Universität Wien
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030678 KU Ukraine & International Law (2022W)

The history international and constitutonal law as a key to understanding the Ukraine conflict

3.00 ECTS (2.00 SWS), SPL 3 - Rechtswissenschaften
Continuous assessment of course work

Registration/Deregistration

Note: The time of your registration within the registration period has no effect on the allocation of places (no first come, first served).

Details

max. 118 participants
Language: German

Lecturers

Classes (iCal) - next class is marked with N

  • Thursday 13.10. 08:00 - 10:30 Hörsaal U11 Schottenbastei 10-16, Juridicum, KG1
  • Thursday 20.10. 08:00 - 10:30 Hörsaal U11 Schottenbastei 10-16, Juridicum, KG1
  • Thursday 27.10. 08:00 - 10:30 Hörsaal U11 Schottenbastei 10-16, Juridicum, KG1
  • Thursday 03.11. 08:00 - 10:30 Hörsaal U11 Schottenbastei 10-16, Juridicum, KG1
  • Thursday 10.11. 08:00 - 10:30 Hörsaal U11 Schottenbastei 10-16, Juridicum, KG1
  • Thursday 17.11. 08:00 - 10:30 Hörsaal U11 Schottenbastei 10-16, Juridicum, KG1
  • Thursday 24.11. 08:00 - 10:30 Hörsaal U11 Schottenbastei 10-16, Juridicum, KG1
  • Thursday 01.12. 08:00 - 10:30 Hörsaal U11 Schottenbastei 10-16, Juridicum, KG1
  • Thursday 15.12. 08:00 - 10:30 Hörsaal U11 Schottenbastei 10-16, Juridicum, KG1
  • Thursday 12.01. 08:00 - 10:30 Hörsaal U11 Schottenbastei 10-16, Juridicum, KG1
  • Thursday 12.01. 12:15 - 13:45 Seminarraum SEM10 Schottenbastei 10-16, Juridicum, 1.OG
  • Thursday 19.01. 08:00 - 10:30 Hörsaal U11 Schottenbastei 10-16, Juridicum, KG1
  • Wednesday 08.02. 08:30 - 10:00 Hörsaal U13 Schottenbastei 10-16, Juridicum, KG1

Information

Aims, contents and method of the course

The Ukraine conflict, which has been festering at least since the annexation of Crimea in 2014 and escalated by Russia's war of aggression, raises numerous questions of international and constitutional law. Selective historical references, such as to the Treaty of Pereyaslav in 1654 or the "donation" of Crimea to the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic on its 300th anniversary in 1954 by Khrushchev, contribute more to confusion than to clarification.

The aim of the course is to gain clarity about the actors who have been active on the territory of today's Ukraine since the late Middle Ages and their goals by critically examining selected examples of international treaty and constitutional law. How were the relations of the "Unequal Brothers" (Andreas Kappeler), the Ukrainians and the Russians, but also of the various other partly identical, politically, linguistically and religiously constituted actors on the territory of today's Ukraine, the Ruthenians, Cossacks, Crimean Tatars, Orthodox, Uniates and Muslims, played out in the mirror of treaty law?

In chronological terms, the course has three focal points, firstly the pre-modern period, in particular the 18th century. After a brief historical introduction, the focus will be primarily on the Zaporozhian Cossacks and the Crimean Tatars and their position in international law before the Russian annexation at the end of the 18th century. The second chronological focus is the decade before World War I and the interwar period. In addition to the short phase of Ukrainian sovereign statehood at the end of the First World War, the constitutional position of Ukrainians respectively Ruthenians in the Habsburg Empire and its successor states as well as in the Soviet Union will be of particular interest. The third chronological focus is the period from the establishment of a sovereign Ukrainian nation state in the wake of the collapse of the Soviet Union to the present.

Thematically, the course uses the example of Ukraine to set two focal points, firstly the intersection between international and constitutional law, from the attempts to transform the pre-modern Polish-Lithuanian dual state into a trinational polity to the embedding of post-Soviet Ukraine in larger European and international contexts. Secondly, the course uses Ukraine as a case study to address shifts, imbalances and dislocations in the international legal order, from the establishment of the fully sovereign territorial nation-state as a standard subject of modern international law to the development of the concept of the civilised nation and the current crisis of the United Nations.

Assessment and permitted materials

- participation in one "excursion" to a relevant archive or institution in Vienna
- critical commentary and translation of a brief part of an early modern treaty relating to Ukraine
- positive evaluation of the written exam, which counts for two thirds of the final grade

Minimum requirements and assessment criteria

- participation in one "excursion" to a relevant archive or institution in Vienna
- critical commentary and translation of a brief part - about two pages - of an early modern treaty relating to Ukraine
- positive evaluation of the written exam, which counts for two thirds of the final grade

Examination topics

- the subject matter covered during the course
- reading assignments on the e-learning platform

Reading list

- literature as provided on moodle
- Stephan Wendehorst, ed., Positive Early Modern Law of Nations, 2nd. ed., Gießen/Vienna: Justus-Liebig-University of Gießen, Historical Institute/University of Vienna/Institute for Legal and Constitutional History, October 2022

Association in the course directory

MA Geschichte; APMG Neuzeit; Exkursion und transdisziplinäre Öffnung; Geschichte der Neuzeit im transdisziplinären Kontext(4 ECTS)| MA Zeitgeschichte;Disziplinäre und transdisziplinäre Kontexte; Zeitgeschichte im transdisziplinären Kontext (4 ECTS)

Last modified: We 18.01.2023 08:48