Our course meetings will generally take the form of discussions. I will vary my role and influence in the discussion based on the material and topics at hand. At points, I may provide some preliminary exegesis or background to set the stage for our discussion. At other points, I will take a less active role, encouraging students to take the discussion in the directions they find most interesting.

This course will require students to grapple with both positive and normative questions. The former concern facts have no moral valence. (e.g. What is the relationship between the International Criminal Court and the United Nations?) The latter concern ideals—standards of “right” and “wrong”—and will challenge students to consider what they think “ought” to be. (e.g. Should countries sacrifice their sovereignty to the ICC?) I will thus try to balance between ensuring the requisite comprehension of the positive issues and allowing sufficient exploration of the intriguing and important normative matters related to international law.