International Law (Spring 2010)

Unit 1: Approaching International Law

Topic 1: Introductory

Class 1: Introduction and Overview: What is International Law? (Tues 9 Feb)

• Read this Course Site
• Carefully Read Course Policies
• Epps, Introduction: “International Law.” (2 pp)
• Recommended: Slaughter, Anne-Marie, Andrew S. Tulumello, and Stepan Wood. “International Law and International Relations Theory: A New Generation of Interdisciplinary Scholarship.”American Journal of International Law 92, no. 3 (1998): 367-97. (30 pp)

Class 2: The Sources and Nature of International Law (Thurs 11 Feb)

• Epps, Ch 1: “Sources of International Law.” (25 pp)
• Keohane, R. O. “International Relations and International Law: Two Optics.” Harvard International Law Journal 38, no. 2 (1997): 487-502. (15 pp)

Topic 2: Perspectives on International Law

Class 3: Classic Perspectives on International Law (Tues 16 Feb)

• Thucydides. “The Melian Dialogue,” In History of the Peloponnesian War. [431 B.C.E.] Book V, Chapters 84-116. (6 pp).  Available via: http://www.wellesley.edu/ClassicalStudies/CLCV102/Thucydides–MelianDialogue.html
• Grotius, Hugo. The Rights of War and Peace. [1625] Edited by Richard Tuck. 3 vols. Indianapolis: Liberty Fund, 2005. Prolegomena (i.e. “The Preliminary Discourse”, pp 75-106 only). (31 pp) Available via: http://oll.libertyfund.org/index.php?option=com_staticxt&staticfile=show.php%3Ftitle=1425&layout=html#chapter_138591
• Hobbes, Thomas. Leviathan. [1651] Chs 13-15, 17-18. (37 pp) Available via: http://etext.library.adelaide.edu.au/h/hobbes/thomas/h68l/index.html
• Recommended: Locke, John. Second Treatise. [1690] Chs 2-3.

Class 4: Legal Theory: The “Law” Part of “International Law” (Thurs 18 Feb)

• Holmes, Oliver Wendell. “The Path of the Law.” Harvard Law Review 10, no. 457 (1897): 457-78.  (21 pp) Available via: http://www.gutenberg.org/etext/2373
• Kennedy, Duncan. “Legal Formalism.” The International Encyclopedia of the Social and Behavioral Sciences. 8634 (2001). (4 pp) Available via: http://www.duncankennedy.net/documents/Legal%20Formalism.pdf
• Scalia, Antonin. “The Rule of Law as a Law of Rules.” The University of Chicago Law Review 56, no. 4 (1989): 1175-88. (13 pp)

Class 5: Political Perspectives I: Modern Realism (Tues 23 Feb)

• Carr, Edward Hallett. The Twenty Years’ Crisis, 1919-1939: An Introduction to the Study of International Relations. 2nd ed. London: Macmillan & Co., 1946. Ch 5. (26 pp)
• Morgenthau, Hans Joachim. “Positivism, Functionalism, and International Law.” American Journal of International Law 34, no. 2 (1940): 260-84. (24 pp)
• Kennan, George F. American Diplomacy. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1984. Ch 6: “Diplomacy in the Modern World.” (13 pp)

Class 6: Political Perspectives II: Modern Liberalism (Thurs 25 Feb)

• Kenneth Abbott et al., “The Concept of Legalization,” International Organization 54, 3 (Summer 2000), pp. 401-419. (18 pp)
• Simmons, Beth and Daniel Hopkins. 2005. “The Constraining Power of International Treaties.” American Political Science Review 99, no. 4 (November 2005): 623-631. (8 pp)
• Goldstein, Judith, and Lisa L. Martin. “Legalization, Trade Liberalization, and Domestic Politics: A Cautionary Note.” International Organization 54, no. 3 (2000): 603-32. (29 pp)

Unit 2: The Contemporary International Legal System

Topic 3: The Constitution of the International Legal System

Class 7: The Sovereignty Question: Who are the Parties in International Law? (Tues 2 Mar)

• Morrison, James A., and Avery F. White. “International Regimes and War.” In The Handbook on the Political Economy of War, edited by Christopher J. Coyne. Northampton, MA: Edward Elgar Publishing, (forthcoming) 2010. (30 pp)
• Epps, Ch VII: “International Legal Personality: States, International Organizations, Non-State Groups, Individuals, and Multi-National Corporations.” (38 pp)
• Recommended: Strange, Susan. “States, Firms and Diplomacy.” In International Political Economy: Perspectives on Global Power and Wealth, edited by Jeffry A. Frieden and David A. Lake, 60-68. Boston: Bedford/St. Martin’s, 2000. Available via: http://biblio.middlebury.edu/record=b1644079~S2

—10:30 PM, Wednesday, 3 March: Essay 1 Due—

Class 8: Territory & Jurisdiction: Physical and Legal limits to Authority (Thurs 4 Mar)

• Epps, Ch IV: “Jurisdiction,” pp 101-123, 138-145, 151-152, 171- 178. (37 pp)
• Epps, Ch II: “Title to Territory.” Skim. (25 pp)
• Recommended: Brown, Bartram S. “Primacy or Complementarity: Reconciling the Jurisdiction of National Courts and International Criminal Tribunals.” Yale Journal of International Law 23 (1998): 383-435. (~ roughly 25 pp)

Topic 4: International Legal Institutions

Class 9: The United Nations and the International Court of Justice (Tues 9 Mar)

• The Charter of the United Nations. June 26, 1945. (Just skim this document.) Available via: http://www.un.org/aboutun/charter/index.html
• The International Court of Justice. Statute of the Court. Available via: http://www.icj-cij.org/documents/index.php?p1=4&p2=2&p3=0
• The International Court of Justice. “The Court.” (Read the several subpages.) Available via: http://www.icj-cij.org/court/index.php?p1=1
• Epps, Ch IX: “The Peaceful Settlement of Disputes: Arbitration and International Courts,” pp 361-381. (20 pp)
• Hartley, Trevor C. European Union Law in a Global Context: Text, Cases, and Materials. New York: Cambridge University Press, 2004. Pp 92-98. [On ICJ/Nicaragua]

Class 10: International Criminal Courts (Thurs 11 Mar)

• Epps, Ch IX: “The Peaceful Settlement of Disputes: Arbitration and International Courts,” pp 381-384. (3 pp)
• The International Criminal Court. Rome Statute. Parts I-II, IV, VI, IX-X. Available via: http://www.icc-cpi.int/Menus/ICC/Legal+Texts+and+Tools/Official+Journal/Rome+Statute.htm
• Epps, Ch IV: The Pinochet Case, pp 152-164 (12 pp)
• Kissinger, Henry A. “The Pitfalls of Universal Jurisdiction.” Foreign Affairs, July-August 2001. Available via: http://www.globalpolicy.org/intljustice/general/2001/07kiss.htm
• Roth, Kenneth. “The Case for Universal Jurisdiction.” In Karen Mingst and Jack Snyder, eds. Essential Readings in World Politics. 3rd ed. New York: W.W. Norton & Co., 2004. Available via: http://www.foreignaffairs.org/20010901faresponse5577/kenneth-roth/the-case-for-universal-jurisdiction.html.
• Recommended: Forsythe, David P. “The United States and International Criminal Justice.” Human Rights Quarterly 24, no. 4 (2002): 974-91. (17 pp) Available via: http://muse.jhu.edu/journals/human_rights_quarterly/v024/24.4forsythe.html

Class 11: Legal Mechanisms in the GATT/WTO (Tues 16 Mar)

• The WTO Dispute Settlement Understanding.
  • Background: http://www.wto.org/english/thewto_e/whatis_e/tif_e/disp1_e.htm
  • Text: http://www.wto.org/english/docs_e/legal_e/28-dsu.pdf
• WTO. “To the heart of the WTO.” Download or stream video via: http://www.wto.org/english/res_e/webcas_e/webcas_e.htm#intro
• WTO. “Case Studies of WTO Dispute Settlement.” Download or stream video via: http://www.wto.org/english/res_e/webcas_e/webcas_e.htm#intro
• Barton, et al. The Evolution of the Trade Regime: Politics, Law, and Economics of the GATT and the WTO. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2006. Ch 3: “The Politics of the GATT/WTO Legal System: Legislative and Judicial Processes.” (30 pp)

Class 12: The European Union (Thurs 18 Mar)

• Reid, TR. The United States of Europe: The New Superpower and the End of American Supremacy. New York: Penguin, 2004. pp 230-238. (8 pp)
• Burley [Slaughter], Anne-Marie. “Europe before the Court: A Political Theory of Legal Integration.” International Organization 47 (1993): 41-76. (35 pp)
• Garrett, Geoffrey, and Barry Weingast. “Ideas, Interests, and Institutions.” In Ideas & Foreign Policy: Beliefs, Institutions, and Political Change, edited by Judith Goldstein and Robert O. Keohane. Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 1993. (35 pp)

—23-25 March: Spring Break—

Unit 3: Areas of International Law

Topic 5: Positive Agreements

Class 13: Treaties (Tues 30 Mar)

• The United Nations. Vienna Convention on Treaties. 1155 U.N.T.S. 331. Drafted 23 May 1969. Skim. (30 pp) Available via: http://untreaty.un.org/ilc/texts/instruments/english/conventions/1_1_1969.pdf
• Epps, Ch III: “The Law of Treaties,” pp 55-85, 91-100. (39 pp)
• Re-read: Simmons, Beth A., and Daniel Hopkins. “The Constraining Power of International Treaties.” American Political Science Review 99, no. 4 (2005): 623-31. (8 pp)

Topic 6: Governing the Global Commons

Class 14: The Archetypical Commons: The Sea (Thurs 1 Apr)

• Epps, Ch V: “The Law of the Sea,” pp 179-180, 183-201, 216-237. (39 pp)
• Vieira, Mónica Brito “Mare Liberum vs. Mare Clausum: Grotius, Freitas, and Selden’s Debate on Dominion over the Seas.” Journal of the History of Ideas 64 (2003): 361-77. (16 pp) Available via: http://muse.jhu.edu/journals/journal_of_the_history_of_ideas/v064/64.3vieira.pdf

Class 15: Protecting the Commons: The Environment (Tues 6 Apr)

• Epps, Ch VI: “International Environmental Law.” (16 pp)
• The United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change.
  • Background: http://unfccc.int/essential_background/convention/items/2627.php
  • Text: http://unfccc.int/essential_background/convention/background/items/1349.php
• Kyoto Protocol.
  • Background: http://unfccc.int/kyoto_protocol/items/2830.php
  • Text: http://unfccc.int/essential_background/kyoto_protocol/items/1678.php

—10:30 PM, Wednesday, 7 April: Essay 2 Due—

Topic 7: Jus Cogens: Inviolable Rights

Class 16: Universal Rights (Thurs 8 Apr)

• Rakove, Jack N. Declaring Rights: A Brief History with Documents. Boston: Bedford Books, 1998. Chs 2, 12. (35 pp)
• National Assembly of France. Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen. Approved August 26, 1789. (3 pp) Available via: http://www.constitution.org/fr/fr_drm.htm
• The United Nations. The Universal Declaration of Human Rights. December 10, 1948. (10 pp) Available via: http://www.un.org/Overview/rights.html
• Ch VIII: “Human Rights,” pp 293-308. (15 pp)

Class 17: Conflicting Views of Rights (Tues 13 Apr)

• Epps, Ch VIII: “Human Rights,” pp 308-334, 337-350. (39 pp)
• Pease, Kelly Kate, and David P. Forsythe. “Human Rights, Humanitarian Intervention, and World Politics.” Human Rights Quarterly 15, no. 2 (1993): 290-314. (Just be sure to get the main thesis.) (24 pp)
• Moravcsik, Andrew. “The Paradox of US Human Rights Policy,” in Michael Ignatieff, ed. American Exceptionalism and Human Rights (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2005). (Just read Abstract & Introduction) Available via: http://www.princeton.edu/~amoravcs/publications.html

Unit 4: The Use of Force

Topic 8: The Use of Force in International Disputes

Class 18: The Rules governing Interstate Conflict (Thurs 15 Apr)

• Epps, Ch X: “The Use of Force Including War,” pp 385-401, 422-451. (45 pp)

Class 19: Intervention (Tues 20 Apr)

• Epps, Ch X: “The Use of Force Including War.” pp 407-422 (15 pp)
• Rogers, APV. “Humanitarian Intervention and International Law.” Harvard Journal of Law and Public Policy 27 (2004): 725-36. (11 pp)
• Evans, Gareth, and Mohamed Sahnoun. “The Responsibility to Protect.” Foreign Affairs 81 (2002): 99-110. (11 pp)

Class 20: The Use of Force after September 11th (Thurs 22 Apr)

• Bush, George W. “National Security Strategy of the United States of America,” 17 September 2002. (Skip Ch 9.) (30 pp) Available via: http://www.lib.umich.edu/govdocs/pdf/nss02.pdf
• Forsythe, David P. “United States Policy toward Enemy Detainees in the ‘War on Terrorism’.” Human Rights Quarterly 28, no. 2 (2006): 465-91. (26 pp) Available via: http://muse.jhu.edu/journals/human_rights_quarterly/v028/28.2forsythe.html
• Hamdan v. Rumsfield, 542 U. S. 507 (2006). Edited version available via: http://www.law.duke.edu/publiclaw/supremecourtonline/editedCases/hmdvrum.html

Unit 5: International Law and the Second World War

Topic 9: Background

Class 21: The Nuremberg Trial (Tues 27 Apr)

• Film: “Nuremberg: Tyranny on Trial.” 50 Minutes. United States, 2005. (Screening to be arranged.)
• Jackson, Justice Robert H. “Report to the President on Atrocities and War Crimes.” June 7, 1945. Available via: http://avalon.law.yale.edu/imt/imt_jack01.asp
• Jackson, Justice Robert H. “Statement on War Trials Agreement.” August 12, 1945. Available via: http://avalon.law.yale.edu/imt/imt_jack02.asp
• The “Hossbach Memorandum.” Berlin, November 10, 1937. Available via: http://avalon.law.yale.edu/imt/hossbach.asp
• The “Wannsee Protocol.” January 20, 1942. Available via: http://avalon.law.yale.edu/imt/wannsee.asp
• Kulish, Nicholas. “Man Tied to Death Camp Goes on Trial in Germany.” New York Times, November 30, 2009. Available via: http://topics.nytimes.com/topics/reference/timestopics/people/d/john_demjanjuk/index.html

Topic 10: Nuremberg Simulation

Class 22: Prosecution: Presentation of Charges and Briefs (Thurs 29 Apr)

• Written briefs due (via email) by 8:00 PM, Wednesday, 28 April. I will circulate these to the class immediately.
• Each of the four prosecutorial teams will make a fifteen-minute presentation.

Class 23: Defense: Response Briefs (Tues 4 May)

• Written briefs due (via email) by 8:00 PM, Monday, 3 May. I will circulate these to the class immediately.
• Each of the four defense teams will make a fifteen-minute presentation.

Class 24: Judgment: Decisions and Opinions (Thurs 6 May)

• Written decisions due (via email) by 8:00 PM, Wednesday, 5 May. I will circulate these to the class after the decisions have been rendered.
• Each of the four judges will present their decisions and opinions.