Postgraduate Course: Rethinking International Law (LAWS11544)
Course Outline
| School | School of Law |
College | College of Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences |
| Credit level (Normal year taken) | SCQF Level 11 (Postgraduate) |
Availability | Available to all students |
| SCQF Credits | 20 |
ECTS Credits | 10 |
| Summary | In this course, we study international law as a historical and political project through which different arrangements of global power are advanced and contested. The course will introduce students to diverse critical and alternative perspectives that reflect on international law's role and limitations in advancing global justice. |
| Course description |
This course offers a critical understanding of international law as a historical and political project through which particular arrangements of global power are advanced, defended, and contested. The course does so by centering critical approaches and perspectives as the core mode of study and analysis (both in terms of pedagogical approach and substance), rather than as peripheral examples of alternative perspectives, often delivered toward the end of a course on international law. The course also includes thematic/case study sessions to examine how critiques of international law play out through real examples and offer different ways of understanding and responding to global challenges. The critical approaches covered by the course include feminist, decolonial, TWAIL (Third World Approaches to International Law), indigenous, materialist, Islamic, among others. Some of the key questions that underpin the course objectives are: What does studying international law from non-hegemonic approaches and epistemic positions expose about its relationship to power? What emancipatory possibilities might international law open and foreclose when read through critical perspectives? What solutions can critical approaches to international law offer to some of the most pressing present and future global challenges?
Please note that classes for this course will be jointly taught with Honours level students. Although students at both levels will study the same course materials, assessments will be graded according to the relevant benchmark appropriate to the level of study.
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Entry Requirements (not applicable to Visiting Students)
| Pre-requisites |
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Co-requisites | |
| Prohibited Combinations | |
Other requirements | None |
Information for Visiting Students
| Pre-requisites | None |
| High Demand Course? |
Yes |
Course Delivery Information
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| Academic year 2025/26, Available to all students (SV1)
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Quota: 15 |
| Course Start |
Semester 2 |
Timetable |
Timetable |
| Learning and Teaching activities (Further Info) |
Total Hours:
200
(
Seminar/Tutorial Hours 20,
Programme Level Learning and Teaching Hours 4,
Directed Learning and Independent Learning Hours
176 )
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| Assessment (Further Info) |
Written Exam
0 %,
Coursework
100 %,
Practical Exam
0 %
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| Additional Information (Assessment) |
The summative assessments will include an essay plan and written essay. These are designed in line with the course objectives of building skills and knowledge, and with the Graduate Attributes. The two assessments will build on each other to allow students to receive feedback throughout the course and maximise performance. «br /»
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Essay Plan (25%): Each student will be required to propose a topic and essay question for a final essay. Students will have wide scope to choose any topic related to the course. The research plan is a no longer than 1000 words, outlining the essay topic and question and proposed sources and research design. «br /»
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Essay (75%): The essay will be up to 4000 words. «br /»
This essay will be due by the April submission deadline. This assessment component aligns with the substantive and individual research, analytical and writing skills as set out in the learning goals and Graduate Attributes above.«br /»
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| Feedback |
Students will have the opportunity to submit a formative assessment (250 words) by the end of week 5, composed of an abstract and a bullet-pointed essay plan for the summative assessment. Written feedback on the summative assessment will also be provided. |
| No Exam Information |
Learning Outcomes
On completion of this course, the student will be able to:
- Demonstrate knowledge and understanding of diverse critiques of international law as a historical and political project.
- Identify and understand critical approaches and theories relating to international law¿s relationship to power and politics.
- Critically engage with diverse perspectives on the role of international law in shaping global power arrangements.
- Understand and critically analyse critical perspectives on international law as a potential part of the solution to global injustices.
- Develop critical reflection and analytical thinking on international law¿s relationship to global justice challenges.
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Reading List
Anghie A, Imperialism, Sovereignty, and the Making of International Law (Cambridge University Press 2005)
Adébísí F, Decolonisation and Legal Knowledge: Reflections on Power and Possibility (Bristol University Press 2024)
Coleman L M, Struggles for the Human: Violent Legality and the Politics of Rights (Duke University Press 2024)
Madhok S, Vernacular Rights Cultures: The Politics of Origins, Human Rights and Gendered Struggles for Justice (Cambridge University Press 2021)
Tzouvala N, Capitalism as Civilisation: A History of International Law (Cambridge University Press 2020) |
Additional Information
| Graduate Attributes and Skills |
Research and enquiry: students will learn to critically engage with diverse critical perspectives on the role of international law in relation to global power arrangements and social justice issues. They will learn to enquire into the assumptions underpinning dominant legal structures and forms of argument.
Personal and intellectual autonomy skills: students will be able to develop their own critical reflection and analytical thinking on key social justice challenges within a safe and dynamic learning environment. Through in-class debates, small group collaborative activities, and creative assessment, students will have the opportunity develop a sense of individual autonomy and collective agency.
Personal effectiveness skills: students will learn to develop and formulate their ideas effectively, and to constructively and meaningfully engage with those of others. Through collaboration in small group discussions, students will develop relational and reflexive ways of learning and co-developing ideas.
Communication skills: students will develop communication skills through small group and plenary discussions. The course will build in a number of classroom activities, such as debates and simulations, that will further develop communication skills needed for professional environments. |
| Keywords | Public international law,critical approaches,human rights,decolonisation,social justice |
Contacts
| Course organiser | Dr Nora Jaber
Tel:
Email: njaber@ed.ac.uk |
Course secretary | Ms Susanna Wickes
Tel:
Email: Susanna.Wickes@ed.ac.uk |
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