Justyna Zajac

Contemporary Security Issues in Europe

Spring 2025 | INTL-I 310

Europe has experienced many wars over the past centuries. Since the end of the Cold War, European countries and societies have been trying to overcome their grim fate through cooperation, integration, and building mutual trust. In the last decade, though, the situation in Europe has become increasingly tense, while Europe’s future has become more and more unpredictable. Is Europe safe today? What are Europe’s key security challenges? How has Europe attempted to overcome the current crises? What are the scenarios for Europe’s future?

The goal of this course is to help students find answers to those questions. In order to examine and understand contemporary security issues in Europe, we explore current military and non-military threats and challenges to European security in the context of the changing international order. Russia’s war against Ukraine, ethnic disputes in the Balkans, refugee and illegal immigration, the rise of nationalism, cyber-attacks, the energy crisis, and climate change are addressed, among other topics. Concurrently, the role of states, the European Union (EU), and the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) in providing European security are also discussed.