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This module provides students with a thorough grounding in international law. It introduces students to the legal rules of public international law that govern relationships between states, and examines the effects of globalisation on legal systems. The module will trace the evolution of international legal rules and institutions, analysing core principles and doctrines such as sovereignty and recognition, studying international law’s origins and development over time, and detailing how international law is ‘made’ today. We will examine the ideological, political and economic factors that are at play in the process of law-making at the international level. We will look at who the subjects of public international law are, as well as the sources of law, in order to understand what rights and obligations exist under international law, for whom, and with what legal force. The ultimate aim of the module is to ground students in the theories and ideas that underpin the field of international law, and to help develop the tools and thinking necessary to understand and apply the principles and rules of law in practice, as well as to reflect critically on the possibilities and limits of international law in the face of war, environmental degradation, and socio-economic inequality.
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