What is international criminal law? What politics or rationalities underpin it and its practice? How do these politics or rationalities channel the criminalisation and prosecution of particular harms? How else might international criminal law be imagined and practiced?
International criminal law is a body of law that has been subject to extensive challenge, but on which enormous hopes for justice after atrocity hang. By introducing you to critical debates about the theories and practices of international criminal law, this module enables you to develop an advanced understanding and critical assessment of the promises and limitations of its responses to atrocity. You will gain advanced and systematic knowledge of the core crimes in international criminal law and the workings of key institutions. You will reflect on international criminal law's ability to deliver justice through in-depth analysis of the theoretical and political assumptions that underpin it and the geo-political conditions that constrain it. You will evaluate international criminal law’s responses to atrocity, and its approach towards defendants and survivors of international crime, by critically interrogating prevailing assumptions about harm, agency and responsibility. And you will reflect on creative legal strategies that seek to challenge the limitations of international criminal law.
Lecture/seminars 16 hours
Workshops 8 hours
Written- Reflection- Reflective diary (1,000 words). Worth 20% of the total marks for the module.
Written -Extended writing- Essay (3,000 words). Worth 80% of the total marks for the module. This Assessment is Pass Compulsory
Reassessment methods: Like for like
For current reading list see the detailed module information on moodle.
See the library reading list for this module (Canterbury)
On successfully completing the module, students will be able to:
1) Critically and systematically identify and explain the main concepts, doctrines, principles and institutions of international criminal law and the theoretical and political perspectives that underlie them.
2) Critically evaluate received understandings of international criminal law through critical engagement with theoretical and doctrinal debates.
3) Systematically and creatively apply critical frameworks to contemporary international criminal legal issues and identify matters needing further research or reform.
4) Undertake sophisticated independent research into international criminal law and critically evaluate the state of knowledge in the field.
5) Communicate complex academic argument regarding key points of international criminal legal controversy, synthesising this research into a well-formed argument according to relevant academic conventions.
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