KAFP 6390 - Public international law

This course is designed to offer a better understanding of international law as a legal system, to introduce different ways of thinking about it, and to develop students’ ability to decipher international legal arguments and discourses in a policy-making context. The first part of the course covers core issues structuring the international legal order: sources of international law, international legal personality, jurisdiction, immunity, responsibility and dispute settlement. The second part explores more specific themes (use of force, sanctions, international crimes, global economic governance, the climate regime, etc.). The course will also highlight several themes that run across all topics, such as digitalisation or the role of the European Union as an international actor. Each session aims to situate the relevant norms in their historical context, to analyse the political underpinnings of their creation and application, and to provide insight into how international legal techniques are used in everyday practice.

This course does not require any formal prerequisites. However, it is expected that students will have completed one or more law-oriented undergraduate courses (for instance in constitutional law, public law or EU law) so that they have already gained familiarity with some core legal concepts.

Assessment for this course consists of two components:

• Mid-term exam: a 40-minute short written exam held during the course session at mid-semester (30%)
• Final exam: a proctored, closed-book, two-hour written examination at the end of the semester (70%)

Required readings (which will require approximately 2 to 3 hours per week) will be listed in a detailed course syllabus that will be made available to students about a week before the first class.