EU diplomatic cooperation in Eastern Europe

NORTIA teaching case study

Developed by Dorina Baltag, Loughborough University London

This case gives a primer to students on EU diplomatic actorness, on the key functions of diplomatic actors - representation and communication, on the quintessential role of cooperation for EU diplomacy, specifically in the post-Lisbon setting. By combing this teaching plan with the case study “EU Diplomacy post-Lisbon” you are able to develop and boost student’s knowledge on diplomacy, their understanding regarding the complexity of EU diplomatic representation and cooperation on the ground as well as give them the opportunity to engage in role playing and thereby increase their problem-thinking capacities. You can use this case study in Foreign Policy, International Relations, Diplomacy, EU External Relations and International Organisations courses.

Be sure to download both documents - they are to be used in conjunction with one another (see below).

NORTIA Teaching Case Studies

NORTIA teaching plans are open-access and freely downloadable resources. They are “free to use” and “free to adjust” to make them work for your class.  For an overview of all NORTIA teaching case studies, click here.

NORTIA teaching case study consists of two parts: the “case study” to be shared with students, and the “teaching plan”. The case study is shared with students before the class, and students are encouraged to prepare the case study in depth. The teaching plan explains the learning objective, the rationale, and suggestions of how to use the teaching case study. It is meant as guidance for the academic instructor. For further guidance on how to teach with case studies we recommend the “case teaching resources” from the Harvard Kennedy School, and in particular their detailed guidance on “how to use teaching case studies” in practice.

The NORTIA teaching case studies are a starting point for European foreign policy teaching. In practice, it is likely that you as instructors will adjust the materials to your course, the background knowledge of your students, your teaching style etc. We would be really keen to hear from you on how you used the teaching case study, made it work for your setting and how it supported your teaching and the learning of your students. Please share your insights with us at eu.nortia@gmail.com.


This NORTIA teaching plan was written by Dr. Dorina Baltag, Institute for Diplomacy and International Governance, Loughborough University London (d.baltag@lboro.ac.uk), with support of Dr. Heidi Maurer, University of Bristol (heidi.maurer@bristol.ac.uk). Special thanks to to Erin Baumann, Associate Director of Professional Pedagogy at Harvard Kennedy School for sharing her expertise on case writing in our trainings. This initiative and the NORTIA Jean Monnet network received financial support from the Erasmus+ Programme of the European Union under the grant agreement 587725-EPP-1-2017-1-NL-EPPJMO-NETWORK. NORTIA teaching cases are developed solely as the basis for class discussions. Cases are not intended to serve as endorsements, sources of primary data, or illustrations of effective of ineffective teaching or management.