Today, international law is everywhere. It seeks to regulate international issues like armed conflict, diplomatic relations and international trade, to be sure, but also reaches deep into the daily governance of states, municipalities, corporations and individuals.
This one-year Master’s Programme seeks to give students a profound knowledge of both general public international law and selected branches of the field, thereby providing them with a deep understanding of how international law actually works. The programme emphasizes in-depth study and is based on gradually increasing methodological training as students tackle more and more advanced international law problems.
The first, introductory course “Advanced Course in public international law” (15 ECTS credits) takes students step-by-step through the fundamental elements of the discipline, giving them a language and set of techniques with which to analyse and assess global affairs through the lens of international law. Importantly, students will already at this early stage be encouraged to think more critically about the makings and the effects of the very discipline itself. After introduction, students will choose between two tracks, International Law and the Individual and International Law and Global Justice.
In International Law and the Individual, students study two 15 ECTS credit courses “Human Rights in a Global Perspective” and “International Criminal Law”. “Human Rights in a Global Perspective” (HRGP) gives students an understanding of the fundamentals and theoretical underpinnings of human rights protection in the international legal framework, offering a critical (albeit a sympathetic) exploration of the meaning of rights and of their potential as the basis for an ethical and legal order by illustrating the complex interplay between law and extra-legal factors. The third course, “International Criminal Law” (ICL), which is elective, focuses on the national and international aspects of international criminal law, including basic concepts as well as procedural rules.
In International Law and Global Justice, after having taken the HRGP course, students take the elective course of 15 ECTS credits ”International Law and the Global Economy” (ILE). This course aims to impart comprehensive knowledge of legal principles and mechanisms in international economic law in the context of human rights as well as the economy and politics.
All the courses include both written and oral exercises in the form of legal memos and essays as well as mooting and negotiations simulations alike. The final Master Thesis contains, in addition to the thesis itself, a course in academic writing. Moreover, there is a year-long seminar running through the programme which seeks to impress upon students the realization that abstract theories do not lead a separate existence from more concrete facts.
The purpose of the Stockholm’s Master’s Programme in International Law is to offer students the opportunity to acquire the kind of specialist knowledge and ability for critical thinking that will serve them well in professional and academic work alike, at both national and international level, in public as well as private service.
Further information will be made available on https://www.jurinst.su.se/english/education/courses-and-programmes