Syllabus
!!! Important message: Students interested in the course should send a short motivation email to the tutors at newseceu@volny.cz by October 1, 2009!!!
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THEMATIC OUTLINE:
- environmental security (topic: nuclear energy, food safety)
- military security (topic: out-of-area military operations of the European Union)
- political security (topic: European Neighbourhood Policy)
- societal security (topic: security implications of migration)
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INITIAL MEETING
- the meeting will take place on October 12, 2009, at 10 AM at the Institute of International Relations (Ústav mezinárodních vztahů) in Nerudova 3, 118 50 Praha 1 - Malá Strana
BLOC I: INTRODUCTION
- first login into OPAL
- reading the initial set of texts and taking an online test based on them
- first contributions to an online forum
INITIAL SEMINAR IN DRESDEN (October 22-25)
- detailed introduction into theoretical and practical aspects of the seminar
- division into working groups
- team-building activities
BLOC II: THEORY
- analyzing the theoretical aspects of the four dimensions of security
- online work (contributions to a discussion forum, writing a group paper)
BLOC III: HISTORY
- looking for historical roots of current security issues
- online work (contributions to a discussion forum, writing a group paper)
BLOC III: PRESENT
- identifying and analyzing the most important contemporary security problems
- online work (contributions to a discussion forum, writing a group paper)
- writing an individual essay (2000 words)
WORKSHOP IN BRUSSELS (January 25-29, 2010)
- presentation by officials from the European Commission
- presentation of the results of the student working groups to and discussion with Brussels-based experts
Annotation
New Dimensions of Security in Europe (NewSecEU) is an online international research seminar based on a project supported by the Virtual Campus programme of the European Commission. It focuses on four dimensions of contemporary European security - environmental, military, political and societal - in accordance with the approach forged originally by the so called Copenhagen School. During the seminar, students cooperate online in multinational working groups, tackling research issues in the four aforementioned dimensions of security. At the end of the semester, they will have an opportunity to present their findings to security experts in Brussels.
Four universities participate in the realization of this project: Charles University in Prague, University of Wroclaw, Dresden University of Technology and De Montfort University in Leicester. The course uses an online teaching and learning platform OPAL developed by German universities and supported by the state government of Saxony.