International Law

Recommended Prerequisites

Basic knowledge of English.

Teaching Methods

Classes are organized to encourage students’ active involvement in learning, fostering student-student and student-teacher interaction. After a brief contextualisation of each topic, classes focus on the analysis and debate of the relevant texts (juridical and others).

Learning Outcomes

General learning goal:

- Provide basic skills of identification and critical analysis of the current juridical regulation of international relations.

 

Specific goals and skills:

- Understand the scope of principles of international law;

- Identify the tensions between international law principles and international politics;

- Survey theoretical approaches to legal scholarship and critically analysing the intersection between international legality and other dimensions of international relations.

- Develop skills of critical analysis, synthesis and argument, as well as oral and written presentation.

Work Placement(s)

No

Syllabus

1. General considerations on International Law

2. The intellectual origins of International Law

3. The historical evolution of international law.

4. International Relations theories and international law

5. Structures of interstate law: subjects, modes of elaboration and application

6. The regulation of states’ coexistence

7. Structural principles of the contemporary international juridical order

8. International Law, multilateralism and unilateralism.

Assessment Methods

Assessment
In-class participation : 20.0%
Mini Tests: 80.0%

Bibliography

Brito, Wladimir (2008), Direito internacional público. Coimbra: Coimbra Editora [BP 341 BRI] 

Byers, Michael (ed.) (2000) The Role of Law in International Politics: Essays in International Relations and International Law. Oxford: Oxford University Press [341 ROL]

Carrillo Salcedo, Juan Antonio (1994), Curso de derecho internacional público: introducción a su estructura, dinámica y funciones. Madrid: Editorial Tecnos [D 341 CAR]

Charlesworth, Hilary; Chinkin, Christine (2000), The Boundaries of International Law: A Feminist Analysis. Manchester: Manchester University Press [341 CHA]

Dupuy, Pierre-Marie (1995), Droit international public. Paris: Dalloz (3e éd.) [BP 341 DUP]

Koskenniemi, Martti (ed.) (1992), International Law. Aldershot: Dartmouth [D 341 INT]

Shaw, Malcom (1995), International law. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press (3rd ed.) [BP 341 SHA]

Wallace, Rebecca (1997), International Law: A Student Introduction. London: Sweet & Maxwell (3ª ed.) [341 WAL].