Exercices de droit international public

Study of the international legal order, its subjects, its sources and its implementation, all through practical exercises on current cases.

The aim of this course is to enable students to quickly review the whole of general international law, the knowledge of which undoubtedly merits a refresher course and an update. Such a review is essential for the practical exercises in public international law and will be indispensable for the understanding of all the other courses given in the framework of the Master's degree in international law.

As the objective is not to learn and know the content of rules in the abstract, but to "practice" international law, there will be a departure from the classical, ex cathedra, teaching model. It will not be a matter of learning a lengthy syllabus by heart and then rendering extracts from it, all the while concentrating most (if not all) of one's efforts on exam periods. Rather, it is a matter of developing and using analytical tools and grids. More fundamentally, it is about getting the student to use his or her theoretical knowledge to resolve the complex questions that certain concrete situations may raise with regard to international law. The practical exercises will lead the student to identify the main questions of application or interpretation of international law raised by a real-life case, or one very close to it, and to identify the solutions that can be proposed in this context.

The course is based on a textual support whose thorough reading is absolutely essential for the success of the course: Olivier Corten, François Dubuisson, Vaios Koutroulis and Anne Lagerwall, Une introduction critique au droit international, Brussels, éditions de l'Université de Bruxelles, 2017, 602 p. This book is accompanied by a series of podcasts whose objective is to show how the rules and principles studied theoretically can be used to understand current events. The course is organised on the basis of reading the book and watching the podcasts.

The course material will be studied in 5 sessions which will be organised in a flipped classroom format. Students will be divided into groups and will be asked to work on concrete precedents and to present arguments defending a particular thesis or position on the interpretation and application of the rules of international law. 

The preparation of these sessions is fundamental. To this end, before the start of each session, each group will hand in a reading sheet containing the arguments that will be presented by the group during the session. 

In the penultimate session of the course, we will revisit the precedents analysed during the previous five sessions in order to examine them as "classic" practical cases. 

Finally, the last session of the course will be devoted to an individual interview between each student and the course teachers.

References, bibliography, and recommended reading

Olivier Corten, François Dubuisson, Vaios Koutroulis and Anne Lagerwall, A Critical Introduction to International Law, Bruxelles, éditions de l’Université de Bruxelles, 2019, 564 p.

Course notes

• Podcast
• Syllabus
• Université virtuelle

Additional information

At the beginning of the course, each student will be asked to choose between a French or English section. In accordance with the rules of the Specialised Master's programme, each student may express him/herself in the language of his/her choice, either in writing or orally.

Contacts

Through the virtual university or through Teams.

Campus

Solbosch

Method(s) of evaluation

• Personal work

Personal work

The final evaluation will be carried out during the last session of the course on the same basis as the penultimate session: an individual interview consisting of an argument based on a practical case, orally, preceded by a brief preparation (during which all the written material or documents that one deems useful to bring can be made available). 
 
Continuous assessment will be carried out during the discussion sessions. The purpose of this evaluation is not to grade the student, but to enable him/her to determine his/her qualities and shortcomings, and on this basis to identify the gaps that need to be filled.

Mark calculation method (including weighting of intermediary marks)

The grade will be awarded on the basis of the final assessment made at the last session, taking into account the student's participation in the previous discussion sessions. 

Effective participation in all the sessions is mandatory in order to be able to participate in the individual interview that will be carried out during the last session, giving rise to the final evaluation. A student who is absent or who has not achieved a minimum level of competence at the end of the discussion sessions will not be admitted to the final session.

An unjustified absence will lead to the application of article 68 §1 paragraph 3 of the General Study Regulations (2021-2022), according to which: "A student who does not participate in all or part of the written examinations or assessments of each part of a teaching unit will be marked "absent" for that teaching unit". 

Language(s) of evaluation

• french
• english