| Unit name | International Law and Armed Conflict |
|---|---|
| Unit code | LAWDM0158 |
| Credit points | 30 |
| Level of study | M/7 |
| Teaching block(s) |
Teaching Block 4 (weeks 1-24) |
| Unit director | Dr. Biggio |
| Open unit status | Not open |
| Units you must take before you take this one (pre-requisite units) |
None. |
| Units you must take alongside this one (co-requisite units) |
None. |
| Units you may not take alongside this one |
None. |
| School/department | University of Bristol Law School |
| Faculty | Faculty of Social Sciences and Law |
Why is this unit important
The opposition of law and violence is a paradigmatic feature of mainstream legal thought. Law is understood to represent order, justice, and rationality. Violence, by contrast, is understood to be chaotic, immoral, and as quintessentially embodying ‘might over right’. This unit examines the relationship between law and violence in modern warfare. We will explore fundamental questions regarding the nature of contemporary conflict, whether it can be tamed or even eradicated through law, and the nature of international law, including both its opposition to, and complicity with, violence in warfare. These questions will be explored through an examination of contemporary issues in warfare, including urban conflict, the weaponization of sexual violence, and uncertainty regarding the extent which an occupying state may alter the economic structures of the territory it occupies. More generally, the course offers a unique opportunity to examine afresh law’s claim to oppose, supplant, and contain violence.
How does this unit fit into your programme of study
This course will provide you with contextualised snapshots of law in action and, throughout, we will be interrogating conventional wisdoms about the relationship between law and war, war and peace, forcible and non-forcible measures, and so on. In addition to the specific focus on armed conflict, the course also offers the opportunity to develop your understanding of core international law concepts and different theoretical frameworks. The course is organised so that it is both accessible to people who are new to international law while being challenging and provocative to those who have prior experience in these fields of law.
An overview of content
The course encompasses four bodies of international law: the United Nations Charter rules on the use of force (when war is lawful); the law of armed conflict (whether conduct within a conflict is lawful); international criminal law (when individuals may be criminally liable for conduct during armed conflict); and the regulation of economic aspects of conflict. The course will examine how these bodies of law can be constructed and critiqued according to different theoretical traditions including formal and policy-based reasoning as well as feminist and post-colonial perspectives.
How students, personally, will be different as a result of this unit
Taking this course will enable you to critically appraise discourses regarding violence and warfare in politics, media, culture, and, of course, law. It will provide you with a more nuanced understanding of (international) law as a contextual and argumentative practice. The course will help you develop your ability to make independently researched, theoretically informed arguments about what the law is and whether it is able to regulate warfare.
Learning outcomes
The unit will be taught across the academic year with a range of learning activities planned for a minimum of 20 weeks. The teaching in this unit encompasses live and recorded lectures, reading exercises to be carried out independently, research exercises with formative feedback and, most importantly, discursive, participatory seminars with small group work activities. The teaching style is intended to develop your confidence and competence at carrying out independent, research-based analysis of legal issues. The unit will require directed and self-directed learning, which will include activities such as reading materials included in the unit’s reading list, researching supplementary materials, engaging in critical analysis, completion of tasks for in-seminar presentation, and completion of assessments. The course also invites you to compliment your formal learning by providing recommendations of films and documentaries which examine the issues discussed in each learning cycle.
Tasks which help you learn and prepare you for summative tasks (formative)
In addition to the formative assignment where you will receive written feedback with regards to a coursework-style assignment, there are numerous individual and group-based participatory activities during seminars including debates, research exercises and critical discussion. Each learning cycle will include a short research exercise where students are invited to submit short written comments to the discussion board and present this in the seminar discussions, short feedback will be provided by the unit tutor each week on these contributions.
Tasks which count towards your unit mark (summative)
The unit will be assessed by two 3,000 word pieces of coursework. ILOs 1-4 will be assessed through these assessments which will require a critical assessment of the specific branch(es) of international relating to warfare being explored. The questions will encourage you to research and focus on a specific aspect of the law, to take innovative and critical approaches to understanding the relationship between law and war. In preparation for the coursework, you will be expected to carry out research beyond the unit reading list.
When assessment does not go to plan
If you do not attain a passing mark in the summative assignment, there will be an opportunity to take a resit assignment which takes the same form as the original assignment.
If this unit has a Resource List, you will normally find a link to it in the Blackboard area for the unit. Sometimes there will be a separate link for each weekly topic.
If you are unable to access a list through Blackboard, you can also find it via the Resource Lists homepage. Search for the list by the unit name or code (e.g. LAWDM0158).
How much time the unit requires
Each credit equates to 10 hours of total student input. For example a 20 credit unit will take you 200 hours
of study to complete. Your total learning time is made up of contact time, directed learning tasks,
independent learning and assessment activity.
See the University Workload statement relating to this unit for more information.
Assessment
The Board of Examiners will consider all cases where students have failed or not completed the assessments required for credit.
The Board considers each student's outcomes across all the units which contribute to each year's programme of study. For appropriate assessments, if you have self-certificated your absence, you will normally be required to complete it the next time it runs (for assessments at the end of TB1 and TB2 this is usually in the next re-assessment period).
The Board of Examiners will take into account any exceptional circumstances and operates
within the Regulations and Code of Practice for Taught Programmes.
