War, Peace and Human Rights

Course Code: PUBLG089

Course Tutor: Dr Volha Piotukh (Department of Political Science)

Assessment: One 3,000 word essay

Credit Value: 15

About this course

This course aims to introduce and examine the key themes in international relations at the intersection of war, peace and human rights. The themes in the course include, the prohibition of war in international relations, the exceptions to that prohibition, namely self defence and the debated doctrine of humanitarian intervention, the principles and practice of UN action in the fields of peace-enforcement and peace-building, the rules regulating military force in international relations, and the inter-sectionality of human rights concerns in these debates.

The topics will be discussed with reference to key texts in international relations literature, existing institutional arrangements at the United Nations and contemporary case-studies.

By the end of the course, students will be able to:

• Have knowledge of key normative debates in international relations on war, peace and human rights
• Have knowledge of the institutional landscape in the field of regulation of armed conflict, peace enforcement and peace-building  
• Have an understanding of the practice and policy debates in these fields
• Have an understanding of how to analyse and asses cases when states or international organisations use military force or organize peace building efforts.