F1GD 4255 - International Law, Technology and Security (New)

***UPDATED for 2026/27***

Technological tools increasingly shape how security is pursued- and contested - within the international legal order. From cyber operations and digital surveillance to watchlisting, algorithmic border control, and monitoring in detention settings; from drones to autonomous weapons systems and data-driven target selection in armed conflict, these developments are transforming not only security practice, but also the meaning and operation of legality itself.

This course approaches international law not simply as an external regulator that constrains technology, but as one actor within a broader network of mutually reconfiguring forces together with security practices and strategies and technological capabilities. Students will examine how law enables, legitimizes, translates, and sometimes resists and curtails security systems, and how technological change, in turn, often leads to a reshaping of legal concepts, institutional roles, and governance arrangements.

Learning Outcomes

1. Apply relevant international legal frameworks to concrete techno-security scenarios.

2. Evaluate how law both constrains and constitutes security technologies and practices.

3. Map the actor-network that produces and governs techno-legal security practices.

Professional Skills

1. Develop and compare policy options grounded in legal interpretation suitable for diplomatic settings.

2. Design accountability and legal strategies grounded in law and practice.

Rebecca MIGNOT-MAHDAVI

Cours magistral seul

English

- In Class Presence: 2 hours a week / 24 hours a semester

- Reading and Preparation for Class: 4 hours a week / 48 hours a semester

- Research and Preparation for Group Work: 2 to 3 hours a week / 24 to 36 hours a semester

- Research and Writing for Individual Assessments: 2 to 3 hours a week / 24 to 36 hours a semester

None

Autumn 2026-2027

• Stakeholder debate (group work) (30%): In the final session, students will participate in a stakeholder debate framed as a legal-strategic exercise based on a techno-security scenario drawn from the course. Students will be assigned to groups representing distinct stakeholders (e.g., states, international organizations, private companies, civil society, affected individuals/communities).

• Final exam (70%): Students will write a 3,000-word diplomatic policy brief (excluding footnotes and bibliography) that advances a specific proposed legal interpretation addressing a contemporary techno-security problem studied in the course. A list of eligible topics will be provided early in the semester; students will choose one topic from the list. The brief must be submitted via Moodle on Friday 18 December 2026 at 11:59 pm. Essays should be double spaced and titled “SURNAME – ILTS”. Detailed guidelines will be discussed in the first class session.

• Participation will be rewarded with up to one and a half extra points (+1,5).

Throughout the semester: Students may (voluntarily) deliver a 2–3 minute in-class “current practice” briefing examining a recent techno-security development through the lens of international law. The instructor provides immediate oral feedback, with brief follow-up notes on Moodle within one week. Office hours will be held during the semester for students to discuss and test ideas for their final policy brief with the professor