030441 KU Rethinking modern international law (2021W)

Globalisation has paradoxically both established international law as the shared law governing states all around the world and triggered a growing skepticism about its universality and legitimacy. The assigned historical and legal critical readings will focus on various ways to think about international law. The course will thus question the historical foundations of international law embedded within the development of globalisation and colonialism and it will give voice to neglected actors of international law, such as women or the so-called third world countries. 

The course aims to provide students with analytical methods to distinguish global governance from international law and with comprehensive tools to critically and autonomously address the main issues and debates in the history of international law within the frame of a reversed classroom by the end of the term.