Foreign Policy Toolboox (2225.YR.014447.1)

Datos generales

Tipo:	OPT	Curso:	2,3,4	Periodo:	S semestre
Créditos ECTS:	2 ECTS

Profesorado:

Grupo	Profesor	Departamento	Idioma
Year 2	Arnau Gallard Agusti	Sociedad, Política y Sostenibilidad	ENG

Grupo	Profesor	Departamento	Idioma
Year 3	Arnau Gallard Agusti	Sociedad, Política y Sostenibilidad	ENG

Grupo	Profesor	Departamento	Idioma
Year 4	Arnau Gallard Agusti	Sociedad, Política y Sostenibilidad	ENG

At the end of the course, students should:
1. be familiar with the concepts of national interests and foreign policy, and the processes of foreign policy decision-making.
2. understand and apply the main foreign policy tools available to foreign policy practitioners.
3. use basic tools and frameworks to brief foreign policy decision makers.
By the end of the course, participants are expected to have acquired strong foreign policy tools fundamentals and be capable of analyzing a foreign policy problem. They should be able to understand, discuss and define foreign policy strategies and agendas.

1. Course Contents Session 1: National interests and foreign policy priorities Content: - Presentation of the course, assignments and grading. - Introduction to the concepts of national interests and foreign policy. Case: - US & EU foreign policies Session 2: Decision-making in foreign policy Content: - What is the organizational set-up for making foreign policy decisions? - How are decision makers influenced by their past experiences? - Basic tools to be used for the rest of the course Case: - Munich versus Vietnam Session 3: Bilateral diplomacy Content: - The first step in international relations is the establishment of direct communications between two sovereign states. Bilateral diplomacy is the most important tool in the foreign policy tool kit, and the one that enables most of the other tools. Cases: - Spain-Morocco Session 4: Public diplomacy Content: - How can governments influence foreign nationals to support, or at least tolerate, their strategic objectives? Cases: - Public diplomacy: China, Taiwan and others Session 5: Multilateral diplomacy Content: - How do sovereign governments achieve diplomatic solutions to supranational problems? Cases: - NATO: 21st century US-EU relations Session 6: Foreign aid Content: - What is international development and aid? - Is it only beneficial to recipient countries? Cases: - Spain: International cooperation and priority countries Session 7: Trade Content: - The value of World trade in goods and services in 2021 was more than US$28 trillion. But how is international trade regulated and how are trade disputes resolved? - How do countries use trade to promote their overall national interests? Cases: - WTO and the regulation of world trade - Euro-Mediterranean Free Trade Area Session 8: Sanctions Content: - Sanctions are penalties to a state, group or individual. While they are commercial or financial in nature, their motivation is often political, military or social. How do sanctions work and are they effective? Cases: - Iran - Venezuela Session 9: Force Content: - Military force is at times used to defend a country and allies, and to preserve broader peace and security. But is it effective or always necessary? Cases: - Political processes to deploy war: US - Nuclear weapons: coercion and deterrence Session 10: Intelligence, covert action & homeland security Content: - What is intelligence? - How does covert action differ from intelligence? - Is it legitimate to surveil your own citizens? Cases: - Intelligence in the run-up to Afghanistan and Iraq - Islamic attacks in London, Nice or Barcelona, and the surveillance of EU Muslim citizens Session 11: Humanitarian intervention & other global challenges Content: - Do sovereign states have the responsibility to protect countries or populations facing distress? - What are the challenges of military intervention when no perceived national interests are at stake? - What about 21st century challenges, like climate change, cyber-terrorism, computational propaganda, global pandemics, mass migrations, non-state actors and fresh water scarcity. Can they be addressed with our traditional toolbox? Cases: - Libya - Climate change

Course format and methodological approach

To achieve the objectives of the course, the format is based on a mix of lectures/class discussions, case studies, and in-class presentations.
In-Class Presentations. Starting on Session 4, the first part of the Session will be devoted to in-class presentations. Students will be responsible for delivering a 10-minute policy briefing, related to the session's policy tool and one of the session's case studies. Students will act as foreign policy advisers, and brief the professor and the rest of the class as if they were foreign policy decision makers. The rest of the class is excepted to raise questions, and challenge the content if necessary, as if they were foreign policy practitioners trying to make a decision. In-class presentations are a good introduction to the rest of the session's content.
Lecture/Discussion. The remainder of the session is devoted to a lecture/discussion format, focusing on that day's policy tool and usually a couple of case studies. The lecture/discussions are accompanied by assigned readings, which may be articles or book chapters. During these sessions I do not ?explain' the readings, therefore sessions do not substitute your reading or vice versa. I expect that you debate some of the ideas and contribute with your experiences. I also expect from you that you read and study the assigned material prior to class, as this accelerates the pace of the session and make discussions richer.

What do I expect from you in class

Active participation in this course is extremely important. Sharing your thoughts and experiences with the group will enrich all the participants and make the sessions more dynamic.
A learning area will be available in the Intranet. There, you would find instructions for the sessions, communications, bibliography, etc. Please look at it a couple of times a week. Slides of the sessions will also be posted here, always after the class.

- Packet of materials and readings (available through Moodle).
Recommended Pre-semester Reading:
- Richard Haass (2020) The World: A Brief Introduction

Grupo	Profesor	Departamento
Year 2	Arnau Gallard Agusti	Sociedad, Política y Sostenibilidad

Grupo	Profesor	Departamento
Year 3	Arnau Gallard Agusti	Sociedad, Política y Sostenibilidad

Grupo	Profesor	Departamento
Year 4	Arnau Gallard Agusti	Sociedad, Política y Sostenibilidad