Microcredential
International Law
Université catholique de Louvain via edX Micromasters
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Overview
International Law is the law of the international community and in our globalized world, it is an expanding field and international politics cannot be understood today without some knowledge of the legal constraints bearing on it.
With this International Law MicroMasters program, you’ll master the language and institutions of international law. The MicroMasters program will give you a clear understanding of the ways by which international law exists as a legal order and bears on domestic governance (human rights), war (law of armed conflicts) and the economy (investment law). You’ll learn to decode international news from a legal perspective and to understand the legal rules at play in specific professional fields of international relations (diplomacy, humanitarian aid, NGOs...).
If you’re not a lawyer, you’ll become able to interact with professional lawyers in an articulate way.
If you already graduated in law, political sciences or international relations, you might even become interested in taking your program certificate to the next level and become an advanced master student at Louvain!
Your MicroMasters program certificate will be worth 20 credits out of the 60 credits needed to complete the advanced master. 33% of study time saved!
Syllabus
Course 1: International Human Rights Law
Learn how an individual’s human rights are protected from both public and private power by international laws.
Course 2: International Law
Learn about the Law of the International Community, including how International Law is created, applied and upheld in today's world.
Course 3: International Humanitarian Law
Learn how international law regulates armed conflicts, protects individuals in wartime, and guarantees minimum compliance.
Course 4: International Investment Law
Learn the features and dynamics of an important field of international law that grants rights to foreign investors to foster States’ development.
Courses
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Human rights are developed through the constant dialogue between international human rights bodies and domestic courts, in a search that crosses geographical, cultural and legal boundaries. The result is a unique human rights grammar, which this course shall discuss and question, examining the sources of human rights, the rights of individuals, the duties of States, and the mechanisms of protection.
We shall rely extensively on comparative material from different jurisdictions, to study a wide range of topics including, religious freedom in multicultural societies, human rights in employment relationships, economic and social rights in development, or human rights in the context of the fight against terrorism.
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Armed conflicts have always existed around the world. Unfortunately, recent events have shown that this phenomenon is becoming increasingly complex, especially with respect to some legal issues, such as:
- The definition of combatants when terrorists are involved in the hostilities.
- The detention by rebels of State armed forces.
- The involvement and status of UN peacekeepers in armed conflicts.This course will help you understand these complex legal issues by teaching you the norms governing armed conflicts, also known as ‘International Humanitarian Law’ (‘IHL’).We will address these issues in light of recent practice, including the fight against ISIS and Al-Qaeda in different regions of the world, as well as other recent and older conflicts, such as those in Armenia, Afghanistan, Libya, Mali, and the Israeli-Palestinian one.
The course will provide essential theoretical and practical knowledge for students, researchers and academics who wish to specialize in International Humanitarian Law as well as professionals, including members of NGOs, involved in armed conflict situations, or even members of armed forces.
In this course, you can choose between an audit (free) track and a verified track ($150 fee).
The audit track
- Proposes a general approach to International Humanitarian Law (it’s a master level law course so learners with poor knowledge on this subject may have to work harder to understand the materials).
- Assesses your mastery of the relevant concepts through multiple choice questions that avoid complex and controversial issues.
- Implies a workload of about 4-7 hours/chapter
The verified track
- Offers a deeper and more complex learning experience: detailed considerations and developments on controversial issues, additional videos and readings.
- Assesses your mastery of complex and controversial issues through more complex MCQ, case studies and peer review assignments.
- Offers a staff graded final exam.
- Implies a workload of about 8-12 hours/chapter.
- Delivers a verified certificate (in case of passing final grade) and allows you to pursue the International Law MicroMasters credentials.
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Are you aware of the controversial situations facing States and foreign investors nowadays in relation to, for instance, the protection of public health and the environment? Do you recall recent cases such as Philip Morris v Uruguay and Vattenfall v Germany?
In the aftermath of these high profile cases and in the context of the negotiation of new international investment agreements, like the CETA and the TPP, local populations, policy-makers and NGOs have come to realize the societal importance of international investment law. Passionate and sometimes ill-informed discussions have resulted from this realisation. They have focused on the features of international investment law, which has traditionally granted rights to foreign investors to foster States’ economic development. Central to these discussions are the issues of:
- the balance between the protection of foreign investors and the right of host States to regulate in order to protect public welfare objectives;
- the duties and obligations of foreign investors;
- the promotion of sustainable development in international investment law;
- the legitimacy of arbitration tribunals to decide on disputes between host States and foreign investors;
- the coherence of arbitration practice.
Learning and understanding the features and dynamics of international investment law is key not only for international lawyers and policy-makers, but it is also important knowledge for all well-informed citizens.
In this law course, you will:
- discover the history of international investment law and understand the dynamics which shape its evolution;
- learn the objectives of international investment law and the specific rights international investment agreements grant to foreign investors;
- discover how those rights have been interpreted by arbitration tribunals;
- master the features and functions of investor-state arbitration;
- understand why international investment law and investor-state arbitration are currently the subject of criticism and be able to assess the soundness of this criticism;
- gain insight into the content of treaties newly concluded, and be able to assess how they address the issues of the right of host States to regulate, of foreign investors’ obligations and of the legitimacy of arbitration tribunals.
Taught by
Yannick Radi, Pierre d’Argent, Raphaël Van Steenberghe, Jerôme de Hemptinne and Olivier De Schutter
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