NATO and EU in Crisis Management - JPM702

• Title: NATO and EU in Crisis Management
• Guaranteed by: Department of Security Studies (23-KBS)
• Faculty: Faculty of Social Sciences
• Actual: from 2025 to 2025
• Semester: both
• E-Credits: 6
• Hours per week, examination: 1/1, Ex [HT]
• Capacity: winter:16 / 14 (15); summer:unknown / unknown (15)
• Min. number of students: unlimited
• 4EU+: no
• Virtual mobility / capacity: no
• State of the course: taught
• Language: English
• Teaching methods: full-time
• Additional information: https://dl1.cuni.cz/course/view.php?id=8594
• Note: course can be enrolled in outside the study plan; enabled for web enrollment; priority enrollment if the course is part of the study plan; you can enroll for the course in winter and in summer semester
• Guarantor: Mgr. Jan Ludvík, Ph.D.
• Teacher(s): Mgr. Vojtěch Bahenský, Ph.D.; Mgr. Jan Ludvík, Ph.D.
• Class: Courses for incoming students
• Is incompatible with: JPM564

Annotation

As you know from the syllabus, this course explains institutional logic and military realities of transatlantic defense and crisis management from the early Cold War until today. These traditional defense topics were largely neglected from the end of the Cold War until recently. Today, however, the renewed great power competition returns defense to the forefront of international politics. Resurging Russia reminds Europe that a major war is no longer beyond imagination, while growing China shakes the beliefs in the invincibility of the West. Is NATO and Europe ready to stand up to the challenge? How should European defense look in the 21st century? Are out-of-area operations no longer relevant? Should NATO return to territorial defense, enhance its conventional forces, modernize nuclear deterrence, or fight hybrid threats? Once you finish the course, you should be better able to answer these questions. Of course, not everything can be covered during one semester. Hence, the course covers the topics we believe are the most relevant.

Last update: Ludvík Jan, Mgr., Ph.D. (29.01.2026)

Aim of the course

By its design, the course goes beyond introducing students into the political history of NATO and EU’s Common Security and Defense Policy. The course aims to introduce students to military logic behind political decisions. Students should learn the basic concept of defense analysis and defense planning and will be asked to develop their own plan for a hypothetical NATO/EU mission. Students will be also encouraged to question the state of the art, identify how to advance existing knowledge, explain the importance of their position to others, and provide the classmates with helpful feedback.  

Last update: Ludvík Jan, Mgr., Ph.D. (16.09.2020)

Literature

Lundestad, G. (2005). The United States and Western Europe since 1945: from "empire" by invitation to transatlantic drift. Oxford University Press. Chapter 3.
Williams, M. J. (2013). Enduring, but irrelevant? Britain, NATO and the future of the Atlantic alliance. International Politics, 50(3), 360-386.
Lanoszka, A. (2020). Thank goodness for NATO enlargement. International Politics, 57, 1-20. DOI: 10.1057/s41311-020-00234-8
Williams, E. (2008). Out of Area and Very Much in Business? NATO, the U.S., and the Post–9/11 International Security Environment. Comparative Strategy, 27:1, 65-78, DOI: 10.1080/01495930701839753
Glatz, R. L. & Zapfe, M. (2016). NATO Defence Planning between Wales and Warsaw: Politico-military Challenges of a Credible Assurance against Russia. SWP Comment 2016/C 05, January 2016 
Lippert, B., Ondarza, N. v., & Perthes, V. (Eds.). (2019). European strategic autonomy: actors, issues, conflicts of interests (SWP Research Paper, 4/2019). Berlin: Stiftung Wissenschaft und Politik -SWP- Deutsches Institut für Internationale Politik und Sicherheit. https://doi.org/10.18449/2019RP04 
Kroenig, M. (2015). Facing reality: Getting NATO ready for a new Cold War. Survival, 57(1), 49-70.
Renz, B., & Smith, H. (2016). Russia and Hybrid warfare-going beyond the label.  Aleksanteri Papers. pp. 1-23.
Rühle, M. (2021). The Nine Commandments on Countering Hybrid Threats. Internationale Politik Quaterly. https://ip-quarterly.com/en/nine-commandments-countering-hybrid-threats
Lanoszka, A., & Becker, J. (2022). The art of partial commitment: the politics of military assistance to Ukraine. Post-Soviet Affairs, 1-22.

Last update: Bahenský Vojtěch, Mgr., Ph.D. (29.01.2026)

Course assessment methods and requirements for successful completion, grading scheme

Viz výše soubor se sylabem kurzu / See the file containing the course syllabus above

Last update: Karásek Tomáš, PhDr. JUDr., Ph.D. (23.10.2019)

Syllabus

1)      Introduction to the class and the class requirements

2)      Cold War and the Origins of NATO

3)      NATO after Cold War: Enlargement and Peace-enforcement

4)      Out of Area Operations

5)      Back to the future: Great Power Competition and Territorial Defense

6)      NATO Defense Planning in Practice

7)      EU defense autonomy and EU defense planning in practice

8)      NATO, EU, and War in Ukraine

9)      EU, NATO, and Hybrid Warfare

10)    Crisis scenario I

11)    Crisis scenario II

12)    Crisis scenario III

Last update: Ludvík Jan, Mgr., Ph.D. (05.02.2024)

Course registration requirements

Viz výše soubor se sylabem kurzu / See the file containing the course syllabus above

Last update: Karásek Tomáš, PhDr. JUDr., Ph.D. (23.10.2019)

Registration requirements

Viz výše soubor se sylabem kurzu / See the file containing the course syllabus above

Last update: Ludvík Jan, Mgr., Ph.D. (16.09.2020)