The course will look at war from a theoretical perspective, and will attempt to answer a series of questions throughout the semester:
- What distinguishes war from other forms of violence, and what is the relationship between war and politics? What role does war play in the constitution of the various political regimes, and specifically that of the nation-state? The nation-state is probably the most ruthlessly efficient war machine ever invented – is it how we are to understand the observation that war is the ‘health of the state’?
- What are the causes of war? Can we eradicate the causes of war, and what are the conditions for a “perpetual peace”? Is cosmopolitanism one of them, as some 18th century theorists thought, or would it on the contrary only unleash even more violence? Can war be a rational move, even though it seems at first sight to be an eminently irrational event?
- What is the relationship between law and war? What are the (moral, political or other) conditions of possibility of the legality of war? Is war to be understood as outside the framework of any law, or is it simply governed by a different set of rules? This opens the debate of the Just War theory and its contemporary avatars. Can war be outlawed?
- What is the relationship between war and religion, or more generally between war and the sacred? Why is it that war has very often been assimilated to a form of the sacred, in spite of its massacres, killings and general defilement of humanity?
- Why has war been an object of predilection of literature and art? We will attempt to analyse why, while poetry or art would seem radically antagonistic to the horrors of war, they might on the contrary be the truest way to remember them. Can war be memorialised in a comic form? Should it? We will here look at the relationship between ethics and aesthetics.
- What is the conceptual specificity of civil war?
- Is there a conceptual, political and strategic specificity of contemporary warfare? Do the ‘new wars’ differ in kind or in degree from traditional inter-state wars? Does the famed RMA (Revolution in Military Affairs) really constitute a “revolution”? More generally, why did the 20th century show such an uncanny creativity in war, with its invention of totalitarianism, genocide, terrorism, and guerrilla warfare, whereas it had precisely decided to outlaw it?
Intitulés des séances :
Week 1: What is War?
What is the difference between war and collective violence in general? Is there any specificity of war, understood as inter-state conflict? War as game and contest.
Carl von Clausewitz, On War, Book I, chap. 1.
Hegel, Phenomenology of Mind, “Self-Consciousness”, parag. 178-190.
Thomas Hobbes, Leviathan, chap. XIII, XVIII.
Elaine Scarry, The Body in Pain, chap 2, pp. 81- 97 “War is a Contest”.
Titus Livius (Livy), Roman History, from p. 5 “Upon the death of Numa…” (middle of parag 20) till end of parag. 22 “… met him before the gate Capena”, p. 8.
Week 2: What Causes War?
What are the causes of war? Is it attributable to human nature? Or rather, to international relations, and/or to dysfunctional relationships within the polity itself? Security dilemmas.
Robert Axelrod, The Evolution of Cooperation, Basic Books, NY 1984, pp. 73-87 (Ch. 4).
Greg Cashman, What Causes War? An Introduction to Theories of International Conflict
chap. 7 “International Interaction: Game Theory and Deterrence Theory”, pp 193-223 and
chap. 10: Conclusion, pp. 279-288.
Daniel Gilbert, “He Who Cast the First Stone Probably Didn’t”, International Herald Tribune 24 July 2006.
Alfred Einstein and Sigmund Freud, Correspondence 1931-32: “Why War?”
Barry Posen, “The Security Dilemma and Ethnic Conflict”, in Survival, vol. 35, no 1, Spring 1993, pp. 27-47.
John G. Stoessinger, Why Nations Go to War, chap. 10, pp. 396-422
Kenneth Waltz, Man, the State and War, Introduction.
Week 3: War and the Nation-State. Theatres of War.
The nation-state as the most ruthless war machine ever invented.
Philip Bobbitt, The Shield of Achilles: War, Peace and the Course of History, London: Allen Lane, 2002: chap. 8 “From State-Nations to Nation-States 1776-1914”, pp. 150-178 till “...other parts of Europe”.
Niccolo Macchiavelli, The Prince, Chap. VI, X, XIV, XVII, XXIV-XXV.
Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels, The Communist Manifesto, Chap. 2
Mark Neoclous, “Off the Map, On Violence and Cartography”, European Journal of Social Theory, 6(4), 2003, pp. 409-425.
J.J. Rousseau, Considerations on the Government of Poland, Chap. I-V, XII, XV.
Week 4: War and Technology; War and Cartography
The impact of technology on warfare. How military maps played a decisive role in the way we visualise not just conflict, but nation-states themselves.
Martin van Creveld, Technology and War, chap. 3 “The Infrastructure of War” and chap. 10 “The Rise of Professionalism”
Weeks 5-6: Law and War.
The issue of Just War Theory. Its origins, debates, contemporary avatars. Jus in Bello, Jus ad Bellum. Humanitarian Interventions. Can war be morally justifiable? Are there some intrinsically evil or unjustifiable weapons?
Thomas Aquinas, Summa Theologica, II, 40, “On War”.
Geoffrey Best, War and Law since 1945, chap 7 “Humanitarian Practice and the Laws of War” and chap. 8 “Methods and Means”.
Richard Betts, The Delusion of Impartial Intervention, Foreign Affairs, November/December 1994.
Hugo Grotius, On the Law of War and Peace, transl. A.C. Campbell, Book I, Chap. 1-3.
David Hume, Enquiry Concerning the Principles of Morals, Section 3.
Immanuel Kant, Science of Right, Section II. The Rights of Nations and International Law.
Carl Schmitt, The Nomos of the Earth, Part III, chap 1, “the Jus Publicum Europaeum”, pp. 140-152; Part IV “The Question of a New Nomos of the Earth”, chap. 4 -5, pp. 240-280.
Michael Walzer, Just and Unjust Wars, part IV, chap. 15, pp. 233-250; chap. 16, pp. 251-268; chap. 18, pp. 287-303; afterword 329-336.
Week 7: The Psychology of Warfare
Killing does not come naturally: how does one become a killer? What are the effects on the constitution of the self? How does one survive war, how does one survive torture?
Jean Amery, At the Mind’s Limits, pp. 1-40.
Elaine Scarry, The Body in Pain, chap. 1 “The Structure of Torture”
Simone Weil, The Iliad, or The Poem of Force, transl. Mary McCarthy, Marseilles: Cahiers du Sud, 1940-1941.
Weeks 8-9: War and the Sacred; War and Art
Why has war so often been assimilated to a form of the sacred? Why has it fascinated so many philosophers? War and religion. War and literature, war and art. What is the specificity of artistic, literary approaches to war? What do they say about war which neither philosophy nor political science can say? Is the aestheticisation of war ethically neutral?
G.W.F. Hegel, Philosophy of Right, transl. S.W. Dyde, parag. 321-329.
Kant, Critique of Judgment, “Analytic of the Sublime”.
Thucydides, The History of the Peloponnesian War, “Pericles Funeral Oration”, Book 2, 2.34 - 2.46
Ernst Junger, Storm of Steel (1920), Penguin 1978, pp. 86-93.
Wilfred Owen, Poems 1914-18
Siegfried Sassoon, Poems, 1914-1918
Susan Sontag, Regarding the Pain of Others, Picador, New York, 2003.
James Wurtz, “Representing the Great War: Violence, Memory, and Comic Form”, Pacific Coast Philology, vol. 14, No 2, 2009, pp. 205-215.
Week 10: The Specificity of Civil War
Stathis Kalyvas, “’New’ and ‘Old’ Civil wars – A Valid Distinction?”, in World Politics, 54, October 2011, 99-118.
Week 11: Peace, Resistance
Is peace only the absence of war? What would be the conditions of possibility of perpetual peace?
Immanuel Kant, Perpetual Peace: A Philosophical Sketch.
Avishai Margalit, “Indecent Compromise, Decent Peace”, The Tanner Lectures on Human Values, May 2005.
Bertrand Russell, “War and Non-Resistance”, Atlantic Monthly Vol. 116, No. 2 (August 1915). 266–274.
Week 13: New Wars: Genocide, Totalitarianism, Guerrilla Warfare, Terrorism
Hannah Arendt, The Origins of Totalitarianism, pp. 119-156
Talal Asad,
- On Suicide Bombing, pp. 58-64
- “Thinking about Terrorism and Just War” Cambridge Review of International Affairs, vol. 23, No 1, March 2010, pp. 3-24.
Mark Danner, “Torture and the Forever War”, The Tanner Lectures on Human Values, April 2010.
Andrew Kydd and Barbara Walter, “The Strategies of Terrorism”, in International Security, vol. 31, No 1 (summer 2006), pp. 49-80
Modalité de contrôle des connaissances et compétences :
Mode d’évaluation : Contrôle terminal : épreuve à la maison
Nature de(s) évaluations : An research essay.
Bibliographie :
Jean Amery, At the Mind’s Limits, Bloomington, Indiana Univ. Press 1980, pp. 1-40
Thomas Aquinas, Summa Theologica, II, 40, “On War”.
Hannah Arendt,
- The Origins of Totalitarianism, pp. 119-156
- On Violence, Harvest 1970, pp.51-55 and 66-87.
Talal Asad,
- On Suicide Bombing, pp. 58-64
- “Thinking about Terrorism and Just War” Cambridge Review of International Affairs, vol. 23, No 1, March 2010, pp. 3-24.
Robert Axelrod, The Evolution of Cooperation, Basic Books, NY 1984, pp. 73-87 (Ch. 4).
Geoffrey Best, War and Law since 1945, chap 7 “Humanitarian Practice and the Laws of War” and chap. 8 “Methods and Means”
Richard Betts, The Delusion of Impartial Intervention, Foreign Affairs, November/December 1994.
Philip Bobbitt, The Shield of Achilles: War, Peace and the Course of History, London: Allen Lane, 2002.
Judith Butler,
- Frames of War: When is Life Grievable?, Verso Books, 2010
- Precarious Life: The Powers of Mourning and Violence, Verso Books, 2020
Greg Cashman, What Causes War? An Introduction to Theories of International Conflict, chap. 7 “International Interaction: Game Theory and Deterrence Theory”, pp 193-223 and chap. 10: Conclusion, pp. 279-288.
Carl von Clausewitz, On War, transl. J.J. Graham, Book I, chap. 1-2.
Mark Danner, “Torture and the Forever War”, The Tanner Lectures on Human Values, April 2010.
Alfred Einstein and Sigmund Freud, Correspondence 1931-32: “Why War?”
Daniel Gilbert, “He Who Cast the First Stone Probably Didn’t”, International Herald Tribune 24 July 2006.
Dave Grossman, On Killing, Back Bay Books 1995, Section I, “Killing and the Existence of Resistance”, and Section II, chap I, pp. 5-50.
Hugo Grotius, On the Law of War and Peace, transl. A.C. Campbell, Book I, Chap. 1-3.
G.W.F. Hegel,
- Phenomenology of Mind, transl. J.B. Baillie, “Self-Consciousness”, parag. 178-190.
- Philosophy of Right, transl. S.W. Dyde, parag. 321-329.
Thomas Hobbes, Leviathan, chap. XIII, XVIII.
David Hume, Enquiry Concerning the Principles of Morals, Section 3
Ernst Junger, Storm of Steel (1920), Penguin 1978, pp. 86-93.
Stathis Kalyvas, “’New’ and ‘Old’ Civil wars – A Valid Distinction?”, in World Politics, 54, October 2011, 99-118.
Immanuel Kant,
- Science of Right, Section II. The Rights of Nations and International Law
- Perpetual Peace: A Philosophical Sketch.
- Critique of Judgment, “Analytical of the Sublime”
Andrew Kydd and Barbara Walter, “The Strategies of Terrorism”, in International Security, vol. 31, No 1 (summer 2006), pp. 49-80.
Niccolo Macchiavelli, The Prince, Chap. VI, X, XIV, XVII, XXIV-XXV.
Avishai Margalit, “Indecent Compromise, Decent Peace”, The Tanner Lectures on Human Values, May 2005.
Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels, The Communist Manifesto, Chap. 2.
Thomas Nagel, “War and Massacre”, in Philosophy & Public Affairs, Vol. 1, No. 2 (Winter, 1972), pp. 123-144.
Mark Neoclous, “Off the Map, On Violence and Cartography”, European Journal of Social Theory, 6(4), 2003, pp. 409-425.
Wilfred Owen, Poems 1914-18
Barry Posen, “The Security Dilemma and Ethnic Conflict”, in Survival, vol. 35, no 1, Spring 1993, pp. 27-47.
J.J. Rousseau, Considerations on the Government of Poland, Chap. I-V, XII, XV.
Bertrand Russell, “War and Non-Resistance”, Atlantic Monthly Vol. 116, No. 2 (August 1915). 266–274.
Siegfried Sassoon, Poems, 1914-1918
Elaine Scarry, The Body in Pain, chap. 1 “The Structure of Torture” and chap 2 “The Structure of War”, pp. 81- 97 “ War is a Contest”.
Carl Schmitt, The Nomos of the Earth, Part III, chap 1, “The Jus Publicum Europaeum”, pp. 140-152; Part IV “The Question of a New Nomos of the Earth”, chap. 4 -5, pp. 240-280.
Susan Sontag, Regarding the Pain of Others, Picador, New York, 2003.
John G. Stoessinger, Why Nations Go to War, chap. 10, pp. 396-422
Sun Tzu, The Art of War, transl. Lionel Giles, chap I-XIII.
Thucydides, The History of the Peloponnesian War, “Pericles Funeral Oration”, Book 2, 2.34 - 2.46
Titus Livius (Livy), Roman History, transl. John Henry Freese, Alfred John Church, and William Jackson Brodribb, book I, parag. 12-26
Martin van Creveld, Technology and War, chap. 3 “The Infrastructure of War”, chap. 5 “Irrational Technology”, chap. 10 “The Rise of Professionalism”
Kenneth Waltz, Man, the State and War, Introduction.
Michael Walzer, Just and Unjust Wars, part IV, chap. 15, pp. 233-250; chap. 16, pp. 251-268; chap. 18, pp. 287-303; afterword 329-336.
Simone Weil, The Iliad, or The Poem of Force, transl. Mary McCarthy, Marseilles: Cahiers du Sud, 1940-1941.
James Wurtz, “Representing the Great War: Violence, Memory, and Comic Form”, Pacific Coast Philology, vol. 14, No 2, 2009, pp. 205-215.
Legal documents (available on avalon.law.yale.edu)
- 1928 Briand Kellogg Pact on the Renunciation of War
- 1948 UN Convention for the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide
- Geneva Conventions on the Laws of War 1864-1975, especially the 1949 Conventions
- Code of Hammurabi 1780 BC
- The 1494 Treaty of Tordesillas between Spain and Portugal.
- Second Lateran Council, Canon 29, 1139 A.D., banning the use of crossbows.
Iconography:
Otto Dix, The Match Seller
Flanders
Goya, El Tres de Mayo
Disasters of War (Series of Etchings)
Picasso, Guernica
John Singer Sargent, Gassed
Naram Sin Victory Stele
Emperor Akbar’s Mahabharata, or the Razmnama
Equestrian portrait of Aurangzeb Mughal
Mughal Army Elephants
Filmography:
- The Deer Hunter, dir. Michael Cimino, 1978.
- La Vita è Bella (Life is Beautiful), dir. Roberto Benigni, 1997.
- All Quiet on the Western Front, dir. Lewis Milestone, 1930.
- Tin Drum, dir. Volker Schlöndorff, 1979
- The Battle of Algiers, dir. Gilles Pontecorvo, 1966.
- Apocalypse Now, dir. Francis Coppola, 1979.
- The Bridge over the River Kwai, dir. David Lean, 1957.
- Lawrence of Arabia, dir. David Lean, 1962.
- Kingdom of Heaven, dir. Ridley Scott, 2005.
- Platoon, dir. Oliver Stone, 1986.
- Full Metal Jacket, dir. Stanley Kubrick, 1987.
- The Paths of Glory, dir. Stanley Kubrick, 1957.
- Gallipoli, dir. Peter Weir, 1981.
- Enemy at the Gates, dir. Jean-Jacques Annaud, 2001.
- Das Boot, dir. Wolfgang Petersen, 1981.
- Waterloo, dir. Sergey Bondarchuk, 1970.
- Downfall, dir. Oliver Hirschbiegel, 2004.
- Tora! Tora! Tora!, dir. Richard Fleischer, Kinji Fukasaku, 1970.
Documentaries:
- The World at War, BBC
- The Fog of War, Errol Morris and Robert McNamara, 2003.
- Enseignant: Anne-christine Habbard
Descriptif d’enseignement / Course description
Academic Year 2024-25
Semestre 1
Titre du cours - Course title
The European Union institutions and the law-making process
Type de cours : Séminaire
Langue du cours/Language of instruction : English - Anglais
Enseignant(s) – Professor(s)
Antonio DEL SOLE
Visiting Professor
Contact : antonio.delsole@sciencespo-lille.eu
Résumé du cours – Objectifs - Course description – Targets
European Union and legislative process: A complex institutional architecture with an extraordinary law-making process
The course provides an overview of how the European Union (EU) is governed and how it governs the EU citizens, with a special emphasis to the law-making process. Through lectures will be provided a detailed understanding of the integration process and a view into the treaties that have led to the current structure of the Union. The lectures will review how the EU institutions work, how EU law is adopted, and how the EU interacts with Member States’ governments. The course both covers the institutional perspective, highlighting the role of the different institutions within the Union, and focuses on those substantive issues that are currently topical in the EU, such as the financial and euro-crisis, migration and defence of fundamental rights. The course will provide an introduction to the law of the European Union, and will present the law-making process, which is peculiar to the EU institutional structure. In the same time, will be shown the interaction between the EU law framework and its' Member States. In this context, a particular focus will be given to the legal order of the EU – which is based largely on the Treaty of European Union and the Treaty on the functioning of the European Union, and the legislation made under the treaties by the Council, the Parliament and the Commission – and to the legislative process. A special focus will be given to the EU legislative process, including the presentation of the principles, guidelines and methodology in drafting European Union legislation. Moreover, the course will consider the fundamental law cases of the European Courts, as they are of considerable importance in the study of EU law.
Syllabus / Targets
The development of European integration: history, theories and treaties.
Main issues: Introduction, history and European integration background, main theories on the integration process; the “Ventotene Manifesto” ("For a Free and United Europe. A Draft Manifesto"), the Organisation for European Economic Cooperation (OEEC) and the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), the Western European Union (WEU), the BENELUX Treaty, the Council of Europe and the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR), the “Schuman Declaration”, the Treaty establishing the European Coal and Steel Community (ECSC), the European Defence Community Treaty (EDC) and the European Political Community (EPC), the Treaty establishing the European Economic Community (EEC), the Treaty establishing the European Atomic Energy Community (EURATOM), the Merger Treaty, the Luxembourg Compromise (1966), the Treaty of Luxembourg (1970), the Treaty of Brussels (1975), European Monetary System (EMS), the Single European Act, the Treaty on European Union (Maastricht Treaty), the Treaty of Amsterdam, the Treaty of Nice, the Laeken European Council and Convention on the Future or Europe, the Treaty establishing a Constitution for Europe, the Treaty of Lisbon, the consolidated versions of the Treaty on European Union (TEU) and the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union (TFEU).
The institutional framework.
The European Parliament, the Commission, the European Council, the Council, the Court of Justice (European Court of Justice, General Court, specialized courts), the Court of Auditors, the European Central Bank, the European Economic and Social Committee, the Committee of the Regions, the European Investment Bank, other bodies and agencies.
The principles of the European Union.
Mainly: respect for human dignity, freedom, democracy, equality, the rule of law, respect for human rights, minority rights, solidarity.
The EU’s legal order; the legislative process; non-legal instruments.
The hierarchy of norms. The principle of conferral, the principle of proportionality, the principle of subsidiarity (Article 5 TEU). Exclusive competence, shared competence, supporting and supplementary action. The sources and supremacy of EU law. Legal acts: regulations, directives, decisions; non-legislative acts; delegated acts and implementing acts; other acts (recommendations and opinions). The legislative process: the “ordinary” legislative procedure; the “special” legislative procedures: the “consent” or “approval” procedure and the “consultation” procedure; the simplified procedure. Principles, style and methodology in the drafting of European Union legislation.
The EU system of legal protection and the Court of Justice.
Main issues on proceedings: Treaty infringement proceedings (Articles 258-259 TFEU); actions for annulment (Article 263 TFEU); complaints for failure to act (Article 265 TFEU); actions for damages (Articles 268 and 340(2) TFEU)); appeals procedure (Article 256(2)); preliminary rulings (Article 267 TFEU); provisional legal protection (Articles 278 and 279 TFEU).
Drafting EU legislation: principles, guidelines and methodology.
General structure of an act subject to the ordinary legislative procedure. Title; Preamble; Citations; Recitals; Enacting terms/operative part – dispositive; Scope, Definitions, Entry into force. Annexes (possible part); The subject matter and scope; Multilingual nature of EU legislation; Council Regulation No 1 of 15 April 1958.
Samples of drafting the EU legislative acts, with practical exercise.
Evaluation - Assessment
Final assessment: students will be required to write a final essay on a topic included in the course syllabus; the topic will be specific to each student and will be agreed with the lecturer; an oral presentation of the essay, answering to some questions, may be agreed with the lecturer at the end of the course. In the overall evaluation, active participation in the course will be taken into account.
Plan – Séances - Course outline
Classroom lessons of two or three hours each.
During the classes there will be some exercises on the drafting of European Union legislative texts.
Meetings, on site or online, with external guests will be organized.
Bibliographie - Bibliography :
Suggested textbooks:
CHALMERS, DAVIES, MONTI, European Union Law, Fifth edition, Cambridge, 2024.
CRAIG and DE BÚRCA, EU Law. Text, cases and materials, Seventh edition, Oxford, 2020.
EDWARD and LANE, European Union Law, Cheltenham, 2014.
Key documents:
The European Treaties, which are available at https://europa.eu/european-union/index_en and will be provided during lessons.
Drafting EU legislation:
Joint declaration on practical arrangements for the codecision procedure (article 251 of the EC Treaty), Official Journal of 30.6.2007, C 145/02.
Interinstitutional Agreement between the European Parliament, the Council of the European Union and the European Commission on Better Law-Making of 13 April 2016, Official Journal of 12.5.2016, L 123/1.
Joint Practical Guide of the European Parliament, the Council and the Commission for persons involved in the drafting of European Union legislation, Publications Office of the European Union, 2015.
Other resources:
The EU website at https://europa.eu/european-union/index_en contains all kinds of relevant information about the EU.
Recent case law of the European Court of Justice is available at http://curia.europa.eu, and past case law, legislation and all sorts of other legal sources are available at http://eur-lex.europa.eu/homepage.html
During the course, specific bibliography and study materials will be given and also appropriate documents on legislation, legislative procedures and drafting EU legislation will be provided from time to time.
- Enseignant: Antonio Del Sole
Business law and human rights in global governance
Academic Year 2024-25
Semestre 1
Course description – Targets
The development of a sustainable economy respecting and protecting human rights
Today a large part of the world economy is in the hands of private individuals and companies and not of States. As a result, the problem of the development of a sustainable global economy arises in connection with respect for human rights on the part of private companies.
The course provides an overview of the main issues implied by the development of an economy without borders and the ways in which the actors of global governance try to promote respect for and protection of human rights.
Therefore, the course aims to examine the basics of regulatory systems and the practical tools necessary to implement human rights in the logic of the global market.
Demand for important skills in business law and respect for human rights is constantly growing in legal practice and in the sectors of the market economy and of State and international organisations as well as in civil society. Participation in the course will allow students to develop the knowledge and skills necessary on the basis of an original approach to pursue a career in this new field.
In addition to the regulatory framework, the course will also give an overview of the leading cases of the courts operating at International, European and domestic level.
Syllabus / Targets
Main issues
The influence of big companies and multinational corporations on States. The impact of economic power on human rights. Accountability of public bodies, international organisations and multinational corporations. Corporate criminal liability. The role of law in the regulation of the market at European, International and global level. The initiatives of the European Union and the United Nations. The UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights (UNGPs). The State duty to protect human rights. Corporate responsibility to respect human rights. Access to remedy.
Key issues areas will be: corporate governance, business law and human rights; access to justice and effective remedies; international trade law; global finance; climate change; food; access to food, security and quality; global health governance; public education systems; migration; energy; water; digital governance and sovereignty; peace, justice and democratic institutions; press, digital communications and disinformation. Practical cases.
Evaluation - Assessment
Final assessment: students will be required to write a final essay on a topic included in the course syllabus; the topic will be specific to each student and will be agreed with the lecturer; an oral presentation of the essay, answering to some questions, may be agreed witht the lecturer at the end of the course. In the overall evaluation, active participation in the course will be taken into account.
Plan – Séances - Course outline
Classroom lessons of two or three hours each.
Practical cases will be examined during the lessons.
Meetings, on site or online, with external guests might be organised.
Bibliographie - Bibliography : Suggested textbooks:
During the course, specific bibliography and study materials will be given and also appropriate documents on issues, legislation and cases will be provided from time to time.
The full list of textbooks will provided.
Claire Methven O’Brien, Business and human rights - A handbook for legal practitioners, Council of Europe, 2019, in
https://edoc.coe.int/en/fundamental-freedoms/7785-business-and-human-rights-a-handbook-for-legal- practitioners.html (free download)
Key documents:
UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights, in https://www.ohchr.org/sites/default/files/documents/publications/guidingprinciplesbusinesshr_en.pdf
Other resources:
Business and Human Rights: Access to Justice and Effective Remedies (with input from the EU Agency for Fundamental Rights, FRA), Report of the European Law Institute, in
https://www.europeanlawinstitute.eu/fileadmin/user_upload/p_eli/Publications/ELI_Report_on_Business_and_Hum an_Rights.pdf (free download)
Business law and human rights in global governance
Type de cours : Séminaire
Langue du cours/Language of instruction : English - Anglais
Résumé du cours – Objectifs - Course description – Targets
The development of a sustainable economy respecting and protecting human rights
Today a large part of the world economy is in the hands of private individuals and companies and not of States. As a result, the problem of the development of a sustainable global economy arises in connection with respect for human rights on the part of private companies.
The course provides an overview of the main issues implied by the development of an economy without borders and the ways in which the actors of global governance try to promote respect for and protection of human rights.
Therefore, the course aims to examine the basics of regulatory systems and the practical tools necessary to implement human rights in the logic of the global market.
Demand for important skills in business law and respect for human rights is constantly growing in legal practice and in the sectors of the market economy and of State and international organisations as well as in civil society. Participation in the course will allow students to develop the knowledge and skills necessary on the basis of an original approach to pursue a career in this new field.
In addition to the regulatory framework, the course will also give an overview of the leading cases of the courts operating at International, European and domestic level.
Syllabus / Targets
Demand for important skills in business law and respect for human rights is constantly growing in legal practice and in the sectors of the market economy and of State and international organisations as well as in civil society. Participation in the course will allow students to develop the knowledge and skills necessary on the basis of an original approach to pursue a career in this new field.
In addition to the regulatory framework, the course will also give an overview of the leading cases of the courts operating at International, European and domestic level.
Main issues
The influence of big companies and multinational corporations on States. The impact of economic power on human rights. Accountability of public bodies, international organisations and multinational corporations. Corporate criminal liability. The role of law in the regulation of the market at European, International and global level. The initiatives of the European Union and the United Nations. The UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights (UNGPs). The State duty to protect human rights. Corporate responsibility to respect human rights. Access to remedy. Key issues areas will be: corporate governance, business law and human rights; international trade law; global finance; climate change; food; access to food, security and quality; global health governance; public education systems; migration; energy; water; digital governance and sovereignty; peace, justice and democratic institutions; press, digital communications and disinformation. Practical cases.
Evaluation - Assessment
Final assessment: students will be required to write a final essay on a topic included in the course and to give an oral presentation of this essay, answering to some questions, at the end of the course. The topic will be specific to each student. In the overall evaluation, active participation in the course will be taken into account.
Plan – Séances - Course outline
Classroom lessons of two or three hours each.
Practical cases will be examined during the lessons.
Meetings, on site or online, with external guests might be organised.
Bibliographie - Bibliography :
Suggested textbooks:
During the course, specific bibliography and study materials will be given and also appropriate documents on issues, legislation and cases will be provided from time to time.
The full list of textbooks will provided.
Claire Methven O’Brien, Business and human rights - A handbook for legal practitioners, Council of Europe, 2019, in
https://edoc.coe.int/en/fundamental-freedoms/7785-business-and-human-rights-a-handbook-for-legal-practitioners.html (free download)
Key documents:
UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights, in
https://www.ohchr.org/sites/default/files/documents/publications/guidingprinciplesbusinesshr_en.pdf
Other resources:
Business and Human Rights: Access to Justice and Effective Remedies (with input from the EU Agency for Fundamental Rights, FRA), Report of the European Law Institute, in https://www.europeanlawinstitute.eu/fileadmin/user_upload/p_eli/Publications/ELI_Report_on_Business_and_Human_Rights.pdf (free download)
- Enseignant: Antonio Del Sole