Approaches to EU and International Law (5 op)

Arviointiasteikko

H-5

Tavoitteet

After completing this course, the student:
• Understands what is meant by theory and method in legal research, and how they relate to each other
• Is able to read and comprehend theoretically oriented scholarship in EU law and public international law
• Is able to apply an identified theoretical approach to their own thesis
• Is able to analyse the underlying theoretical assumptions and paradigms in a piece of legal scholarship

Toteutustavat

The course is delivered in the form of weekly seminars. The first seminar is an introduction to the topic of the course. For each of the following four seminars, the students will be required to read the material provided by the teacher and to answer a set of preliminary questions based on the material. The material consists mainly of literature. In the seminars, the weekly topic will be discussed on the basis of the preliminary questions. After the seminars, the students will be assigned a topic on which to write an essay.

The course is organized during the fall semester.

Suoritustavat

Active participation to the seminars and a written essay of approximately 3.000 words.

Sisältö

Contents
European Union law and public international law are interrelated research areas in that they both take law beyond the confines of sovereign states. For this reason, they share many paradigms. For example, questions relating to their legal nature (are they law or just politics?) and how they challenge the sovereignty of individual states (are state legal orders subordinate to the EU/international legal order?) are central in both. Therefore, there are also many similarities between them what comes to theoretical conceptualisation and the required methodology for studying them.
This course aims to provide the student with a basic understanding on the different approaches to European Union law and public international law and to convey how they are simultaneously both argumentative practices and academic efforts. The course does not focus on individual “theories” or “methods” nor use them as labels. Rather, it assumes the view that scholarship within EU and international law should be understood through the overall aim that the individual scholar is pursuing with their work. In other words, the combination of theory and method translates to the approach. The purpose of this is to make it easier to grasp what many theoretically oriented scholars within these academic disciplines are doing.
Participation to the course requires that the student has taken a course in both EU law and public international law. The course does not provide the student with basic knowledge on these areas of law. Rather, the course explores what EU and international law are about, and what are some topical discussions within these areas of scholarship. The course is especially suitable for students who are going to write their master’s thesis on EU law or public international law.

Seminar I: Introduction to the Topic
The first seminar is a lecture by the teacher, which introduces the students to the topic and overall aim of the course. The lecture briefly explains the following seminars and how they are connected to each other. Thus, the seminar draws a picture for the students of what to expect from the course.

Seminar II: Doing Law
How to interpret and apply EU and international law? We explore the doctrinal method, which is the internal perspective of the judge. This is the basic methodological apparatus of both practicing lawyers and academics.

Seminar III: Thinking About Law
How to think about law beyond the positivist doctrinal account? We introduce key thinkers in EU and international law. Such theoretical accounts try to understand the nature of law as a social phenomenon.

Seminar IV: Understanding Political Science
How to study legal issues from the political scientist’s external perspective? Political scientists use different methods as lawyers and they also have theories through which they aim to understand the world and different phenomenon. We explore these theories and methods.

Seminar V: Merging Disciplines
How to combine legal research with other social sciences? Law is a central societal phenomenon. It both structures politics and is the object of politics. Therefore, legal scholars and political scientists often study the same issues. We explore how to combine these two fields of research.

Oppimateriaalit

The course material will be provided by the teacher.

Esitietovaatimukset

A basic level course in European Union law and public international law.

Please note that this is not a course on the substance of EU law or public international law but a course on theoretical and methodological issue in the study of EU law and public international.