Course Offerings by term

Courses on different topics in the discipline, enriching the present course offerings. These classes are taught by permanent or visiting faculty. Topics vary each semester.”

TOPICS VARY BY SEMESTER

This foundational course introduces the student to the nature, major principles, processes and institutions of the international legal system, the relationship between international and domestic law and the role of law in promoting world public order. Students will acquire an understanding of the conceptual issues underlying this discipline and a critical appreciation of how law interacts with contemporary world politics. Topics include the creation and status of international law, participation and competence in the international legal system, primary substantive norms such as the law regulating the use of force and enforcement procedures.

This course will examine the existing international legal framework for the protection of women’s rights and contrast the law with the nearly universal perception that the world of women is a private sphere, one where laws made in the public realm have less weight, or are more difficult to implement due to lack of witnesses, or worse, community acceptance of certain types of gender-based violence. But activists are making progress across the globe in combating insufficient implementation of women’s rights. This course will explore their remarkably innovative strategies to achieve conflict resolution and the protection of women in challenging circumstances.