POL 406
INTERNATIONAL LAW AND ORGANIZATION
Dr. Margaret P. Karns Winter/Spring 2011
Office: SJ 203
Tel: 229-3538 ;Email: Margaret.Karns@notes.udayton.edu
Homepage: http://academic.udayton.edu/MargaretKarns/
Office Hours: Tues. 4:30-5:30, and by appointment at other times
Course Description
This course combines two important subfields of International Relations: International Law and International Organization, the two major approaches to creating order in the world. Law and organization provide the norms, rules, organizational structures and decision processes that comprise elements of governance for managing the growing number of global (and regional) interdependence issues. Where once the primary actors in international organizations and the subjects of international law were states, now nongovernmental organizations, individuals, and transnational corporations have become increasingly important actors shaping global governance. The scope of international law and organizations has vastly increased in the last twenty years, making it impossible for one course or text or specialist to encompass it; hence, I have made a number of choices about what to include or exclude. I encourage you to use the research paper assignment to explore a topic that is not otherwise covered in the class or to delve more deeply into a topic that is covered.
By combining the two subjects, we have an opportunity to examine both the legal and political approaches to four major governance areas: the promotion of human development, human rights, peace and security, and environmental sustainability. The course will cover several basic topics in international law, key aspects of the United Nations system, major economic institutions, regional organizations such as the European Union, and nongovernmental organizations or NGOs.
The course will combine lectures and team exercises with seminar-style sessions in which students take responsibility for shaping discussions. We will use international law cases and issue-related case studies to explore topics in greater depth. The course will challenge you to become familiar with legal terminology, an alphabet soup bowl full of acronyms for international intergovernmental organizations (IGOs) and nongovernmental organizations (NGOs), to be open to different perspectives, to engage in lively discussion with each other, and to enhance your capabilities to be a producer of knowledge. You will have a fair amount of reading, a lot of writing, and an expectation of active participation.
Course Objectives:
C To gain familiarity with major topics in international law and organization, including key aspects of the UN system, the European Union, and other intergovernmental and nongovernmental organizations;
C To enhance understanding of various aspects and issues of global governance;
C To acquire knowledge of specific terminology used in international law and organization, to develop research skills and an ability to read and interpret relevant documents.
If you must miss a class, you are responsible for getting notes from other students and for checking on any missed assignments. Late papers will be penalized ½ grade per day of lateness, unless otherwise specified or unless you have obtained prior permission for late submission. In the event of family emergency or illness, please contact me prior to a deadline. I do grant extensions when warranted!
Required Texts for Purchase
Margaret P. Karns and Karen A. Mingst, International Organizations: The Politics and Processes of Global Governance, 2nd edn. (2009)
Valerie Epps, International Law, 4th edn. (2009)
Gil Louscher, Alexander Betts, and James Milner, The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees: The Politics and Practice of Refugee Protection into the Twenty-first Century (2008)
Case Studies: to be purchased on-line, then downloaded using Adobe. The site address is: www.guisd.org. The purchase price is $3.50.
Case #230: Paul Sondrol, "The ‘English’ Patient: General Augusto Pinochet and International Law"
Notes
on
Many reading assignments are multi-part and frequently will include the texts of treaties, legal cases, or other documents. Often I will give you thought/study questions in the preceding session. For the documents, you need to work on developing the style of reading that skims for key sections and points as well as a general sense of the contents and form of the document. Legal cases, however, demand a closer, even second, reading because of the language. The key is to grasp the problem behind the case, then the essence of legal arguments, and, finally, the decision. Occasionally, you will have a dissenting opinion to read as well.
Course Requirements (Subject to change)
Class Participation (10%)
Exercises and short writing assignments (15%)
Midterm and Final exams (50%)
Research Paper (25%)
Grade Scale: 93-100 A
90-92 A-
87-89 B+
83-86 B
80-82 B-
77-79 C+
73-76 C
70-72 C-
60-69 D
Below 60 F
COURSE SCHEDULE (subject to change)
Jan.
20 Case study of the
Ed Struzik, “The Arctic Age,” Great Decisions 2009 Handout
Scott Borgerson, “Arctic Meltdown: The Economic and Security Implications of Global Warming,” Foreign Affairs (Mar-
Apr 2008), 63-77. Available at: http://web.ebscohost.com/ehost/detail?hid=18&sid=1eeb5946-2a57-4aee-a1c4- c83105eed391%40sessionmgr12&vid=2&bdata=JnNpdGU9ZWhvc3QtbGl2ZQ%3d%3d#db=a9h&AN=31029415
Team research assignments:
IGOs – The Arctic Council, International Seabed Authority
NGOs – Circumpolar indigenous peoples’ organizations –discover them! Also
corporations with a stake in the
Shell Oil, BP et al.
States and their stakes –
Int. law –
UNCLOS (Arts. 55-59, 76-77, 83), and the Ilulissat Declaration (2008)
Human Rights – Circumpolar indigenous peoples, Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples
Environment – Check out http://en.rian.ru/infographics/20100420/158671348.html; http://www.thearctic.is/articles/overviews/changing/enska/index.htm and other sources
Jan. 25 What is Global Governance?
Karns and Mingst, International Organizations, Chapter 1
Jan. 27 The Nature and Sources of International Law
J. Martin Rochester, “Is International Law Really Law, or a Charade?” from Between Peril and Promise (2006) Reserve
Epps,
The Paquete Habana
Feb. 1 Treaties
Valerie Epps, Ch. 3, including the following cases:
Reservations to the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide(1951)
Case Concerning Avena and Other Mexican Nationals (2004)
Legal Consequences for States of the Continued Presence of
Case Concerning Gabčίkovo-Nagymaros Project (1997)
Case Concerning Application of the convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of
Genocide,
Bosnia-Herzegovina v. Yugoslavia (1996)
Legal Consequences of the Construction of a Wall in the Occupied Territory (2004)
Additional assignment on treaties TBA
Feb. 3 Evolution of Pieces of Global Governance
Karns and Mingst, International Organizations,
Feb. 8 The United Nations
Karns and Mingst,
UN Charter, Preamble, Chapters I-VII, IX-X, XIV-XV – available at:
http://www.un.org/en/documents/charter/index.shtml
Epps, pp. 276-285 including the following case:
Reparation for Injuries Suffered in the Service of the United Nations
Feb. 10 Regionalism and Regional Organizations
Karns and Mingst, Chapter 5, pp. 145-178
Feb. 15 The Enduring Problem of Refugees
Loescher et al., UNHCR, Chs. 1-3
On International Refugee Law, see http://www.hrea.org/index.php?doc_id=418
and read through the OAS section. This site provides a handy guide to the key terms as well.
Study the map at http://www.unhcr.org/4cd91dc29.pdf
Feb. 15 Attendance Required: 7:30pm KU Ballroom
Human Rights Week Keynote Speaker-Gabriel Bol Deng, a “Lost Boy of
Before you go, take a few minutes to read some background: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lost_Boys_of_Sudan
**Write a one page summary of the speaker’s presentation, including a paragraph of reflection on what you learned about the issue of refugees
Feb. 17 Loescher et al., Chs. 4-6
Jerome Elie, “The Historical Roots of Cooperation between the UN High Commissioner for Refugees and
the International Organization for Migration,” Global Governance 16:3 (July-Sept. 2010), pp. 345-360
Available at: http://web.ebscohost.com/ehost/pdfviewer/pdfviewer?hid=18&sid=dabf547f-3160-4603- bd04-8976464ddd86%40sessionmgr11&vid=6 Also on Reserve
Roberta Cohen and Francis Deng, “Exodus within Borders: The Uprooted who never left home,” Foreign
Affairs (July/Aug 1998), pp. 12-16 Available at: http://web.ebscohost.com/ehost/pdfviewer/pdfviewer?hid=18&sid=dabf547f-3160-4603-bd04-8976464ddd86%40sessionmgr11&vid=2
Sadako Ogata, “Introduction,” from The Turbulent Decade: Confronting the Refugee Crises of the 1990s
(2005), pp. 13-26 Reserve
Feb. 22 Regionalism and Regional Organizations
Karns and Mingst, Chapter 5, pp. 145-178
Feb 24 Regional Organizations (cont.)
Karns and Mingst,
Team exercise and presentations
Takehome midterm exam distributed
Mar. 1 NGOs and Other Non-state Actors
Karns
and Mingst,
Keck and Sikkink, "Transnational Networks on Violence against Women," Activists
Beyond Borders (1998) RESERVE
Thomas Weiss, Tatiana Carayannis, and Richard Jolly,"The 'Third United
Nations," Global Governance 15:1 (Jan.-March 2009) Available at:
http://web.ebscohost.com/ehost/pdfviewer/pdfviewer?hid=12&sid=183f70f5-ca18-
4759-89cf-4c6ef3a8817e%40sessionmgr4&vid=2
March 2-7 MIDTERM BREAK
Mar. 8 States as Actors and Issues of Jurisdiction
Karns
and Mingst,
Andrew Natsios and
Michael Abramowitz, “
available at: http://www.ushmm.org/features/homepage/pdf/foreign-affairs-january-2011.pdf
Takehome Midterm exam due in class in hard copy
Mar. 10 Epps.
Ch. VII, pp. 255-258
Attorney General of the Government of
Case Concerning the Arrest Warrant of 11 April 2000
(Dem. Rep. of
Case Concerning
Case Study #230, “The ‘English’ Patient: General Pinochet and International Law”** (see instructions
for ordering on p. 2)
Mar.15 IL,
IO and Human Trafficking
with Alex Kreidenweis
Christopher Joiner, “International Criminal
Law,”
Global Governance (2005), pp. 133-160 Reserve
Karns and Mingst,
pp. 490-492
Karns’ draft case study on
“Human Trafficking and Other Slave-like Practices” (Feb. 2011) Electronic doc.
Note: You are expected to write a one
page summary of this class session and the one on March 17,
including one paragraph of
feedback to Alex Kreidenweis and Abby Lawson on their
presentations;
Comments
on the Karns draft and Abby’s draft sections are also welcome! These summaries are due on Tuesday March 22
and may be submitted electronically.
Mar.
17 The International Criminal Court with Abby Lawson
Abagail Lawson, “The Movement to Create the International
Criminal Court” and “
Sections from University Honors Thesis
(March 2011), Electronic docs.
Mar
22 Maintaining International
Peace and Security – norms, peaceful settlement of disputes, collective
security, and enforcement
Karns and Mingst,
UN Charter, Articles VI and VII
Epps, Case
Concerning Military and Paramilitary Activities in and Against
393-401, 409-416; Also read Epps pp. 391-393 Legality of the Threat of Use of Nuclear
Weapons (ICJ
Advisory Opinion 1996), and pp. 416-419
regarding Intervention
DUE:
Preliminary Bibliography for research project and summaries of 3/15/ and
3/17 classes
Mar.
24 Peace Operations – Peacekeeping, Peacebuilding and Statebuilding
All: Karns and Mingst,
Individual assignments:
1.
James
Cockayne, Christoph Mikulaschek and Chris Perry, “The United Nations Security
Council and
Civil War:
First Insights from a New Dataset,” International Peace Institute (Sept.
2010)
2.
Elizabeth Cousens and Charles Call, “Ending
Wars and Building Peace: International
Responses to War-Torn
Societies,” International Studies Perspectives
9 (2008) Reserve and at: http://journals.ohiolink.edu/ejc/article.cgi?issn=15283577&issue=v09i0001&article=1_ewabpirtws
3. Michael Barnett and Christoph
Zurcher, “The Peacebuilders’
Contract: How External Statebuilding
Reinforces Weak Statehood,” from The Dilemmas of Statebuilding
edited by Paris and Sisk (2009), pp.
23-52 Reserve
4. Roland Paris, “Understanding
the ‘Coordination Problem’ in Postwar Statebuilding,”
from The Dilemmas
of Statebuilding edited by Paris and
Sisk (2009), pp. 53-78 Reserve
5.
Astri Suhrke, “The Dangers
of a Tight Embrace: Externally Assisted Statebuilding in
DUE: Peacekeeping Exercise (electronic document)
Mar
29 Gender and Post-Conflict Peacebuilding: Session with Dr. Natalie Hudson
Susan Willett, “Introduction: Security Council Resolution 1325: Assessing the Impact on Women, Peace
and Security,” International Peacekeeping, 17:2 (April
2010), Reserve
UN Security Council Resolution
1325, available at: http://www.un.org/events/res_1325e.pdf
Additional reading TBA
Mar 31 Arms Control, Terrorism, and the
Karns and Mingst,
Steven Roach,
“Courting the Rule of Law? The
International Criminal Court and Global Terrorism,” Global
Governance 14:1 (Jan-Mar 2009),
13-19.
Apr.
1 DUE: Outline and bibliography for research paper
due by 4:00pm (Hard
copy)
Apr.
5 Dilemmas
of Humanitarian Intervention: A Debate
over
ALL: Karns and Mingst,
Responsibility to Protect: “Synopsis” and “The Policy Challenge”
available at:
http://www.iciss.ca/pdf/Commission-Report.pdf
Thomas G. Weiss and Ramesh
Thakur, “The Responsibility to Protect,” in Weiss and
Thakur, eds., Global
Governance and the UN: An Unfinished
Journey (2010) Reserve
UNSCR 1973 with summary of SC debate at: http://www.un.org/News/Press/docs/2011/sc10200.doc.htm
Ramesh
Thakur, “
Individual
Assignments:
Peter D. Bell and Sherine S. Jayawickrama, “The
Role of Humanitarian NGOs in Multilateral Diplomacy,”
In James Muldoon et al. eds,
The New Dynamics of Multilateralism
(2010), pp. 155-168 Reserve
UNSCR 1674 (2006) “Protection of Civilians in Armed
Conflict” at:
Jennifer M. Welsh,
“Implementing the ‘Responsibility to Protect:’ Where Expectations Meet Reality,”
Ethics &
International Affairs (Winter 2010), pp.
415-430
Group representing
Group representing the UK, US, France et al.
supporting intervention in Libya
Apr.
7 Promoting Economic Wellbeing
and Development: the World Bank, IMF, UN and NGOs
Karns and Mingst,
Apr. 12 Governing Trade and Economic Policy
Coordination: The WTO, G-7/8, G-20 and
Regional Institutions
Karns and Mingst,
Apr 13 STANDER SYMPOSIUM – SHORT PRESENTATIONS WITH
POWERPOINT OF ALL
RESEARCH
PROJECTS – TIMES TBA
Apr
14 Promoting Human Rights
Globally and Regionally
Karns and Mingst,
Carroll Bogert,
“Human Rights Advocacy in Global Governance:
A Case Study of Human Rights Watch,”
in James P. Muldoon et al., eds., The New Dynamics of Multilateralism (2011), pp. 169-182. Reserve
Additional
Apr.
19 Human
Rights (Cont)
Timothy
Longman and Natalie Zahringer, “Explaining State
Responses to Human Rights,” in James
Muldoon et al. eds, The New Dynamics of Multilateralism (2010), pp.129-147 Reserve
Additional
Apr.
20 DUE: Research
Papers in hard copy by 4:00pm
Apr.
26
Protection of the Environment
Karns and Mingst,
Apr
28
New Governance Challenges
Karns and Mingst, Chapter 12
DUE:
Policy Memorandum (be prepared to give a very short summary of your
recommended course
of action)
Wednesday,
May 4 2:30 - 4:20 FINAL EXAM