Course Catalog of the Online Exchange Initiative (OEI) at University of Mannheim – fall semester 2026

• ​​Identify and explain key concepts and theoretical approaches in Cultural Studies, including ideology, hegemony, power, race, gender, and postcolonialism.
• Understand how cultural texts and practices shape and reflect broader societal, political, and historical structures.
  ​Summarize and reflect on central ideas from influential thinkers such as Hoggart, Marx, Foucault, Du Bois, Said, de Beauvoir, Butler, and others.
• Apply selected theories to analyze cultural phenomena and contemporary debates.
• ​Develop a critical understanding of how categories such as race, class, gender, and nature are constructed and contested across different cultural contexts.

International Humanitarian Law (IHL) is a body of rules that seeks to limit the effects of armed conflict. IHL protects those who are not participating in hostilities, and those who are no longer participating in hostilities. This body of law imposes limits on the methods and means of warfare. IHL forms part of public international law and is largely based on treaties and rules of customary international law. 
In this course the development as well as the basic concepts of IHL will be explored. Students will be introduced to the most important documents governing armed conflict, learn how to apply these and will consider the challenges posed to the application of IHL in armed conflicts. A large part of the course will focus on the new developments in IHL including the emergence of new forms of armed conflicts and the development and use of new technologies in armed conflict.

Assessment
Assessment for this course will consist of a presentation.

About the lecturer: Marelie Manders

Marelie Manders is originally from South Africa where she completed both her Bachelors (LLB) and Masters Degrees (LLM International Law) at the University of Pretoria. She has previously worked as a Lecturer and researcher in South Africa and has been with the University of Mannheim since 2020. She is currently persuiing her PhD at the University of Mannheim where her research is focused on armed groups in International Humanitarian Law. 


 

This class makes the nature of Comparative Law as well as its functions and aims accessible to students from different legal backgrounds. As studying even one legal system fully is difficult and time-consuming, the course must necessarily take a selective approach to comparative law and to the multitude of legal systems in the world. The class Comparative Law I therefore will focus on European Legal Traditions, whose similarities and differences are an important driver of European harmonization. Matching the overall aim of this module the course will focus on private law and business law aspects of comparative law.

The course has three main components. The first part will cover the origins and utility of comparative law, its aims, tools and methods. This part will particularly focus on the legal orders, which the participants of the class are most familiar with.

The main second part of the course will look at common features of generally accepted concepts of both contract law and of building bricks necessary for any business law, such as division of work, liability, tort law and insurance. The different possible solutions for these problems, which appear in different forms in many jurisdictions, will be presented, followed by an analysis of how they are governed by legal orders belonging to different legal families. Lines of influence and hybrids will similarly be covered.

International Humanitarian Law (IHL) is a body of rules that seeks to limit the effects of armed conflict. IHL protects those who are not participating in hostilities, and those who are no longer participating in hostilities. This body of law imposes limits on the methods and means of warfare. IHL forms part of public international law and is largely based on treaties and rules of customary international law. 
In this course the development as well as the basic concepts of IHL will be explored. Students will be introduced to the most important documents governing armed conflict, learn how to apply these and will consider the challenges posed to the application of IHL in armed conflicts. A large part of the course will focus on the new developments in IHL including the emergence of new forms of armed conflicts and the development and use of new technologies in armed conflict.

Assessment
Assessment for this course will consist of a presentation.

About the lecturer: Marelie Manders

Marelie Manders is originally from South Africa where she completed both her Bachelors (LLB) and Masters Degrees (LLM International Law) at the University of Pretoria. She has previously worked as a Lecturer and researcher in South Africa and has been with the University of Mannheim since 2020. She is currently persuiing her PhD at the University of Mannheim where her research is focused on armed groups in International Humanitarian Law.