MA in International Law

MA in International Law

Duration: One calendar year (full-time); Two or three years (part-time, daytime only)

Minimum Entry Requirements: Upper second class honours preferably in a related discipline

Start of programme: September intake only

The MA in International Law allows students to study international law and its application in a broad range of legal areas, including commerce, criminal law, humanitarian law, environmental law, and human rights. All SOAS modules are designed not only to introduce students to the general fields of law, but also to provide an understanding of how generic legal structures and processes may operate in non-Western social and cultural settings. All teachers on modules offered at SOAS are experts in their designated field. Many have years of experience advising governments, international organisations or non-governmental organisation, and many also have been or continue to be legal practitioners.

Structure

To facilitate the study of law, all MA students are required to attend a two-week Preliminary Law, Legal Reasoning and Legal Methods in the September before beginning the MA programme.

Students must take modules to a total value of 180, consisting of a dissertation (60 credits) and 120 credits of taught modules. Taught modules are worth either 15 or 30 credits.

Students who wish to graduate with a specialised MA are required to take at least 60 credits associated with his or her specialised MA, a further 30 credits within the School of Law (General Law Postgraduate Taught Module List), and a final 30 unit which can either be taken within the School of Law or from the Language Open Options or Non-Language Open Options pages with the MA Programme Convenor’s permission. The dissertation topic will be undertaken within the MA specialisation.

In 2017-18 Dr. Catriona Drew will act as programme convenor in Term 1, and Professor Matthew Craven in Terms 2 & 3.

Specialism Module List (at least 60 credits to be taken)

• Anatomy of a Human Rights Emergency: Case Study of Darfur 15PLAH060 (15 credits) Term 2
• Climate Change and Energy Law and Policy 15PLAC154 (30credits) Full Year
• Colonialism, Empire and International Law 15PLAH025 (15 credits) Term 2
• Foundations of Comparative Law 15PLAH031 (15 credits) Term 1
• Foundations of International Law 15PLAH021 (15 credits) Term 1
• Gender, Sexuality and Law: Selected Topics 15PLAH061 (15 credits) Term 2
• Gender, Sexuality and Law: Theories and Methodologies 15PLAH062 (15 credits) Term 1
• Gender, Armed Conflict and International Law 15PGNH005 (15 credits) Term 1
• Human Rights of Women 15PLAH065 (15 credits) Term 2
• Law, Environmental and Sustainable Development in a Global Context 15PLAC118 (30credits) Full Year
• Justice, Reconciliation and Reconstruction in Post-Conflict Societies 15PLAH040 (15 credits) Term 2
• International Criminal Law 15PLAH055 (15 credits) Term 2
• International Investment Law and Arbitration 15PLAH063 (15 credits) Term 2
• International Protection of Human Rights 15PLAC119 (30credits) Full Year
• International Refugee and Migration Law 15PLAH057 (15 credits) Term 1
• Law and Policy of International Courts and Tribunals 15PLAH026 (15 credits) Term 2
• Law and Society in Southeast Asia 15PLAH049 (15 credits) Term 1
• Law, Human Rights and Peace Building: The Israeli-Palestinian Case 15PLAC133 (30credits) Full Year
• Law and Natural Resources 15PLAC126 (30credits) Full Year
• Law and Postcolonial Theory 15PLAH050 (15 credits) Term 1
• Law, Rights & Social Change 15PLAH064 (15 credits) Term 2
• Law, Rights and Society in Taiwan 15PLAH058 (15 credits) Term 2
• Multinational Enterprises and The Law 15PLAC140 (30credits) Full Year
• The Law of Armed Conflict 15PLAH022 (15 credits) Term 1

General Law Postgraduate Module List

An additional 30 credits must be taken from the School of Law General Postgraduate Taught Module List or the Specialism Module List above.

Postgraduate Open Option Modules

A final 30 credits must be taken from the SOAS Open Option Module list, or from the General Law Postgraduate Module List above or from the Specialism Module List.

Dissertation

Dissertation (12,000 words), on a topic related to the specialism of the degree

• MA Dissertation in Law 15PLAC999 (60credits) Full Year