About

The Course

This course provides an introduction to international law. In it, we will study the function and operation of international law in international politics, the major substantive domains of international law (treaties, human rights, use of force, &c), and several of the dominant approaches to the study of international law. We will compare and contrast the perspectives of political scientists and lawyers, scholars and practitioners, and judges and politicians.

This course is organized topically. We will begin by considering various perspectives—both old and new—on law in general and international law in particular. Next, we will examine several of the most prevalent international legal mechanisms that exist today. We will then study several of the major areas of international law, giving special attention to the use of force in international disputes. Our course will culminate with a mock trial, a recapitulation of the post-World War II Nuremberg Trials.

This Site

This site contains all of the most recent information about this course. Students are required to read through the site upon enrolling in the course to ensure they are familiar with the course policies, assignments, and goals.

Any changes I make to the site will be distributed through RSS. Students ought to add the RSS feed for this site to the RSS reader of their choice–or, barring that, to check the site regularly for updates.

The Instructor

You can find further information about me, James Ashley Morrison, via my website.