Dr Devika Hovell, NAB 6.32

This course is available on the LLM (extended part-time), LLM (full-time), MSc in Conflict Studies, MSc in Gender, Peace and Security, MSc in Human Rights and University of Pennsylvania Law School LLM Visiting Students. This course is available with permission as an outside option to students on other programmes where regulations permit.

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

Some prior knowledge of international law is useful but not essential.

This half-unit course examines the law relating to when it is permissible to use force (jus ad bellum). The aim of this course is to develop an understanding of the principles of international law that regulate the use of force in international society. It concentrates on the prohibition of resort to force in Article 2(4) of the United Nations Charter and the exceptions to that prohibition. It looks in detail at the right of self-defence, humanitarian intervention and the responsibility to protect, pro-democratic intervention, the protection of nationals and the criminalization of aggression. The use of force by or with the authorization of the United Nations is also considered.

This course is delivered through a combination of classes and lectures totalling a minimum of 20 hours in Michaelmas Term. Students will usually have two additional hours in the Summer Term. This year teaching will be delivered through recorded online lectures and a mix of both in-person and online classes to accommodate students who are unable to physically be on campus. This course includes a reading week in Week 6 of Michaelmas Term.

One 2,000 word essay.

A detailed reading list will be issued at the first seminar. See, in particular: Dinstein, War, Aggression and Self-Defence (5th ed, 2011); Gray, International Law and the Use of Force (3rd ed., 2008).

Exam (100%, duration: 2 hours, reading time: 15 minutes) in the summer exam period.