COURSES

With an improved curriculum that goes beyond existing, standard course content on European integration and EU-Turkey relations, EUTURDI enhances teaching in EU studies at MEF University.

European Integration (Fall Semester)

This course offers a comprehensive introduction to the foundations and substance of the EU, focusing on the EU’s history, institutions and principal policies. The course begins by reviewing the historical evolution and principal theories of European integration. It proceeds by studying the institutions, and principal internal and external policies of the EU, notably EU enlargement. It concludes by evaluating European integration in relation to debates on the EU’s future.

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EU-Turkey Relations (Fall Semester)

This course studies the relations between Turkey and the European Union from an analytical angle combining theory and empirics. Following a historical overview of the relations, it discusses the theoretical perspectives and debates on the parallel issues of EU enlargement, Europeanization and Turkey’s EU accession. The course subsequently evaluates the various empirical dimensions of EU-Turkey relations such as democracy and human rights, foreign policy, migration, economy, security, culture/identity and public opinion. It closes by evaluating the future progression of EU-Turkey relations.

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Crises and Current Issues in the EU (Spring Semester)

This course offers a comprehensive overview and analysis of the crises that have affected European integration in the past decade. Since 2010, the EU has been confronted with a series of crises ranging from the Eurozone and migration crises to rising populism, democratic backsliding, Brexit and Covid-19 crisis, to name a few. These problems have given way to questions about the future of the EU, leading many to express skepticism about the sustainability of the European integration project. This course will provide an answer to these and other related questions by critically assessing the EU’s crises and current issues. It begins by providing some brief background about the EU, and the relationship between the crises and the rising phenomenon of differentiated integration. It proceeds to by studying topics that include: (1) the migration crisis, (2) rising populism and far right, (3) democratic backsliding, (4) Brexit, (5) future of EU-Turkey relations, (6) the EU’s Covid-19 crisis, (7) Green deal, (8) the EU’s energy crisis.

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Turkey and Europe: Challenges and Opportunities for the Future (Summer School)

This course studies the multiple practical dimensions of EU-Turkey relations with an eye towards assessing the future challenges and opportunities for engagement between the two. Beginning with an overview of the political and economic context of the relations, it studies a range of recent/current developments originating from multiple levels (EU/Europe, Turkey, regional and global) that bear on the relationship: European populism, migration, “geopolitical Europe”, the EU’s Green Deal and digitalization, key EU member states, global actors and developments (i.e., USA, Russia-Ukraine war), EU-Turkey Customs Union are the principle issues to be studied. In each issue, the course will determine the challenges and opportunities affecting the evolution of EU-Turkey ties. In doing so, the course also benefits from the expertise of guest lecturers in their respective areas. It ends by evaluating the institutional future of EU-Turkey relations, in the light of the identified challenges and opportunities, and rising differentiated integration in the EU.