This module is not currently running in 2024 to 2025.
The module will examine the role and function of international law in the use of force between states as well as non-state actors. It will provide students with detailed knowledge and understanding of the origins and development of international law on the use of force and of its concepts, principles and rules governing the use of force (jus ad bellum) and the conduct of armed conflict (jus in bello). The module will enable students to consider the relevance, or otherwise, of international law on the use of force to contemporary international disputes and to critically assess its limitations and effects. This will be achieved through a range of topics and case studies.
Total study hours: 150
Contact hours: 20
Private study hours: 130
Main assessment methods
The module will be assessed by 50% coursework and 50% exam as follows:
Written work, 2,000 words (50%)
Exam, 2 hours (50%) *
* Students must achieve a mark of 40% in the exam to pass the module overall
Alternatively short term Erasmus exchange students will be assessed by 100% coursework as follows:
Written work, 2,000 words (50%)
Essay, 2,000 words (50%) *
* Erasmus students must achieve a mark of 40% in the essay to pass the module overall
Reassessment methods
Like-for-like: where undertaken, a mark of 40% is required in the resit exam (non-Erasmus students), or the resit essay (Erasmus students) in order to pass the module overall.
• Clapham and Gaeta, The Oxford Handbook of International Law in Armed Conflict (OUP 2014)
• Dinstein, War, Aggression and Self-Defence (OUP, 2011)
• Duffy, The 'War on Terror' and the Framework of International Law (CUP, 2015)
• Orford, International Authority and the Responsibility to Protect (Cambridge, 2011)
• Orford, Reading Humanitarian Intervention (Cambridge, 2007)
• Peevers, The Politics of Justifying Force: The Suez Crisis, the Iraq War, and International Law (Oxford, 2013)
• Rylatt & Solomou, The Oxford Handbook on the Use of Force in International Law (Oxford, 2015)
• Weller, Iraq, and the Use of Force in International Law (Oxford, 2010)
• Journal on the Use of Force and International Law
See the library reading list for this module (Canterbury)
The intended subject specific learning outcomes.
On successfully completing the module students will be able to:
1. Demonstrate detailed understanding of the origins, development and current debates on the use of force in international law
2. Demonstrate an in depth knowledge and understanding of the international legal framework, principles and rules concerning the use of
force in international law
3. Assess the relevance or otherwise of international law on the use of force to particular disputes
4. Critically evaluate the role of international law on the use of force in particular disputes and to critically assess the limitations and effects of
the law on the use of force in regulating contemporary conflicts/disputes.
The intended generic learning outcomes.
On successfully completing the module students will be able to:
1. undertake effective independent legal research, including the ability to retrieve up-to-date information using electronic sources
2. demonstrate key transferrable skills in devising and sustaining legal argument
3. use relevant and appropriate legal terminology with care, accuracy and confidence
4. engage in practical application of knowledge through consideration and analysis of scenarios and case studies
5. critically assess law within theoretical, historical, political, social and economic contexts
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