interface (ILIAS system). During the modules, students – divided into tri-national working groups – will search for and asses the relevance of internal and external factors influencing and determining the state behaviour. This effort will result in online exchange of opinions and placement of online papers. The papers will be discussed later on during the weekend workshops. Here, each working group will present its paper and compare the foreign policy of the given country with its counterparts.
During the whole course, students are expected to work independently on an individual and working group basis. They will be provided online with necessary documents, literature and other materials to guide their activities but will be free and encouraged to search for additional information and integrate it into their papers.
COURSE STRUCTURE:
Module 1: Introduction o October 13 – 15, 2006 o Dresden
Module 2: EU dimension of national foreign policy: Dealing with enlargement
• online phase: o October – November 2005
• workshop: o November 10 – 12, 2006 o Prague
Module 3: East European policy
• online phase: o November – December 2006
• workshop: o December 8 – 10, 2006 o Wrocław
Module 4: Transatlantic dimension: War in Iraq
• online phase: o December 2006 – January 2007
• workshop: o January 5 – 7, 2007 o Berlin
Anotace
The tri-national seminar has been jointly developed and will be carried out by the Institute of Political Studies at the Charles University Prague, Institute of Political Science at the University of Wrocław, and the Chair of International Relations at Dresden University of Technology. The core idea has been to use the internet as a educational medium for analyzing and comparing foreign policies of Poland, Czech Republic, and Germany in the post-Cold War period.
A central element of the seminar is to work online on specific topics in tri-national working groups and present the results of the group work in writing and orally. The online work will be complemented with four workshops in the respective cities of the participating universities and in Berlin. The course offer students a unique opportunity to get to know their counterparts from Poland, Czech Republic and Germany and to expand their knowledge in the area of foreign policy analysis.
The course offers the students an unorthodox but demanding opportunity to encounter new form of education, fully exploring the capabilities of the internet and fostering cooperation with their colleagues abroad.