General provisions

Determined on May 7, 2007 by Faculty of Law's Teaching Committee, Uppsala University, by virtue of Chapter 2 Section 5 a of the Higher Education Act and Chapter 6 Section 14 and 15 of the Higher Education Ordinance. The course plan enters into force on July 1, 2007.

In General

The course is 15 university points (15 ECTS credits) and a single subject course at advanced level. The course is also given as an advanced course in the studies for the degree of Master of Laws, according to the degree requirements adopted 16 April 2007 by the Board of the Faculty of Law of Uppsala University.

Learning outcomes

The goal of the course is that the students shall understand what role international organisations play in the world of today and in international law. The goal of the course is also that the students shall understand how international organisations affect the states and the role of the states as international legal subjects. The aim is furthermore that the students shall understand the interplay between international organisations and their legal acts and national constitutions and legal systems. Briefly, the students shall understand the implications in the area of the law, nationally and internationally, of the increasingly intensive internationalisation through international cooperation that takes place in most areas in society.

Hopefully this understanding will be depended through the inclusion in the course of relevant theories from the field of political science. When NGOs are introduced into the discussion the question relating to the role of the states become even sharper and the students will realise that there is another, more radical or advanced form of international cooperation namely transnational cooperation.

On a more concrete level the goal of the course is that the students shall learn different ways in which international cooperation may be organised, what different international organisations do and how they are structured, what powers they have, what they have achieved and how they have influenced international law. The students will also see the imprints international organisations have made on national law. This should increase the understanding of the students of the connection between international and national law.

The students shall understand that international organisations work in numerous fields and that the organisations include many different kinds of states. In many organisations both developed and developing countries are members and these may act in different ways within the organisations because they have different interests and different problems. Certain organisations only include developed countries and certain organisations include only developing countries, which also influences the acts of the organisations and their members.

International organisations may also cooperate with each other and not only with states. Such cooperation between global and regional organisations in the area of international security is institutionalised in the UN Charter. The goal of the course is that the students shall understand the existence and significance of such "inter-organisational" cooperation.

After the course the students shall have the ability to identify and solve typical legal problems that arise within international organisations of different kinds and in the contacts of the organisations with the surrounding world. The students shall have the ability to understand the interplay between the international organisations and the international and national legal development. The students shall also have the ability to interpret and analyse the legal source material relevant to international organisations and to argue independently in oral and in written form in favour of and against different solutions to the legal problems that arise.

Finally, after the course the students shall have the ability to perform oral and written tasks within given time frames.

Content

The course deals with an area of public international law labelled international organisations. International organisations include they study of different kinds of organisations, their structure and functions, their relationship to international law as subjects and objects, their relationship to the states and to national systems of law (constitutional law in particular) and the substantive results of the work of the organisations in different areas.

In light of the emergence of ever tighter international organisations with ever deeper competencies, the changing and maybe weakening role of the member states is studied in these cases. Here questions relating to the competence of the organisations and of the states respectively will be analysed and questions relating to the relationship between national and international law.

Also the study of looser forms of international cooperation than institutionalised international organisations is included in the course. In that context the theorising within political science in the area of international cooperation, international institutions and regimes will be studied.

The course also includes the study of non-governmental organisations (NGOs).

The emphasis of the course is placed on organisations for global and regional security (UN, EU, OSSE, NATO, AU, OAS). Depending on the global development the emphasis may be put on other organisations and other questions, for instance international cooperation in the area of trade and finance (WTO, the World Bank, and the IMF), or cooperation within the area of environmental protection or the fighting of crime.

Instruction

The instruction takes place primarily in seminar form with a large measure of activity expected from the students. The seminars are prepared in small groups. Each student writes a shorter and a longer essay and discusses orally one other student's shorter and longer essay. Please note that during certain years the shorter essay and the discussion of the shorter essay will be substituted by more seminars and lectures. Compulsory written and oral tasks will be included in the course. Attendance at all teaching occasions is compulsory. The head of the course may exempt a student from the attendance requirement in special cases. A more detailed plan of the course is provided in the annexed study plan.

The instruction is founded on the course literature indicated in the study plan.

Assessment

In order to pass the course the students must fulfil the following compulsory requirements: All students must prepare and actively participate in all seminars, write a shorter essay, orally discuss one other student's shorter essay, and pass a written exam. The shorter essay and the discussion of a short essay will be marked and the final result from the course will depend both on the tasks performed during the course and on the result at the written exam. For further information see the annexed study plan. In exceptional cases the examination may take another form.

During certain years the examination will be based, in addition to active participation in the seminars, on a written take-home exam consisting of two to three longer essay questions.

An essay or take-home exam that has been handed in too late or an essay which does not pass and which has to be completed in order to pass, can only get the lowest mark (B). Exceptions may be granted in exceptional cases as concerns essays handed in too late.

Aids that are allowed at the written exam are law texts, treaty texts and course literature. Seminar materials and personal notes may also be brought to the written exam except the essay. At the take-home exam all aids are allowed. The grades given are Fail (U), and the passing grades Pass (G) and Pass with distinction (VG).

In order to be allowed to take the written exam or the take-home exam the student must have accomplished all the compulsory course work. The head of the course may grant exemptions in exceptional cases.

The student who does not pass will be given the opportunity to re-take the exam.