The Laws of War - Political and Social Science / The Laws of War - Political and Social Science

Academic Study Board of Political Science, Journalism, Sociology and European Studies, Odense
Teaching activity id: 97015301.
Teaching language: English.ECTS / weighting: 10 ECTS / 0.167 full-time equivalent.
Examination language: English.
Exam activity id: 97015302.Approved: 19-09-17.
Period: Spring 2018.
Grading: Internal grading with co-examiner.
Assessment: 7-point scale.
Offered in: Odense.

Subject director:
Martin Mennecke, Department of Law.

Prerequisites:
The course focuses on a special area of international law. It therefore builds on the participants’ pre-existing understanding of general international law, including sources of international law (treaties, customary international law, judicial practice, UN resolutions, soft law etc.), interpretation of treaty norms, the structure of the UN system, and the role of states and other actors under international law.
Non-MOISL students who do not have prior knowledge of public international law are firmly advised to undertake supplementary reading in this field of law.

The course will build on active student participation and regular attendance.  

Purpose:
The laws of war are at the heart of all international efforts to regulate conflicts such as those in Gaza, the Ukraine or Syria. The course provides for an introduction into this key area of international law and analyzes the existing rules and their application (or lack thereof) in practice. The course is thus essential for any student interested in the interplay between security and law in international affairs and conflict. It builds on the participants’ existing understanding of international law and enables students to employ a legal perspective when studying ongoing civil as well as international wars. More specifically, the course is to provide students with a general understanding of the international legal framework applicable to both international and internal armed conflict, as well as a concrete knowledge of the relevant treaties, customary international law and case-law. The course covers both the rules limiting resort to armed force in international relations (jus ad bellum), the norms governing the conduct of hostilities both in international armed conflicts and in internal armed conflict (jus in bello), and also selected aspects of the relation between the laws of war and international human rights. After having successfully completed the course, the student will be able to identify and address relevant issues of jus ad bellum and jus in bello, as they arise in the work of ministries, military operations and international organizations.


Content - Key areas:
For the purposes of this course, the laws of war will be sub-divided into two categories:

Firstly, the rules regulating the use of force against another state (jus ad bellum), including the prohibition of the use or threat of force under the UN Charter, the right to self defence (including pre-emptive strikes), the use of force as authorized by the UN Security Council under Chapter VII of the UN Charter (including UN peacekeeping operations with relevant mandates) as well as the use of force in regard to the UN norm “responsibility to protect” and the controversial concept of “humanitarian intervention.” This segment will also look at how international law deals with potential violations of jus ad bellum as crime of aggression and through prosecutions before the International Criminal Court.

Secondly, the norms governing the actual use of force in international and internal armed conflict (jus in bello) and accountability for potential violations of this body of law, notably The Hague Regulations, the Geneva Conventions, the Additional Protocols thereto as well as the UN Genocide Convention and the statutes of the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia, the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda and the International Criminal Court. This includes basic concepts and distinctions such as the notion of armed conflict, the most serious crimes under international law, proportionality, military necessity, asymmetric warfare, combatants and civilians, including POWs and other detainees as well as cyber-attacks and the use of drones. This segment will include a discussion of selected aspects of the relation between the laws of armed conflict and international human rights.

Goals description (SOLO taxonomy):
Upon completion of the course, students should have acquired knowledge of the fundamental norms, principles and distinctions within both jus ad bellum and jus in bello. They should be able to demonstrate they understand the functions thereof as well as reflect on the current challenges to this legal framework. In regard to both jus ad bellum and jus in bello, the students are in particular expected to identify and discuss issues that arise for the existing body of law due to recent developments of modern armed conflict and the arrival of new actors and new weaponry. Moreover, students should be able to identify, analyse, interpret and apply the relevant rules with regard to concrete conflicts. Finally, students should be able to explain the human rights aspects of the status of civilians during armed conflict and how human rights may support the laws of war in relation to the protection of civilians. In this regard students are also expected to be able to identify, analyse and reflect on issues of accountability arising from potential violations of jus ad bellum or jus in bello – both in regard to relevant institutions and offences and the related challenges.

Literature:
The course will use a textbook which will be announced no later than January 2018. In addition, a number of other sources, including articles from academic journals, decisions by international tribunals and relevant legal instruments will form part of the course literature and be made available on Blackboard. A complete reading list, including all the texts on which the exam will be based, will in due course be posted on Blackboard.

Time of classes:
Spring.
Scheduled classes:
Weekly 3 hour sessions for 10 weeks during the semester.

Form of instruction:
Each session will actively involve the students, for example through discussion of the course material, presentations on relevant case-studies and moot courts. This will also help to prepare the students for the oral exam at the end of the course.

In addition to the scheduled lectures students are invited to participate in a simulation game arranged as common activity across the three mandatory courses taught during the second semester.

This course grants 10 ECTS. As per university regulations, a 10 ECTS course entails a workload of 270 hours. These are divided between lectures, blended lessons, exam and exam preparation. The following time distribution is an estimate for the average student:

Activity
Hours
Confrontational classes (lectures)
30
Preparation
132.5
Simulation game (including preparation
18
Preparation for exam
89
Exam
0.5
Total
270

Teachers:  Martin Mennecke and Kerstin Carlson

Time of examination:
Ordinary examination in June and re-exam in August.

Registration for the course is automatically a registration for the ordinary examination in the course. Cancellation is not possible. If the student does not participate in the examination, the student will use an examination attempt.
The university may grant an exemption from the rules in case of exceptional circumstances.

The examination form at the re-exam can be changed.


Examination conditions:
None

Form of examination for the certificate:
Written and oral.

Supplemental information for the form of examination:
Oral examination of 20 minutes duration (including time for the grading) based on a short paper of max 6 pages (each page with max. 2.400 strokes - spacing, appendix and notes included, but table of content and bibliography excluded) on a subject chosen by the student and relevant to the contents of the course. The paper must be submitted no later than 4 weeks before the oral examination and indicate on its title page the number of strokes used (max. 14.400 strokes). Students who have not submitted a paper prior to this deadline or submit a paper with more than 14.400 strokes will not be admitted to the oral examination. The oral examination will take departure from the short paper and then extend to other matters covered in the course readings. The paper will not be evaluated separately but form approximately 20% of the overall evaluation of each student.

Programmes:
Political Science (BSc)
6th semester, elective subject. Offered in: Odense
Social Science (minor, MSc)
All Semesters, elective subject. Offered in: Odense
Political Science (MSc)
All Semesters, elective subject. Offered in: Odense
Social Science (MSc)
All Semesters, elective subject. Offered in: Odense