EU External Relations: Green Transition, Energy Security and Geopolitical Struggles

Several predicaments challenge EU external relations to an unprecedented degree. The conflict in Ukraine has returned inter-state, territorial war to Europe, challenging the European emphasis on interdependence by exposing the vulnerability of one-sided dependence on Russian fossil fuels. Global warming pushes EU to reconsider both regulation and investment policies across policy areas to avoid climate disaster. Illiberal political movements, both in Europe and internationally, are increasingly vocal in their critique of the liberal international order. The election of Donald Trump and the possibility of his, or a like-minded candidate´s, return to power in 2024 jeopardizes the future of trans-Atlantic relations. Meanwhile, states in many parts of the Global South vocally demand justice, sovereignty and influence on international relations, often aligning with Europe’s strategic competitors.

The Danish EU presidency in the fall of 2025 provides an additional motivation for this course as Denmark has a special opportunity to impact these issues, and many students will have a chance to contribute to the presidency through internships and student jobs.

Within this context, the course introduces EU external relations, and digs into three policy areas that currently undergo rapid change; climate, energy, and security policy. Energy policy has come to the top of the political agenda, as the war in Ukraine revealed the cost of deep dependence on Russian fossil fuels. European Green Deal EU aims for EU climate neutrality by 2050 and pushes for climate action globally, but faces increasing pushback. Meanwhile, the competitive and conflict-ridden geopolitical environment has led EU-actors to push for greater European strategic autonomy in the area of security and defence. The policy areas are both important in their own right, and increasingly intertwined due to resource constraints, and because decision-makers increasingly recognize that they must be resolved comprehensively.

Empirically the course renders these multi-facetted developments concrete by discussing them with regard to the EU’s eastern and southern relations. Looking at eastern relations the course discusses the impact of the war in Ukraine across the covered areas. Regarding southern relations the course discusses how Global dynamics impact EU-African relations focusing on climate and energy policy in East Africa.

This course will be divided into three parts. Part One provides a historical overview of EU external relations and central theoretical prisms through which EU external relations can be analyzed. Part Two introduces the internanional relations of the three main policy areas covered in the course; climate, energy and security. Part Three focuses on case-studies centered on the EU’s southern and eastern relations.

Throughout the course, several guest lecturers, with distinct expertise on the three covered policy areas will contribute. Among the lecturers are Ditte Brasso Sørensen, Senior Analyst at Tænketanken Europa, who works on EU climate policy; Martin Birk Rasmussen, Project Leader at CONCITO and an expert on EU energy policy; and Christine Nissen, Chief Analyst at Tænketanken Europa and an expert on EU security and defense policy. The course will also invite 1-2 guest speakers from Makerere University (Uganda) and Saint Augustine University (Tanzania) to discuss East African-EU relations 

in the areas of energy, climate, and security policy. Finally, the course will feature presentations by diplomats from the EU Commission and the Danish Representation.

This section provides an overview of the lecture organization.

Part One: General perspectives

1. The lecture introduces EU external relations and outlines the course and its objectives.
2. The lecture provides a historical overview of the deep history and development of what became EU external relations starting with the end of World War 2.
3. The lecture presents institutionalist theoretical frameworks to study EU external relations (functionalism and neo-liberal institutionalism)
4. This lecture introduces rationalist and material theoretical perspectives on EU external relations (realist and critical)
5. This lecture provides an introduction to ideational theoretical approaches focusing on liberal, conservative and Green-critical approaches.

Part Two: Policy Areas

1. This lecture presents the development and state of EU energy policy with a guest presentation from Martin Birk Rasmussen.
2. This lecture provides a deep-dive into EU climate policy with a guest presentation from Ditte Brasso Sørensen
3. This lecture provides lectures and discussions on the development and state of EU security policy with a guest presentation from Christine Nissen.

Part Three: Case Studies

1. & 10. These two lectures provide an in-depth analysis of             

the relationship between the EU and Sub-Saharan Africa focusing on East Africa. A guest lecture from a Ugandan and a Tanzanian researcher helps provide both European and East African perspective, focusing in particular on the external dimensions of the European Green Deal.

11. & 12. The two lectures discuss the EU’s Eastern relations focusing on the reaction to the European response to the war in Ukraine across the covered policy areas with a guest lecture from the EU Commission and/or the Danish representation in Brussels.

13.-14.: The final two lecturers will give the students a chance to develop their own final project through a combination of general advice, peer-to-peer feedback, and inputs from the lecturer. Further the lectures will sum-up key points from the course and answer questions relating to the exam project