LLM Public International Law / Course details

This course is designed to provide students with a knowledge and understanding of key aspects of international law and security. In this course, we will explore the history and doctrine of international institutions, and the role of the collective security system. We will delve into the core of the United Nations (UN) and examine the functions of international organisations. In particular, we will dig into the cornerstone role of the UN in the peace and security realm. In this part of the course, we will study the law concerning the use of force and the right of self-defence, and explore their evolving interpretation, including in the counter-terrorism context. In its second part, this course also explores the world of international cybersecurity.  

The unit aims to:

 - Introduce students to the core concerns regarding international institutions

 - Examine and evaluate the doctrine of collective security and assess claims  

regarding the extent of the right of self-defence, particularly in relation to non-State actors

- Introduce students to the main doctrines regarding the nature and basis of  organisations’ powers and the interpretation of their constitutive instruments

- Consider how international institutional law in the peace and security realm evolves with the emergence of non-state transnational threats (from transnational terrorist threats to threats posed to the environment)

- Identify, examine and determine the best ways to deal with transnational threats, including to develop regulatory and legal frameworks in a hyper-connected world 
 

The course is taught through seminar-type lectures. For each session, students are requested to be familiar with current practice, recent development as well as the basic applicable law. The course involves class discussions on the relevant policies, rules and practices.

The course may include one for the following e-learning tools: discussion boards, reflective practice, self-recording of videos, evaluation of wiki-entries, short essays, with formative feedback.  

• Identify, clarify and examine the general principles governing international institutions
• Illustrate the different organs of the United Nations and institutions beyond the United Nations in charge of the collective security system
• Distinguish and analyse the general principles governing the use of force in international law
• Formulate the contemporary challenges to the collective security system 
   

• Critically analyse contemporary controversies related to the use of force in the international legal order
• Appraise the questions related to the practice of self-defence in international law, with reference to contemporary examples
• Critically evaluate legal questions arising in connection with security practices in general, and the use of force in particular, and the functioning of international organisations

• Discuss from various viewpoints the legal questions arising in an international dispute in connection with statehood and non-state actors
• Navigate the main conventions and the case-law of the relevant international courts and tribunals in relation to security practices
• Evaluate the practice and theory of traditional and new international institutions participating in the collective security system 

TBC