This course provides students with an understanding of the system of public international law, regulating relations between actors on the global stage. Topics include: the nature of international law, sources of international law (including treaties, customary international law and general principles of law), participants in the international legal system (including notions of statehood, legal personality and diplomatic protection), territory and acquisition of title, state responsibility, jurisdiction and immunity, the relationship between international and domestic law, international human rights law, the (peacekeeping) operations of the United Nations including the role of the General Assembly, international dispute settlement and the role of the International Court of Justice as well as the law regulating the use of force and, correspondingly, the Security Council.
Sessions will take place on a weekly basis and consist of both lecture and discussion parts. Within the discussion part, current developments such as inter alia pending cases before the International Court of Justice and further contemporary topics will be discussed.
Introductory Reading (optional):
- Cassese, Antonio (ed.): ‘Realizing Utopia: The Future of International Law’ (Oxford, Oxford University Press, 2012)
- Crawford, James and Ian Brownlie: ‘Brownlie’s Principles of Public International Law’ (Oxford, Oxford University Press, 2012)
- Hall, Stephen: ‘Principles of International Law’ (Hong Kong, LexisNexis, 2014)
- Kaczorowska, Alina: ‘Public International Law’ (London, Routledge, 2010)
- Lowe, Vaughan: ‘International Law’ (Oxford, Oxford University Press, 2007)
- Tourme-Jouannet, Emmanuelle: ‘The Liberal-Welfarist Law of Nations: A History of International Law’ (Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, 2012)
Required reading materials as well as additional sources will be provided electronically.
Mode of assessment for this course will be a research paper. In addition, oral participation will contribute to the final grade awarded for this course.
Course is open for Bachelor and Master students and recommended for Bachelor and Master Political Science students.