Student Opportunities

Human Rights Courses (Spring 2008)

International Law (for 1Ls only)

Joseph Weiler

An introductory course to the institutions, doctrines and methodologies of international law. A foundation course for all subsequente specializations in iternational legal disciplines. Emphasis will be put on learning the "operating system" rather than specific "applicatoins" and on international lawyering skills. The methods of international law will be illustrated in two main areas: Use of Force (including terrorism, war in Iraq etc.) and international economic law (emphasis on internaitonal trade disciplines.) Laptops are not allowed in the classroom with the exception of a rotating roster of three 'Designated Note Takers' whose notes will be reviewed by the Course TAs and posted on Blackboard. This will enable all other students to give their entire attention to the legal materials and the class discussion surrounding these. (We are in the business of legal education, not stenography.) Not for the faint hearted but the intellectual and professional rewards are commensurate with the effort.

International Law

Benedict Kingsburg

An introductory course which progresses into more advanced discussions, designed to train students in the use of international law techniques and to develop imaginative conceptual and practical analysis of aspects of the substance and dynamics of international law. We ordinarily cover: the creation and the development of international law; custom and treaties; state responsibility for breaches; judicial and non-judicial remedies; international criminal law; human rights; jurisdiction and immunities; act of state doctrine; the role of international law in U.S. courts; the functions, limits and decisions of the International Court of Justice and other international tribunals; the roles of the United Nations and other international institutions; and the use of force. We will discuss legal aspects of some major current international controversies.

International Human Rights

Philip Alston

The course provides a general introduction to the role of human rights in the 21st century. It examines the historical origins of the concept, its international legal context and its normative structure. Themes that run throughout the course include cultural relativism, the relationship between rights and duties, the 'public-private' distinction, changing conceptions of statehood and sovereignty, and responses to terrorism. The course concentrates on the United Nations system, dealing with both Charter-based and treaty-based arrangements. In order to illustrate the functions and processes of institutions we look at issues such as summary executions, disappearances, arbitrary detention, homosexuality, democratization, and the human rights responsibilities of non-state actors such as corporations.

International Investment Law

Rob Howse

Foreign investment has long been recognized as one of the pillars of the global economy, and is now a focus on significant public attention as many states -- especially in Latin America, Eastern Europe, and the former Soviet Union -- view it as the key to rescuing their economies. This course will examine the international community's regulation of foreign investment, focussing upon the norms that have emerged over the past seventy years to govern this process. We will first discuss the sources of law involved in the foreign investment process. The course will then consider the protections required by international investors, e.g., those concerning establishment of new enterprises, transfers of profits, employment of personnel, and expropriation. We will also discuss the increased focus on responsibilities of investors in the areas of human rights and environmental and labor standards.

Chinese Business Law

Donald Clarke

Introduction to the legal regime governing business activity in China, both foreign-related and domestic. Tee course covers both legal institutions and regulations in specific areas such as real estate, foreign investment, and business organization.

International Litigation (J.D.) or (LL.M.)

Andreas Lowenfeld and Linda Silberman

The course explores in a litigation context current developments in international law, public and private, civil procedure, international arbitration, and comparative law and procedure. The first part of the course is devoted to readings and discussions of international transactions, including jurisdiction to prescribe, jurisdiction of courts, enforcement of judgments, litigation with governments, transnational discovery and the relative merits of adjudication and arbitration. The second part of the course is devoted to litigation of actual pending cases, with students preparing briefs, conducting oral arguments, and serving as judges or arbitrators. The seminar is most successful with a mixture of foreign and U.S.-trained participants, and an effort will be made to achieve an approximate balance. The grade will based on class participation, work on a substantial appellate brief, oral argument, and service as judge.

Case Studies in Transitional Justice

Paul Van Zyl

A range of case studies, historical and contemporary, of countries seeking justice for mass atrocity, will be examined in the class. The class will explore the legal, political and practical challenges that face those seeking to achieve accountability and analyze both successes and failures in this regard. Examples of some of the countries considered include Iraq, Afghanistan, Peru, East Timor, Ghana, Sierra Leone, South Africa, Argentina, Colombia, Cambodia and Liberia. Students will select one case study for their semester paper.

International Commercial Arbitration

Richard Hulbert and Linda Silberman

The course covers the basics of the law and practice in international commercial arbitration, including drafting arbitration clauses in international transactions and enforcement of arbitral agreements; preparing and presenting cases before arbitral tribunals, including issues of witnesses, experts, discovery and evidence; recognition, enforcement and setting aside of arbitral awards; the course reviews the major international arbitral institutions and their latest rules of procedure; reviews court decisions on arbitration, and the relationship between international arbitration and national court systems; analyzes the New York Convention on the Recognition and Enforcement of Foreign Arbitral Awards and other bilateral treaties and conventions dealing with international arbitration.

Childrens' Rights in International Law

Philip Alston

The seminar focuses on both the theory and practice of children’s rights and especially the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child (which has 193 States parties). The course will consider whether children really should be treated as rights-holders and whether this approach is more effective than the alternatives. Consideration will be given to the key legal concepts and the framework of rights reflected in the CRC. Specific issues will include whether it is productive to think in terms of children’s rights to education, housing or health care and how such rights can be 'enforced'; children’s rights in the criminal justice context including the death penalty; corporal punishment; whether child labor should or could be banned worldwide; efforts to end the involvement of children in armed conflict; and child sexual exploitation. We will also consider the pros and cons of US ratification of the Convention. Spring 2008 Syllabus.

War, Crime and Terror: Legal and Moral Dimensions of the Counter-Terrorism Efforts of the US and other Countries

Tom Gerety and Aziz Huq Zahirul

War, Crime, and Terror: Moral and legal dimensions of the counter-terrorism efforts of the United States and other countries. The U.S. government has insisted on an aggressive war powers/emergency powers approach to the threat of terrorism. Others have argued that terrorism is a species of international crime and that the criminal law can be adjusted to respond adequately and fairly. This seminar will read widely in cases and commentary on these and related questions. Among other themes, we will devote the most time to the examination of 'just war' theory with its insistence on proportionality and reasonableness in the use of state violence. We will seek analogies and precedents from past emergencies for the moral and legal dilemmas we now face.

International Financial Architecture

Rob Howse

This seminar explores our international financial architecture with a particular focus on the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank. The seminar will focus on first principles. What is the international financial architecture? Why do we have it? What are the IMF and World Bank designed to do? What do they actually do? Do we need them to do anything? If so, what? How do these institutions relate to other institutions and mechanisms important for international finance, such as the G-7 (collectively and individually), the Basel Committee on Banking Supervision, the World Trade Organization, and international securities, accounting and insurance bodies, or for that matter, domestic bankruptcy courts?

Rule Making in a Global World

Catherine Kessedjian Marie-Françoise

In the world we live in today, norms are created by all sorts of different bodies and no more by States only. They are created at different geographical levels: global, regional and local, hence engendering potential conflicts. We are also concerned with norms that are not only legal but also infra-legal or supra-legal such as standards or ethics. This seminar will essentially look at the rule making processes, starting with the actors, looking at the methods by which the norms are created, studying how the different interests at stake are being incorporated or not into the norms. Legal pluralism will also be discussed, together with the texture of the norms and a potential hierarchy to be established between the norms. Examples will be drawn from all kinds of activities, be it commercial law, investment law, dispute resolution mechanisms and, if students are interested, even family law.

Chinese Law and Society: Advanced Topics

Jerome Cohen and Chenguang Wang

This seminar is designed to make available the insights and experiences of one of China's leading legal scholars and educators, Dean Chenguang Wang of Tsinghua University Law School, NYU's first Global Professor from China. It will be conducted in dialogue format and focus on law's contributions to China's modernization, especially the roles of legal institutions. Among the problems to be discussed are: lawmaking, national and local; the accountability of government officials; access to justice and court reform; criminal process, with particular attention to death penalty adjudication; the relevance of the legal system to the challenges of environment, labor and health; alternative dispute resolution; emergence of constitutional law; varied functions of lawyers; and legal education for a society in rapid transition.

Institute for International Law and Justice Colloquium

Benedict Kingsburg and Joseph Weiler

This Colloquium examines major theoretical issues in the theory of international law, including topics concerning democracy, global justice, global governance, and relations of international law and politics. Papers are presented each week by leading scholars from around the world. Students participate in these public discussion sessions, and also meet separately as a group to discuss the issues with the colloquium faculty. The aim is to deepen students's critical understanding of major scholarly projects and to support the writing of conceptually grounded papers in the field. Some prior knowledge of international law or legal philosophy is essential.

Human Rights Courses (Fall 2007)

International Law

Philip Alston

This is an overview course which aims to give students a sense of the more traditional theories of international law but also, perhaps more importantly, a sense of how the doctrine, institutions and methodologies of international law have responded to the dramatic changes that have affected the international community over the past two decades or so. Topics may include: the nature and sources of international law, the application of international law in domestic courts, recognition of states and governments, territorial disputes, the law of the sea, jurisdiction, state responsibility for breaches, the law of treaties, human rights, the peaceful settlement of disputes, and the use of armed force. The course content will also be responsive to major current developments in the field. Fall 2007 Syllabus

Transitional Justice

Paul Van Zyl

The course deals with legal, moral, social and political questions that arise in countries emerging from massive conflict or from periods of authoritarian or repressive rule. The course will focus on the strategies available to new democratic governments in order to confront a legacy of human rights abuse. These strategies include prosecutions, truth commissions, reparation programs, institutional reforms and reconciliation programs. The course will examine the precise nature of the international law obligations that arise following the commission of gross violations of human rights. It will also explore the real constraints embryonic democracies face in attempting to comply with these obligations. The course will cover a historical period from the commencement of the Nuremberg Trials until recent efforts to pursue accountability in Sierra Leone, Peru and East Timor. Taking this class is a prerequisite for the Spring 2008 seminar, Case Studies in Transitional Justice.

European Union: Economic Law

Josef Drexl and Eleanor Fox

This course will begin with the constitutional and institutional framework of the European Union, which is now a union of 27 nations. It will examine how the Union operates; it will look at how the European legislature works and how the power to legislate is delineated. It will then proceed to examine the role of fundamental and human rights protection in the economic context. The course will deepen knowledge as to the economic law of the EU by analyzing the four "free movement" principles, the so-called "fundamental freedoms", by looking at specific internal market legislation and by introducing to Community competition law.

Constitutional Law of the United Nations

Thomas Franck and TBA

The constitutional development of the United Nations as shown by interpretations of the Charter in practice.

Recourse to Force in International Law

Thomas Franck and Miriam Sapiro

This seminar will examine the law of the U.N. Charter and its development through judicial decisions and practices over the past half-century insofar as it pertains to the use of military force by states acting individually and collectively, and by "coalitions of the willing" acting under the auspices of the Security Council. Military actions to be studied include those responding to threats to the peace, acts of aggression and gross violations of human rights.'

IILJ: Scholars Seminar: Globalization, Justice and the Remaking of International Law

Rob Howse

In the post-cold war period, global order is being reshaped by the discourses and practices of universal human rights and humanitarianism, and of economic globalization. This has important implications for how international law is conceived and theorized. The aim of this seminar is to consider what these implications are. Examining a range of methodologies and approaches in international legal scholarship, we will attempt to deepen our critical understanding of those organizing concepts and structures--e.g. human rights, the "market"--that are vying to remake contemporary legal order at the global level, considering both tensions and synergies (including whether the notion of humanity or universal human rights can be the basis for global economic justice and socio-economic development). The readings from for this course will be drawn from a reader/textbook in progress by the instructor and Ruti Teitel, and include both diverse perspectives from legal scholars and views from other disciplines.

Chinese Attitudes Toward International Law

Jerome Cohen and Chenguang Wang

This course will introduce the attitudes and practices of the People's Republic of China (PRC) toward public international law and its institutions in a variety of contexts. After reviewing China's role in the traditional East Asian order and the gradual intrusion of Western international law into the Sinocentric world, we will consider contemporary PRC views regarding such basic issues as the recognition of governments and establishment of diplomatic relations, the definition of Chinese territory (especially the Taiwan and Diaoyutai/Senkaku islands disputes), the law of the sea and territorial airspace, the determination of Chinese nationality, defense of human rights, treatment of aliens including foreign business, extradition, and diplomatic and consular privileges and immunities. We will also analyze PRC participation in the WTO and in international efforts to protect intellectual property, curb environmental pollution, and suppress crime and corruption. Students will not be expected to have background knowledge of China/international law.

Human Rights Courses (Spring 2007)

Human Rights Advocacy for JDs

Margaret Satterthwaite and Smita Narula

This new course will explore multifaceted approaches to human rights advocacy in both domestic and international settings.?It will combine a focus on practical skills with critical interrogations of the professional practices of human rights lawyers and the human rights movements in which they participate.?Skills will be taught using simulations; critical engagement will be fostered through discussion of scholarly articles as applied to real-life scenarios.

Human Rights Advocacy for LLMs

Margaret Satterthwaite and Smita Narula

This new course will explore multifaceted approaches to human rights advocacy in both domestic and international settings. It will combine a focus on practical skills with critical interrogations of the professional practices of human rights lawyers and the human rights movements in which they participate. Skills will be taught using simulations; critical engagement will be fostered through discussion of scholarly articles as applied to real-life scenarios.

Case Studies in Transitional Justice

Paul van Zyl

A range of case studies, historical and contemporary, of countries experiencing transition, will be discussed in the class. In each case documents relating to the specific country will be made available to the students prior to the class. Examples of some of the countries considered include Peru, East Timor, Ghana, Sierra Leone, Mexico, Northern Ireland, Afghanistan, Burma and Zimbabwe.?Students will select one case study for their semester paper.

War, Crime and Terror: Legal and Moral Dimensions of the Counter-Terrorism Efforts of the U.S. and other Countries

Tom Gerety and Aziz Huq

War, Crime, and Terror: Moral and legal dimensions of the counter-terrorism efforts of the United States and other countries. The U.S. government has insisted on an aggressive war powers/emergency powers approach to the threat of terrorism. Others have argued that terrorism is a species of international crime and that the criminal law can be adjusted to respond adequately and fairly.?This seminar will read widely in cases and commentary on these and related questions.?Among other themes, we will devote the most time to the examination of 'just war' theory with its insistence on proportionality and reasonableness in the use of state violence.?We will seek analogies and precedents from past emergencies for the moral and legal dilemmas we now face.

Human and Constitutional Rights in Europe

Mattias Kumm and Victor Ferreres Comella

The last fifty years in Europe have seen the emergence of a common European constitutional tradition.?This common tradition is distinct in interesting ways from the U.S. constitutional tradition with regard to the institutions charged with the protection of rights as well as the structure of rights reasoning and the outcomes produced.?This seminar focuses on the protection of rights as they are enforced by national highest courts, the European Court of Human Rights and the European Court of Justice.?Topics will include: Constitutional Courts in Europe, the relationship between national and transnational human rights guarantees, freedom of speech, freedom of religion, rights and the 'war on terror, indirect effect/state action, social and economic rights.

Anthropology of Human Rights

Sally Merry

This course examines the origins of human rights thinking in Europe and the U.S. and its contemporary elaboration and dissemination in the post-World War II period. This includes an analysis of its institutional grounding in United Nations institutions and non-governmental organizations.?The course examines the opposition between culture and rights along with current theoretical efforts to negotiate an intermediate space.?The course discusses the way particular concepts of culture and rights are deployed in the global production and localization of human rights ideas and examines human rights as a practice, a discourse, and a form of global law.?Specific areas of focus include indigenous rights and women's rights.  The course discusses approaches to transnational, deterritorialized, and multi-sited ethnography.

Syllabus (Spring 2006)

Human Rights Courses (Fall 2006)

Comparative Constitutional Law: The South African Experience

Richard Goldstone

This course will examine the importance and utility of comparative constitutional law (constitutional borrowing) in constitutional adjudication.?Particular attention will be devoted to constitutional developments in South Africa since its transition to a constitutional state in 1994.?The key documents and decisions which will be examined will be those relating to the protection of civil liberties, economic and social rights, affirmative action and freedom of expression.

International Human Rights Law

Philip Alston

The course provides a general introduction to the role of human rights in the 21st century.?It examines the historical origins of the concept, its international legal context and its normative structure.?Themes that run throughout the course include cultural relativism, the relationship between rights and duties, the 'public-private' distinction, changing conceptions of statehood and sovereignty, and responses to terrorism.?The course concentrates on the United Nations system, dealing with both Charter-based and treaty-based arrangements.?In order to illustrate the functions and processes of institutions we look at issues such as summary executions, disappearances, arbitrary detention, homosexuality, democratization, and the human rights responsibilities of non-state actors such as corporations.

Constitutional Law of Europe: The E.U., its Member States and the ECHR

Mattias Kumm

This course examines the basic structures of the law of the European Union and the European Convention of Human Rights and its impact on its Member States.?We will study legal texts, decisions and doctrines in their respective political contexts asking questions such as: What are the requirements of a transnational rule of law? To what extent should national courts recognize E.U. Law as the supreme law of the land? In which way does the establishment of a common market require the making of political choices and who makes them? What requirements must decisions by transnational institutions meet to be legitimate? Do European institutions meet them? How should Human Rights be protected in Europe? What are the respective roles of Member States, the ECJ and the ECHR? Substantive rights issues we will look at include the protection of freedom of religion and rights issues connected to antiterrorism measures.

Transitional Justice in Times of Transition

Paul van Zyl

The course deals with legal, moral, social and political questions that arise in countries emerging from massive conflict or from periods of authoritarian or repressive rule.?The course will focus on the strategies available to new democratic governments in order to confront a legacy of human rights abuse.?These strategies include prosecutions, truth commissions, reparation programs, institutional reforms and reconciliation programs.?The course will examine the precise nature of the international law obligations that arise following the commission of gross violations of human rights. It will also explore the real constraints embryonic democracies face in attempting to comply with these obligations.?The course will cover a historical period from the commencement of the Nuremberg Trials until recent efforts to pursue accountability in Sierra Leone, Peru and East Timor.

Taking this class is a prerequisite for the Spring 2006 seminar, Case Studies in Transitional Justice.

Children's Rights in International Law

Philip Alston and John Tobin

The seminar focuses on both the theory and practice of children’s rights and especially the U.N. Convention on the Rights of the Child (which has 192 States parties).?The course will consider whether children really should be treated as rights-holders and whether this approach is more effective than the alternatives. Consideration will be given to the key legal concepts and the framework of rights reflected in the CRC.?Specific issues will include whether it is productive to think in terms of children’s rights to education, housing or health care and how such rights can be 'enforced'; children’s rights in the criminal justice context including the death penalty; corporal punishment; whether child labor should or could be banned worldwide; efforts to end the involvement of children in armed conflict; and child sexual exploitation.?We will also consider the pros and cons of U.S. ratification of the Convention.

Recourse to Force in International Law

Thomas Franck and Miriam Sapiro

This seminar will examine the law of the U.N. Charter and its development through judicial decisions and practices over the past half-century insofar as it pertains to the use of military force by states acting individually and collectively, and by "coalitions of the willing" acting under the auspices of the Security Council. Military actions to be studied include those responding to threats to the peace, acts of aggression and gross violations of human rights.

Law of War and International Criminal Courts

Richard Goldstone

The objectives of the course will be to explore the theoretical and practical significance of the prosecution of war criminals for the enforcement of international humanitarian law.?A historical survey of international humanitarian law and the prosecution of war criminals will be considered, with emphasis on post-World War II developments including the International Military Tribunals (Nuremberg and Tokyo) and the two U.N. ad hoc international criminal tribunals for the former Yugoslavia and Rwanda.?The substantive jurisdiction and procedural law of the ad hoc tribunals will be discussed, highlighting theoretical and practical problems associated with the international prosecution of war criminals. The course will conclude with a consideration of the problems associated with the establishment and early cases of the International Criminal Court.

Human Rights Courses (Spring 2006)

Case Studies in Transitional Justice

Paul van Zyl

A range of case studies, historical and contemporary, of countries experiencing transition, will be discussed in the class. In each case documents relating to the specific country will be made available to the students prior to the class. Examples of some of the countries considered include Peru, East Timor, Ghana, Sierra Leone, Mexico, Northern Ireland, Afghanistan, Burma and Zimbabwe.?There will be no exam.?However, students will select one case study for their semester paper, which may be submitted for either A or B writing credit.

Economic and Social Rights

Philip Alston

This seminar examines in depth the category of human rights known as economic and social rights.?These rights, which include rights such as the rights to food, health, housing and education, and also labor rights, are an integral part of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, have been recognized in many state constitutions, and are increasingly subject to judicial implementation. Nevertheless, they continue to be contested and neglected by governments.?The seminar will explore their philosophical foundations; the key legal issues that arise in relation to states?treaty obligations; the strengths and weaknesses of the principal international and regional monitoring bodies; and the extent to which these rights have been rendered justiciable by courts at the national and international levels.?The issue of whether the international community has any sort of meaningful obligation to provide assistance in cases of gross denial of economic and social rights will also be considered.

Syllabus

Human Rights Accountability

Philip Alston

The focus is on the diverse roles played by the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund. Accountability is defined both in terms of the extent to which the two institutions are answerable to their various constituencies, and of any responsibilities they might for promoting respect for human rights.?Although much vilified by anti-globalization groups and other parts of civil society, the paradox is that the Bank and the Fund are also energetically courted by some of the same groups in order to secure their support for initiatives designed to promoted human rights, environmental sustainability, gender equity and other objectives.?Case studies focus on privatization and water, the Bank’s role in funding large-scale extractive industries, the Fund’s promotion of global standards in diverse areas, challenges of involuntary resettlement for dam-building, corruption, and conditionality.

Syllabus

Human Rights: Advanced Research

Philip Alston

This seminar is designed for students who already have a background in human rights law. Each student will be writing a substantial research paper and the goal of the seminar will be to contribute to thinking about the issues raised and critiquing drafts.?In terms of topics the focus will be flexible but my preference will be for students interested in studying some aspect of the issue of Summary Executions as defined within international law.?Students who wish to be admitted will need to send a brief outline of their proposed topics, along with an indication of their background in the field, to the instructor by the end of October 2005.?Admission will be by permission of the instructor and no more than 10 students will be admitted.

Selected Problems in United Nations Law: State-Building, Governance, and Accountability

Simon Chesterman

This seminar examines the normative framework within which international organizations operate through detailed study of legal issues arising in the exercise of quasi-governmental powers by the United Nations.   This new governance practice makes it important to analyse and refine the rules and institutions that channel and constrain the exercise of this power, and to strengthen the remedies available when it is abused.?State-building through external intervention will be the primary empirical focus, though the course will also consider less coercive and extensive engagement in national governance structures through humanitarian relief, development assistance, and electoral supervision.?Key themes to be explored are the sources and content of norms governing activity in this area, the forms of accountability for the actors concerned, and the costs, benefits, and practicality of possible reforms.

The Anthropology of Human Rights

Sally Merry

This course examines the origins of human rights thinking in Europe and the U.S. and its contemporary elaboration and dissemination in the post-World War II period.?This includes an analysis of its institutional grounding in United Nations institutions and non-governmental organizations.?The course examines the opposition between culture and rights along with current theoretical efforts to negotiate an intermediate space.?The course discusses the way particular concepts of culture and rights are deployed in the global production and localization of human rights ideas and examines human rights as a practice, a discourse, and a form of global law.?Specific areas of focus include indigenous rights and women's rights.?The course discusses approaches to transnational, deterritorialized, and multi-sited ethnography.

Syllabus

Human Rights Courses (Fall 2005)

International Human Rights

Philip Alston

The course provides a general introduction to the role of human rights in the 21st century.It examines the historical origins of the concept, its international legal context and its normative structure. Themes that run throughout the course include cultural relativism, the relationship between rights and duties, the 'public-private' distinction, changing conceptions of statehood and sovereignty, and responses to terrorism.?The course concentrates on the United Nations system, dealing with both Charter-based and treaty-based arrangements.?In order to illustrate the functions and processes of institutions we look at issues such as summary executions, disappearances, arbitrary detention, homosexuality, democratization, and the human rights responsibilities of non-state actors such as corporations.

Humanitarian Law of Armed Conflicts

Eyal Benvenisti

The aim of this course is to explore the potential and limits of the law governing the conduct of hostilities. We will examine the evolution of The Hague rules of land warfare, the Geneva Conventions and their Additional Protocols, their application in current conflicts, including the war on terrorism, as well as their interface with international human rights law, while focusing on specific questions such as the right to participate in hostilities, the choice of weapons, the distinctions between combatants and civilians and belligerent occupation.?We will also look at the modalities for enforcing this law and in particular assess the effectiveness of war crimes trials as one of the modalities.

Transitional Justice

Paul van Zyl and Alexander Boraine

The course deals with legal, moral, social and political questions that arise in countries emerging from massive conflict or from periods of authoritarian or repressive rule.?The course will focus on the strategies available to new democratic governments in order to confront a legacy of human rights abuse.?These strategies include prosecutions, truth commissions, reparation programs, institutional reforms and reconciliation programs.?The course will examine the precise nature of the international law obligations that arise following the commission of gross violations of human rights.?It will also explore the real constraints embryonic democracies face in attempting to comply with these obligations.?The course will cover a historical period from the commencement of the Nuremberg Trials until recent efforts to pursue accountability in Sierra Leone, Peru and East Timor.?Taking this class is a prerequisite for the Spring 2005 seminar, Case Studies in Transitional Justice.

Recourse to Force in International Law

Thomas Franck and Miriam Sapiro

This seminar will examine the law of the U.N. Charter and its development through judicial decisions and practices over the past half-century insofar as it pertains to the use of military force by states acting individually and collectively, and by "coalitions of the willing" acting under the ausices of the Security Council. Military actions to be studied include those responding to threats to the peace, acts of aggression and gross violations of human rights.

Toward a New Democracy: The South African Model

Alexander Boraine

The course deals with South Africa's transition from apartheid to a new democracy. The focus will be on the apartheid laws which deprived Black South Africans of fundamental human rights.?Attention will also be given to the new Constitution which was the result of 4 years of negotiations between former enemies.?In addition, emphasis will be placed on the Promotion of National Unity and Reconciliation Act which was the Act governing the Truth and Reconciliation Commission in South Africa.?A special feature will be consideration of South Africa's amnesty law.?There are a number of unique features of South Africa's transition to democracy and these will be considered.?South Africa's Constitutional Court is regarded in many parts of the world as one of the best of its kind and a study will be made of how it came about and the first major legal decisions taken by the Court.

Legal Restraints on the War on Terrorism

Eyal Benvenisti

Democracies fighting terrorism face several dilemmas: to what extent should they restrict civil liberties, allow ethnic profiling, use force to preempt terrorist attacks or subject suspected terrorists to harsh measures to elicit information.?This course will address the responses to these dilemmas offered by the law of the U.S. and other democracies, and by international law.?In addition to examining the normative aspects, we will focus on the crucial role played by domestic and international courts in reviewing governmental policies.