International Law

Lesson Plan: International Law

Lesson Plan: International Law

Topic: International Law

Week #: 10

Estimated Time: 150-180 minutes

 

Assigned Readings:

  1. Traisbach, Knut. 2017. “International Law.” In International Relations Theory, Stephen McGlinchey, ed. pp. 57-71. Available online at https://www.e-ir.info/2017/01/01/international-law/ (14 pages, core reading)
  2. United Nations. 2012. “The United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea: A Historical Perspective.” Available online at https://www.un.org/Depts/los/convention_agreements/convention_historical_perspective.htm (19 pages, briefing)
  3. International Criminal Court. “How the Court Works.” Available online at https://www.icc-cpi.int/about/how-the-court-works (17 pages, briefing)

 

Total page count: 50

 

Learning Objectives:

By the end of this lesson plan, students will be able to:

  1. Distinguish international law from domestic law
  2. Remember sources of international law
  3. Analyze examples of international law
  4. Evaluate a new international court: the International Criminal Court

 

Misconceptions of Topic:

  1. Students may assume international law functions the same way as domestic legal systems.
  2. Alternately, students may assume international law is weak or non-enforceable.

 

 

Lesson Component

Ancillary(ies)

Lecture: Review learning objectives

Lecture slides

Lecture and discussion: What’s special about international law?

 

Reading 1

Lecture slides

 

Lecture and discussion:

-Key concepts in international law

-Sources of international law

Reading 1

Lecture slides

Example of a treaty: United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS)

 

Think Pair Share: Should the US join UNCLOS?

Reading 2

Lecture slides

 

Additional online resource: UNCLOS Website:

https://www.un.org/Depts/los/convention_agreements/convention_overview_convention.htm

 

Lecture and discussion: Evolution of international law

 

Application and discussion: International Criminal Court 

Readings 1 and 3

Lecture slides

Handout

Online video and discussion: ICC

Reading 3

Online resource:

POV/PBS (2015), Excerpts from “The Reckoning: History of the ICC” (Approx. 17 minutes)

URL: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=--m3foHOecE

 

Conclude and wrap-up

Lecture slides