Module Content

1. Different academic perspectives on international criminal law (ICL) and national, regional and international security
2. The nature, sources and rationale for ICL
3. Institutions of ICL: UN, ICJ, ICTY, ICTR and ICC.
4. History and development of the ICC (International Criminal Court).
5. The 1998 Rome Statute, ICC Jurisdiction, internal organisation, and the first completed trials.
6. Criticisms of the ICC; constitutional and political arguments for and against its creation and maintenance.
7. Core offences under ICL: genocide, crimes against humanity, war crimes, crime of aggression, torture.
8. Defences to ICL charges.
9. The legal prohibition of incitement to genocide and associated racism as a detailed case study of challenges to regional and international security.
10. Transnational police and security cooperation. Interpol, Europol, Eurojust
11. Transnational legal dimensions to “national security” including within the context of the European and international human rights law and policy.

Teaching Methods

Preparation for the online workshops will involve extensive research and reading, to consider and critically analyse the set topics and the discussion questions, set in advance, arising from those topics. Students are expected to prepare answers to the discussion questions and present these to, and discuss with, the workshop tutor and group in the context of synchronous and / or asynchronous discussions. In addition to the skills of analysis and research, students are expected to develop and apply skills of analytical discussion, oral expression and writing. Students will engage with other students and staff in online activities, and synchronous and asynchronous workshops, to consider and critically analyse particular sources and engage in discussion leading to development of these skills.
The synchronous and asynchronous workshops also give students the opportunity to synthesise in a more dynamic way the independent learning already undertaken and apply principles from various themes covered in the workshop activity sheets. The final workshop will take place two-weeks before the submission deadline for coursework and run as a revision session.

Assessment Methods

This module is assessed through one Written Assessment and one Written Exam.