Weekly and Daily Topics for

International Law: Law, Context, and Theory

Professor Setear

Spring 1999

You may view a tentative list of course topics by week or by day.

Weekly Topics

The semester, you will recall, is 14 weeks long.

1. The International Legal System and Its Context
2. Korea Since 1950: An Example of International Law in Context
3. Trade Treaties (Part I – Overview)
4. Trade Treaties (Part II – The European Court of Justice)
5. Trade Treaties (Part III – The World Trade Organization)
6. Alliance Treaties (NATO)
7. Arms Control Treaties (The Land-Mines Ban)
8. Variety Week (Guest Speakers on Various Topics)
9. The Rights and Limits of Sovereignty
10. Customary International Law: Consensus-Oriented Rules in a Decentralized System
11. Treaties: Consent-Oriented Rules in a Decentralized System
12. Environmental Treaties (Part I – Ozone)
13. Environmental Treaties (Part II – Whaling)
14. Review and Synthesis
    
    

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Daily Topics

Daily topics appear in a bulleted list below the italicized weekly topic. The course meets three times weekly.

The International Legal System and Its Context

• The ICJ and the US Supreme Court
• The International Legal System
• Theories of International Politics and Legal Cooperation

Korea Since 1950: An Example of International Law in Context

• The Korean War and the United Nations Charter
• The Korean War, the President, and the Supreme Court
• North Korean Nuclear Proliferation in the 1990s: The Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty
• North Korean Nuclear Proliferation in the 1990s: The Agreed Framework

Trade Treaties (Part I – Overview)

• Trade and Economic Integration
• An Overview of European Economic Integration

Trade Treaties (Part II – The European Court of Justice)

• The European Court of Justice: Cases
• The European Court of Justice: Causes
• The European Court of Justice and the Early US Supreme Court

Trade Treaties (Part III – The World Trade Organization)

• Iteration and Global Economic Integration
• The GATT within the World Trade Organization
• Dispute Settlement Mechanism in the World Trade Organization

Alliance Treaties (NATO)

• The Theory of Alliances and NATO During the Cold War
• NATO After the Cold War: NATO Expansion
• NATO After the Cold War: NATO as a UN Sub-Contractor

Arms-Control Treaties (The Land-Mines Ban)

• The Problem and Politics of Land Mines
• The International Law of Land Mines
• Land Mines as the "New" International Law?: Civil Society and US Opposition

Variety Week (Guest Speakers on Various Topics)

• Human Rights (Professor Martin)
• The Law of the Sea (Professor Moore)
• International Business Transactions (Professor Stephan)

SPRING BREAK

The Rights and Limits of Sovereignty

• The Nation-State: Recognition
• The Nation-State: Immunities
• The Case of Pinochet

Customary International Law: Consensus-Oriented Rules in a Decentralized System

• Local Custom
• The Epistemology of Customary International Law
• Norms and Rules

Treaties: Consent-Oriented Rules in a Decentralized System

• The Iterated Prisoner’s Dilemma
• Treaties and the Law of Treaties
• The Iterated Prisoner’s Dilemma and the Law of Treaties

Environmental Treaties (Part I – Ozone)

• The Tragedy of the Commons
• The Ozone Treaties
• Ozone and Iteration

Environmental Treaties (Part II – Whaling and Dolphins)

• The Whaling Treaties
• Unilateral US Sanctions and the Whaling Treaties
• Unilateral US Sanctions and Trade Treaties

Review and Synthesis

• To Be Determined
• To Be Determined
• To Be Determined