Guía docente de Geography of Europe. Internal and External Regions, and Relevance of European Union in the International Context (MQ1/56/1/6)

The imperative for this course lies in equipping emerging experts in European affairs with a comprehensive grasp of regional interconnections. To this end, our central aim is to foster an understanding of, and the capacity to design, tailored regional strategies to effectively address the critical territorial dimensions centred around urban hubs and the positioning of rural landscapes. Within this context, it is crucial to recognize that well-established projects geared towards urban expansion and developmental axes must be viewed through the lens of their impact on the degradation of rural and natural environments on a regional scale.

BASIC AND GENERAL COMPETENCES

Capacity for analysis and synthesis.

Ability to communicate orally and in writing in English language.

Ability to manage information.

Ability to solve problems and make decisions.

Motivation for quality and rigor.

Ability to learn and work independently.

Critical thinking ability.

SPECIFIC COMPETENCES

Organization and planning capacity.

Knowledge of applied computing and mapping.

Ability to manage information statistically.

Knowledge and sensitivity towards human rights and the reduction of all kinds of inequality.

CROSS-CURRICULAR COMPETENCIES

Ability to work in an intradisciplinary and interdisciplinary team.

Knowledge and sensitivity towards cultural diversity.

Ability to adapt to changing situations and to work in an international context.

Sensitivity towards the environment.

Sensitivity and respect towards colleagues.

Creativity, initiative, leadership capacity, and ethical commitment

The main objective is to delineate the geographical dynamics of Europe from both a socio-cultural and environmental standpoint. In a landscape increasingly shaped by the post-productivism paradigm, we will delve into the critical aspects of natural resources and environmental concerns that feature prominently in European regional land policies. Additionally, we'll explore the profound urban-rural divide that characterizes this region. Finally, we will present strategies for addressing current regional paradigms and crafting sustainable initiatives aimed at managing the concentration and dispersal of economic activities and populations. We will also consider potent environmental drivers, such as climate change and land degradation.

1. Defining the European Region: Identity and Boundaries

2. The European Union: Origins, Evolution, Institutional Framework, and Governance Bodies

3. Landscape and territories: Cultural and Natural Features

4. Agriculture and Rural Areas in Europe

5. European Industry: Globalization and Industrial Relocation

6. Regional Disparities in Europe

7. Europe in the Global Context: Significance and Influence on the International Stage

THEORY SYLLABUS:

• Unit 1.  Introduction: main EU territorial guidelines. ESDP (European Spatial Development Perspective), European Regional Planning Strategy (ERPS), and the EU territorial cohesion policy. The paradigm of Governance in the EU.
• Unit 2. Internal regions landscape: urban planning, public spaces and quality of life in the EU. 
• Unit 3. Internal regions landscape: agriculture, rural territories, and Protected Areas and their relation with the landscape planning.
• Unit 4. External regions of the EU and their geopolitics. The EU's role in Globalization and Industrial Relocation processes.
• Unit 5. The EU as a geopolitical actor in internal disparities and the international arena. Geopolitical issues. Particular case studies.
• Unit 6. Territorial conflicts, socio-economic inequalities, and sustainability challenges: selected case studies.

PRACTICAL SYLLABUS

• Individual/group oral presentations (depending on class size) on an agreed geopolitical issue.
• Debate seminars based on mandatory readings (scientific papers and press analyses).
• If possible, a field trip to a chosen research area.

• Bouris, D., & İşleyen, B. (2020). The European Union and practices of governing space and population in contested states: Insights from EUPOL COPPS in Palestine. Geopolitics, 25(2), 428-448.

• Déjeant-Pons, M. (2006). The European Landscape Convention. Landscape Research, 31(4), 363–384. https://doi.org/10.1080/01426390601004343

• Isakjee, A., Davies, T., Obradović‐Wochnik, J., & Augustová, K. (2020). Liberal violence and the racial borders of the European Union. Antipode, 52(6), 1751-1773.
• Lehne, S. (2020). How the EU can survive in a geopolitical age. Carnegie Europe, 25, 2020.

• Leonard, M., Pisani-Ferry, J., Shapiro, J., Tagliapietra, S., & Wolff, G. B. (2021). The geopolitics of the European green deal (No. 04/2021). Bruegel Policy Contribution.

• Schimmelfennig, F. (2021). Rebordering Europe: external boundaries and integration in the European Union. Journal of European Public Policy, 28(3), 311-330.

• Tocci, N. (2020). Resilience and the role of the European Union in the world. In Resilience in EU and International Institutions (pp. 25-43). Routledge.

• Zardo, F. (2022). The EU Trust Fund for Africa: Geopolitical space making through migration policy instruments. Geopolitics, 27(2), 584-603.

• Akaliyski, P., & Welzel, C. (2020). Clashing Values: Supranational Identities, Geopolitical Rivalry and Europe’s Growing Cultural Divide. Journal of Cross-Cultural Psychology, 51(9), 740–762. https://doi.org/10.1177/0022022120956716

• Beringer, S. L., Maier, S., & Thiel, M. (Eds.). (2019). EU development policies: Between norms and geopolitics. Springer.

• Dempsey, K. E., & McDowell, S. (2019). Disaster depictions and geopolitical representations in Europe’s migration ‘Crisis’. Geoforum, 98, 153-160

• Foxall, A. (2019). From Evropa to Gayropa: A critical geopolitics of the European Union as seen from Russia. Geopolitics, 24(1), 174-193.

• Pänke, J. (2019). Liberal empire, geopolitics and EU strategy: Norms and interests in European foreign policy making. Geopolitics, 24(1), 100-123.

• Zbińkowski, G. (2019). The three seas initiative and its economic and geopolitical effect on the European Union and Central and Eastern Europe. Comparative Economic Research. Central and Eastern Europe, 22(2), 105-119.

https://www.eeas.europa.eu/eeas/geopolitics-green-transition-and-improving-eu%E2%80%99s-economic-security_en

https://www.tandfonline.com/toc/fgeo20/current

https://revistas.ucm.es/index.php/GEOP

https://www.igipz.pan.pl/geopolitical-studies-en.html

https://www.aljazeera.com/

https://elpais.com/noticias/geopolitica/

https://www.bbc.com/news/world

https://carnegieeurope.eu/topic/986?lang=en

https://carnegieeurope.eu/topic/985?lang=en

https://european-union.europa.eu/index_en

https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/web/nuts/background

https://commission.europa.eu/about-european-commission/departments-and-executive-agencies/joint-research-centre_en

https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat

https://www.ecb.europa.eu/home/html/index.en.html

https://ec.europa.eu/maritimeaffairs/atlas/maritime_atlas/#lang=EN;p=w;bkgd=1;theme=2:0.75;c=1224514.3987259883,6446275.8410170125;z=4

https://sdgs.un.org/goals

https://hdr.undp.org/data-center/human-development-index#/indicies/HDI

Article 17 of the UGR Assessment Policy and Regulations establishes that the ordinary assessment session (convocatoria ordinaria) will preferably be based on the continuous assessment of students, except for those who have been granted the right to a single final assessment (evaluación única final), which is an assessment method that only takes a final test into account.

• 25%: Active and proactive participation during the expository lessons.
• 25%: Active and proactive participation during the debate sessions.
• 20%: Individual/group (depending on the total number of students) oral presentation on an agreed territorial/geopolitical subject.
• 30%: Individual essay, critical and analytical, on the contents of the expository lessons.

The oral presentation will last a maximum of 20 minutes (video or online presentations are not allowed).

Student need to have at least 4.5 (over 10) in the essay before calculate the global degree attending to the percentages presented above. 

Additional Notes:

- Refer to the course syllabus or contact the instructor for further details on evaluation criteria and procedures.

- Maintain academic integrity by avoiding plagiarism in all submitted work.

- Regular attendance and active participation are crucial for success in the course.

Article 19 of the UGR Assessment Policy and Regulations establishes that students who have not passed a course in the ordinary assessment session (convocatoria ordinaria) will have access to an extraordinary assessment session (convocatoria extraordinaria). All students may take part in this extraordinary assessment session, regardless of whether or not they have followed continuous assessment activities. In this way, students who have not carried out continuous assessment activities will have the opportunity to obtain 100% of their marks through an exam or assignment.

• 30%: Individual exam on the contents (texts) of the debate sessions.
• 25%: Individual essay on an agreed territorial/geopolitical subject.
• 45%: Individual essay, critical and analytical, on the contents of the expository lessons.

Student need to have at least 4.5 (over 10) in the essay before calculate the global degree attending to the percentages presented above. 

Additional Notes:

- Refer to the course syllabus or contact the instructor for further details on evaluation criteria and procedures.

- Maintain academic integrity by avoiding plagiarism in all submitted work.

- Regular attendance and active participation are crucial for success in the course.

Article 8 of the UGR Assessment Policy and Regulations establishes that students who are unable to follow continuous assessment methods due to justifiable reasons shall have recourse to a single final assessment (evaluación única final), which is an assessment method that only takes a final exam into account.

To opt for a single final assessment (evaluación única final), students must send a request, using the corresponding online procedure, to the coordinator of the master’s programme, in the first two weeks of the course or the two weeks following their enrolment (if the enrolment has taken place after the classes have already begun). The coordinator will communicate this information to the relevant teaching staff members, citing and verifying why the student cannot follow the continuous assessment system.

In this case, the assessment will comprise:

• 30%: Individual exam on the contents (texts) of the debate sessions.
• 25%: Individual essay on an agreed geopolitical subject.
• 45%: Individual essay, critical and analytical, on the contents of the expository lessons.

Student need to have at least 4.5 (over 10) in the essay before calculate the global degree attending to the percentages presented above. 

Additional Notes:

- Refer to the course syllabus or contact the instructor for further details on evaluation criteria and procedures.

- Maintain academic integrity by avoiding plagiarism in all submitted work.

- Regular attendance and active participation are crucial for success in the course.

• Attendance: Absences can only be justified with an official document presented to the teacher.

• All the material associated with this subject (whose availability will be offered from the PRADO platform of the University of Granada), will be for the exclusive use of the students of this Master’s course. Therefore, its reproduction or dissemination, in whole or in part, regardless of the means or device used (including platforms and web pages such as Wuolah, Docsity, etc.) is prohibited. Any improper action will violate current regulations and relevant legal responsibilities may arise. In this sense, it will be understood as plagiarism or crime the dissemination of class materials (in whole or in part) in whose elaboration the teaching staff of the subject have participated. This includes maps, texts (including PowerPoint slide texts), presentations, graphics, diagrams, figures, etc. Misappropriation of copyright is a crime and will entail the corresponding penalties and measures.

• Improper Use of AI: Students are warned that any attempt to use Artificial Intelligence (AI) to pass the course in an improper manner, such as plagiarism or impersonation in assessments, will have consequences for their grade. Disciplinary measures may include failing the course. The university is committed to promoting academic honesty and responsible learning. All students are expected to behave ethically and responsibly at all times. For more information, please consult the university's policies on the use of AI in the classroom and assessments.

• If any kind of plagiarism is detected during the evaluation of any of the assignments, the grade of the whole module will be 0.0, notwithstanding the possible higher academic consequences.

• Recordings and image taking: Voice and video recording, or taking images in class, is strictly prohibited, both for personal use and for sharing on social media without the teacher's permission.

• Standards of Conduct: The Standards of Conduct are mandatory for all students, both inside and outside the classroom. The teacher is responsible for maintaining, both inside and outside the classroom, the necessary working environment. Students are obliged to consider respect as a fundamental value, maintaining civilized behaviour during the development of classes, both in the classroom and outside of it, in order not to alter the normal development of the same. Eating, chewing gum, or using mobile phones in class, as well as the consumption of alcohol and other toxic substances is not allowed. It is also essential to have an attitude of listening and attention during the oral presentations of others, as it is an indispensable requirement to make each class a formative encounter of orderly dialogue. Acts or actions that harm or alter the normal development of classes will result in a negative score corresponding to the participation section of the final grade, and in the event of such an action, a disciplinary action will be taken.

• Following the recommendations of the CRUE and the Secretariat of Inclusion and Diversity of the UGR, the systems of acquisition and evaluation of competencies compiled in this teaching guide will be used following the principle of design for all people, facilitating the learning and demonstration of knowledge according to the needs and functional diversity of the students.

• The evaluation systems will be adapted to the special needs of students with disabilities, guaranteeing, in any case, their rights and favouring their inclusion in university studies, as established in Article 11 of the regulations for the evaluation and qualification of students from the University of Granada. The evaluation tests will be adapted to their needs, according to the recommendations of the Inclusion Unit of the University of Granada.

• Communication with the professor will be through the institutional email (example@correo.ugr.es) including name and surname, as well as the name of the module.