This is a module about public international law and about the relationship between the international legal order, the ways that actors engage with that order and the idea of international justice. This enterprise requires that students of IR apply their critical skills to an analysis of international law. Student will develop knowledge of key areas of public international law and enhance both the empirical skills of international political science and the normative skills of international political theory.

The module explores the idea of normative authority in law, politics and ethics in a partially globalized and legalized world order. It explores questions of justice in the context of legal doctrine (Sources, Personality), international institutions (the UN) and legal regimes (especially Human Rights, Use of Force)

Students should have completed a 2^nd year module in political theory or international relations.

• Demonstrate an understanding of key aspects of modern public international law (doctrine, institutions and regimes)
• Describe key elements of the concepts concerning the legalization of world politics
• Recognize and evaluate claims to normative authority in international affairs
• Critically evaluate contending claims to justice and injustice in the context of the politics of international law
• Appraise key contributions to the political theory of IR in relations to international law and international ethics

The module will comprise 22 lectures and 6 seminars.

Students will practise and develop skills in the analysis of normative and empirical IR theory and in limited elements of public international law. They will develop critical skills in individual and group based research, in class leadership and in critical writing.

Introduction – The legalization of world politics. Normative authority and the politics of international law.

Section 1 – Legal Doctrine (Sources of Law and Legal Personality) IR critiques of modern international Law

Section 2 – The UN and the constitutional structure of international politics

Section 3 – Human Rights and Justice in the modern age

Section 4 – Use of Force: humanitarian intervention and self-defence since the end of the cold-war

Conclusions – Justice and the Politics of international law an agenda for future research

Egede and Sutch, International Law and International Justice, Edinburgh University Press 2012

Reus-Smit, The Politics of International Law Cambridge University Press 2004

Buchanan Justice, Legitimacy and Self-Determination OUP 2004

Pogge World Poverty and Human Rights Blackwell 2001

Walzer Just and Unjust Wars Yale 2001

Wheeler Saving Strangers OUP 2001

Koskenniemi The Politics of International Law 2011

Doyle Striking First Princeton 2011