Syllabus
Welcome to the Course!
Welcome to International Law! This course, beginning on September 17 will help you to better understand the world in which we live. You will learn how international law is made, applied and enforced, and about its basic rules.
The course intends to convey the basic concepts, structures and rules that make international law a specific legal order. The course does not pretend to be exhaustive as it cannot give account of all issues and cases.
At the end of this course, you will be able to:
- Explain how and by whom international law is made, by whom it must be respected and how it is applied.
- Discuss what happens when binding rules are breached and how it is possible to seek justice in this world.
Prerequisites
This is an intermediate level course and familiarity with legal concepts and legal language is recommended.
Workload
Students are expected to spend roughly four to six hours a week watching the videos, reading the materials, responding to the problems and exercises and participating actively in the forums. As mentioned above, for those with little familiarity with legal concepts and language, additional time commitment may be required.
Grading
You will be graded on the basis of your participation throughout the course, as measured by the problems you've completed and the discussions you've contributed to: this participation assessment (called PA in the Progress Tab) will account for 20% of the final grade.
In addition, each week closes with a Weekly Exam (called WE in the Progress Tab), to the exception of week 1. Each section has the same weight in the final evaluation, which is 10% of the final grade. The results obtained on the seven questionnaires in total shall account for 70% of the final grade.
At the end of the course, you will also take a Final Exam (called FE in the Progress Tab) which is worth 10% of your final grade.
Students must complete the graded assignments by December 31, 2015, and earn a total grade of at least 60% in order to pass the course and earn a Honor Code Certificate of Achievement.
Students who want a higher level of proof that they have completed the course, such as for their school or employer, can enrol for a Verified Certificate of Completion (50$) until November 6, 2015. You can find more information about the edX Verified Certificate of Completion here.
Course Schedule
This is the interactive schedule for the second session of Louv5x | International Law
Be careful: All times in this course are given in Greenwich time (UTC). You will need to convert this into your time zone..
Please be aware that the deadline for accomplishing all activities, weekly exams and the final exam is on midnight December 31, 2015. There will be no extension or grace period. After that date, the course will be archived.
Furthermore, we are happy to invite you to Live Q&As to discuss online with Pierre d’Argent! We will use Google+ Hangouts (offering free video conferencing) to interact through live video. Please make sure you will be part of this fabulous experience:
- The first Live Q&A will take place on Wednesday, September 30 at 02:30pm UTC. Questions about week 1 and week 2 of the course will be answered.
- The second Live Q&A will take place on Wednesday, October 14 at 02:30pm UTC. Questions about week 3 and week 4 of the course will be answered.
- The third Live Q&A will take place on Wednesday, October 28 at 03:30pm UTC. Questions about week 5 and week 6 of the course will be answered.
- The last Live Q&A will take place on Wednesday, November 11 at 03:30pm UTC. Questions about week 7 and 8 of the course will be answered.
In case you miss our live Q&A's sessions, you can watch them on the Community Page.
To go further
There are many excellent textbooks on International Law and this MOOC does not pretend to replace a good read. You are therefore warmly encouraged to deepen your knowledge and understanding of international law by resorting to an accessible textbook on the subject. However, you do not need to purchase any book for the purpose of taking this MOOC. The only readings you will need to do are those to be found on the course pages.
Among many others, here are two suggested textbooks if you want to go further:
- A short one: Jan Klabbers, International Law, Cambridge University Press, 2013
- A long one: Malcolm Shaw, International Law, Cambridge University Press, 2014
We are happy to announce that the Cambridge University Press is kindly offering a special discount available to our MOOC students! Please click here to access the discount page. The special offer will expire at the end of 2015.
Furthermore, we invite you to have a look at the UN Audivisual Library. This is a unique virtual resource that contains a permanent collection of lectures of on almost every subject of international law given by leading international law scholars and practitioners.