Prof Susan Marks NAB7.14

This course is available on the Master of Laws and Master of Laws (extended part-time study). This course is available with permission as an outside option to students on other programmes where regulations permit.

This course is part of the Public International Law specialism.

This course is capped at 30 students. Students must apply through Graduate Course Choice on LSE for You.

Students must have completed Rethinking International Law: International Law and Contemporary Problems I (LL4AD).

This course builds on Rethinking International Law I: International Law and Contemporary Problems, exploring debates about the historical development, contemporary character and future prospects of international law, and about the diversity of approaches to its study. Among the questions we are likely to consider are: what is at stake in the controversy over whether international law is ‘really law’? What is the relation between the history of international legal thought and the history of such other global phenomena as colonialism and capitalism? What theoretical reference-points are used by international legal scholars today, and what are the implications of these for analysis, policy and action?

20 hours of seminars in the LT. 2 hours of seminars in the ST.

Students are expected to have done the set reading and be willing to participate in seminar discussion.

One 2,000 word essay.

Reading lists will be provided for each seminar on Moodle. Readings likely to be set include: M. Koskenniemi, The Gentle Civilizer of Nations: The Rise and Fall of International Law 1870-1960 (2002); A. Anghie, Imperialism, Sovereignty and the Making of International Law (2005); and S. Ratner & A-M Slaughter, Symposium on Method in International Law, American Journal of International Law (1999).

Exam (100%, duration: 2 hours) in the main exam period.