Global Learning Capstone

"This [virtual study abroad program] examines the foreign policies and current foreign affairs issues in Scandinavia as well as the rising importance of the Arctic in global politics. As a way of introduction, the relevant underlying International Relations theories, especially with regard to Small States, as well as history of Scandinavian international relations since the Napoleonic Wars will be surveyed. The focus of the course will be on the international relations of the individual Nordic states (Iceland, Norway, Denmark, Sweden, Finland)--including their Indigenous communities--as well as the interplay with the European Union as either member states (Sweden, Denmark, Finland) or non-member states (Iceland, Norway), with NATO as member (Iceland, Norway, Denmark) and partner countries (Sweden, Finland), within the European Economic Area (all), and with the Nordic and Arctic Councils (all). Students will familiarize themselves with the general history of European and Nordic integration, and current EU foreign policy-making structures and institutions. The evolution of Europe as a coherent actor, and the tensions between Scandinavian member states and the other EU members in the pursuit of global influence through the EU will be highlighted, e.g., in issues such as asylum/ refugee policies or environmental policies. As an integral part of the Scandinavian states, the Arctic will be explored as a quickly rising focus of global politics, especially also in the context of the Arctic Council, Arctic Indigenous communities, the EU’s policy toward the Arctic, as a geopolitically important region for international security in an age when Russia and China eye influence in the Arctic, and—perhaps most pressingly—in the context of climate change and global warming." -Lukas Karl Danner,  FIU Virtual Study Abroad Professor