Drawing on critical, postcolonial, and feminist scholarship, this course provides a detailed analysis of the contemporary international legal framework relating to international peace and security.
From the current war in Ukraine to the long-standing dispute regarding Iran’s alleged nuclear weapons programme, matters of international peace and security are never far from the headlines. This course has two related aims. First, to provide students with a thorough understanding of the international legal frameworks within which these disputes sit, including an appreciation of how and why the governing legal rules developed historically. The second aim, drawing on a range of critical, postcolonial, and feminist scholars, is to provide students the opportunity to develop nuanced and critical understandings of the theory and practice of the law of international peace and security. The course will achieve these aims by interrogating a series of contemporary and historical case studies to gain deeper understandings beyond media soundbites and headlines.
The course will start with a brief overview of the international legal system and an introductory/background reading list will be provided.