LAW46630: INTERNATIONAL LAW OF PEACE AND SECURITY

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• This module aims to provide an introduction to the ways that international law engages with and regulates peace and security. It will provide foundational knowledge of the principles, bodies of law and international institutions responsible for the maintenance of international peace and security, and provide a basis for advanced study of specialized regimes in this field of theory and practice.

• Content to be covered includes, but is not limited to:
• The UN Charter and the legal framework for the maintenance of international peace and security;
• The role of multilateral institutions and their primary organs in the maintenance of peace and security;
• The legal framework regulating the use of force in international law;
• International humanitarian law and the relationship between the use of force and the regulation of the conduct of hostilities;
• The Women, Peace and Security Agenda, and international frameworks for inclusive security;
• The United Nations Counter Terrorism architecture;
• Post-conflict security and the negotiation of peace, including jus post bellum and transitional justice as normative frameworks for peacemaking.

Subject-specific Knowledge:

• Students will have:
• An in-depth knowledge of the international legal architecture regulating peace and security;
• A clear understanding of the role of different international and regional institutions in promoting peace and security;
• A specialized knowledge of the different sources of international law related to peace and security and the relationship between them;
• Knowledge of the substantive rules regulating peace and security before, during and after conflict;
• An understanding of the place of law in the interdisciplinary context of global security.

Subject-specific Skills:

• Students should be able to:
• Identify and critically analyse relevant sources of law such as treaties and UN resolutions;
• Interpret the development of rules and doctrines of security in the context of the international legal order;
• Analyze the relationship between the different legal regimes and how they contribute to the field of peace and security as a whole;
• Assess the role of law in practice and the tensions between law and other approaches to global security;
• Analyze the relevant bodies of law from a range of critical perspectives to identify limitations and shortcomings of the current legal regimes;
• Apply their understanding to contemporary problems.

Key Skills:

• Students should be able to:Identify legal rules and principles from a diverse range of international, regional and national sources;
• Conduct in-depth legal research and present reasoned arguments about the law based on in-depth research across primary and secondary sources, including policy and academic writing;
• Write clearly and coherently, presenting concise summaries of their research findings;
• Demonstrate the ability to think critically and to provide accurate and nuanced analysis of contemporary global conflicts.

• The module will be delivered primarily through seminars.
• There will be one lecture at the beginning of the year to provide an overview of the content of the module and to explain the teaching and learning methods to students. Subsequently all teaching will be through interactive seminars.
• Guided reading materials and seminar tasks will be provided in advance and students will be expected to prepare for and engage in seminar discussion.
• The seminar preparation will include working with a range of different types of sources, including primary legal materials, policy sources, visual materials and academic commentary and critique;
• Assessment by essay will develop/demonstrate students' abilities to undertake research with international law materials relating to peace and security, and to think critically and engage with relevant debates..

Students will be asked to prepare a research briefing of up to 3,000 words presenting key findings and recommendations on an area of peace and security. In this exercise students will consider the difference between academic writing and writing for policy audiences. The briefing will help students to summarise complex ideas in a clear format, enabling them to communicate their ideas concisely and coherently. This research briefing can be expanded and adapted in style to form the basis of the 6000 word summative essay.

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