MAHARASHTRA NATIONAL LAW UNIVERSITY MUMBAI

PUBLIC INTERNATIONAL LAW COURSE OUTLINE

Program: B.A. – LL.B. (Hons.) Semester: VII

Course: Public International Law Year: 2023

Teaching Scheme Evaluation scheme

Term End
Internal Continuous
Examinations
Lecture Practical Tutorial Credit Assessment (ICA)
(TEE)
(Weightage)
(Weightage)
60 50 50

Course Overview:
Mohsen al Attar and Vernon Ivan Tava in their paper TWAIL Pedagogy - Legal Education
for Emancipation published in the Palestine Yearbook of International Law (Vol. 15, No. 7,
2010) argued on the use of an alternate pedagogy - derived from the work of Third World
Approaches to International Law (TWAIL) scholars in the delivery of a course on
international law in mainstream law schools. The authors argue: “Earlier this year, Galal
Nassar asserted that universities, once the ‘guardians of debate and intellectual freedom’,
were quickly becoming places ‘where young people learn how to keep their mouths shut.’ In
this he is correct and though it might at first appear counter-intuitive, Western law schools
have been leading the reformative charge. As Duncan Kennedy demonstrated nearly thirty
years ago, law lecturers, for both self-serving and self-legitimating purposes, employ
methods and foster teacher-student relationships that encourage fealty to ensconced
equations of power. Legal education, Kennedy bemoaned, bequeaths not merely a
qualification but also an ideology and a worldview, both of which buttress the preeminent
standing of established hierarchies. This is particularly worrisome from a Third World
perspective for some of the more insidious hierarchies that students subtly learn to accept
exist between the First and Third worlds.”

In this context, the present public international law course is designed to challenge the
conformist ideas and stories of international legal order. The first module deals with
approaches to international law. International Law is essentially the law which governs the
relationship between nation-states, although the subjects of international law now also extend
to individuals, international organisations and other actors. The course also traces the role of
international law in constituting order and disorder. The course also covers the history of
international law, and critical legal studies’ commitment to reforming and remaking
international law. The second module discusses the role of state and how international law
has evolved to deal with issues relating to state responsibility, succession, recognition, etc.
The course content also encapsulates the changing dimensions on the Institutionalisation of
international law and critically reviews the future of the laws of war. The course being a
foundational one, the principal objective is to help students understand the functioning of
international law. This course will serve as a basic introduction to the rules, procedures,
institutions and actors that are involved in the development, interpretation, enforcement and
adjudication of public international law.

Outcomes:
The course is designed to give students a global understanding of the rules governing
international relations and, ultimately, provide them with practical skills in legal reasoning
and arguing, research and writing on issues of international law. On successful completion
of this course, students will be able to:

1. Identify the nature of international law and the structure of the international legal system
and explain the basic elements of public international law.
2. Apply international law in practical contexts, including on issues like the structure of the
international community and participants in the international legal system; the peaceful
settlement of international disputes; state responsibility.
3. Construct legal argument, and analyse and communicate issues of international law, both
orally and in writing.
Methodology:
The course is taught through lectures and in-class discussions, with an extensive reliance on
primary materials (treaties, resolutions, official declarations, and decisions of international
courts). Additional readings are also suggested for students who wish to go further on topics
of particular interest.

Course content No. of

Lectures
Module 1 - Introduction to the International Legal Order 8
1. Structure of International Law
2. History of International Law
3. Nature of International Law
4. Approaches to International Law
a) Colonialism, Imperialism, Sovereignty and the Making of International
Law
b) Feminist and Marxist Approaches to International Law
c) Third World Approaches to International Law (TWAIL) & Fourth
World Approaches to International Law (FWAIL)
5. Ethnicity and International Law
6. India and International Law
7. Reading Critical International Law

Module 2 – Functionality of International Law 20

1. Relationship between Municipal Law and International Law
2. Sources of International law
3. Subjects of International Law
4. State Recognition
5. State Responsibility
6. State Succession
7. Extradition, Refugee and Asylum
Module 3 – Institutionalization of International Law 10
1. International Organizations
2. United Nations
3. Settlement of Disputes by Peaceful Means

Module 4 – Laws of War 10

1. Humanitarian Law: Jus in Bello & Jus in Bellum
2. Use of Force by States
3. Humanitarian Interventions
4. Just War and Just Cause
5. Responsibility to Protect (R2P)

Module 5 – International Law and Others 8

1. New International Economic Order (NIEO) & Right to Development
2. Introduction to Law of Seas
3. Introduction to International Criminal Law: Terrorism and more
4. Introduction to Space Law
5. Introduction to Aviation Law
6. Introduction to Nuclear Law
7. Introduction to International Trade and Investment Law

Module 6 – International Law Today 4

1. China and International Law
2. Russia and International Law
3. Arab World and International Law
4. Africa and International Law
 SUGGESTED READINGS
Books:

1. Swati Parmar and Adithya Variath, An Introduction to International Law (Thomson

Reuters, 2021)

2. McWhinney, E., Conflict and Compromise: International Law and World Order in a
Revolutionary Age (The Netherlands: Sijthoff and Noordhoff, 1981)

3. Malcolm N. Shaw, International Law (6th Ed., Cambridge University Press, 2008)

4. Partha Chatterjee, Anderson's Utopia, Diacritics, Grounds of Comparison: Around the

Work of Benedict Anderson (Vol. 29, The Johns Hopkins University Press, 1999)

5. Anghie, A., Imperialism, Sovereignty and the Making of International Law (Cambridge
University Press, 2004)

6. R. P. Anand, Confrontation or Cooperation? International Law and the Developing

Countries(2nd Ed., Hope India Publications, 2011)

7. Surya Prakash Sinha, Legal Polycentricity and International Law (Carolina Academic
Press, 1996)

8. Immanuel Kant, Perpetual Peace: A Philosophical Essay, 1795 (London: S.

Sonnenschein, 1903)

9. B.S. Chimni, International Law and World Order: A critique of Contemporary

Approaches (2nd Ed., Cambridge University Press, Sage Pub. New Delhi, 2017)

10. Hans J. Morgenthau, Politics Among Nations: The Struggle for Power and Peace, Fifth
Edition, (Revised Ed., Alfred A. Knopf, New York, 1978)

11. Hedley Bull, The Anarchical Society: A Study of Order in World Politics (3rd Ed.,
Palgrave Publication, New York, 2002)

12. Kenneth N. Waltz, Theory of International Politics (Addison-Wesley Publishing

Company, Berkeley, 1979)

13. Hans Kelsen, Principles of International Law (New York: Rinehart & Co., 1952)

14. Oppenheim L., International Law (8th Ed., H. Lauterpacht, 1970)

15. I.A. Shearer, Starke’s International Law (11th Ed., Oxford University Press, 1994)

16. Brierly, J. L., The Law of Nations: An Introduction to the International Law of Peace (6th
Ed., Oxford University Press, 1963)

17. William Edward Hall, A Treatise on International Law (8th Ed., New York: Oxford
University Press, 1924)

18. Koskenniemi, Histories of International Law: Dealing with Eurocentrism

(Rechtsgeschichte, 2011)

19. Cassess, A., International Law (2nd Ed., Oxford University Press, 2005)

20. Goldsmith, J. L., E. A. Posner, The Limits of International Law (Oxford University Press,
2005)

21. Brierly, J. L., The Law of Nations: An Introduction to the International Law of Peace,
(6th Ed., Oxford University Press, 1963)

22. Morgenthau, H., Politics Among Nations (5th Ed., New York Press, 1973)

23. Henkin, How Nations Behave (Columbia University Press, 1968)

24. Hugo Grotius, On the Law of War and Peace (Indianapolis: Bobbs-Merrill, 1925)

25. Jessup, Phillip C., The Use of International Law (University of Michigan Publications
Distribution Service, 1959)

26. Jessup, Philip C., The Reality of International Law (Vol. 18, Foreign Affairs, 1940)

27. ME Villiger, Commentary on the 1969 Vienna Convention on the Law of

Treaties(MartinusNijhoff, Leiden, 2009)

28. David Harris, Cases and materials on International Law (8th Ed., Sweet & Maxwell,
2010)

29. James Crawford, The creation of states in international law (2nd Ed., Oxford University
Press, 2007)
Must Reads:
1. James Gathii in his paper TWAIL: A Brief History of Its Origins, Its Decentralized
Network, and a Tentative Bibliography published in the Trade, Law and Development
(cited as 3 Trade L. & Dev. 26 2011, available here) lists down a detailed TWAIL
bibliography from page number 49 to 64 of this article. The authors and papers referred
herein shall be referred for the further reading.

2. Report of the Study Group of the International Law Commission on Fragmentation of

International Law: Difficulties Arising from the Diversification and Expansion of
International Law (available here) (13 April 2006) UN Doc A/CN.4/L.682 and the
accompanying Analytical Study (available here).

Must Watch:
1. Bridge of Spies (2015)
This is a historical drama film directed and co-produced by Steven Spielberg and starred by
Tom Hanks. Set during the Cold War, the film tells the story of lawyer James B. Donovan,
who is entrusted with the negotiation for the release of Francis Gary Powers – a U.S. Air
Force pilot – in exchange for Rudolf Abel, a convicted Soviet KGB spy held by the United
States, whom Donovan represented at its trial. Bridge of Spies is based on actual events, but
the film partially departs from the historical record.

2. Judgment at Nuremberg (1959)

The film centres on a military tribunal led by Chief Trial Judge Dan Haywood (Tracy), before
which four judges and prosecutors (as compared to sixteen defendants in the actual Judges'
Trial) stand accused of crimes against humanity due to their senior roles in the judicial system
of the Nazi German government. The trial centers on questions regarding Germans'
individual and collective responsibility for the Holocaust, with the backdrop of a tense
international situation including the onset of the Cold War, the Berlin Blockade, and the
geopolitical ramification of the later Nuremberg Trials upon German support for the Western
Bloc, placing great pressure on Haywood's efforts to reach a just verdict. In addition, the
Judge faces emotional challenges in his relationships with German people outside of the
courtroom who consistently claim ignorance of Nazi atrocities, but whom the Judge suspects
knew more than they admit.
 3. Argo (2012)
Argo is a movie directed and starred by Ben Affleck. The film deals with the “Canadian
Caper”, in which Mendez led the rescue of six U.S. diplomats from Tehran, Iran, under the
guise of filming a science fiction film during the 1979–1981 Iran hostage crisis. Due to
established diplomatic customs, an embassy – although hosted on foreign soil – is forbidden
from being entered by the host state unless permission is given. Henceforth, when the Iranian
protesters invaded the U.S. Embassy in Tehran, they violated a key feature of diplomacy
developed over centuries to allow diplomats the freedom to do their work. The hostage crisis
in Iran affected and changed the political and diplomatic landscape between the United States
and Iran for decades to come.

4. Thirteen Days (2000)

Thirteen Days is an American historical political film, directed by Roger Donaldson, staging
the Cuban Missile Crises of 1962 from the perspective of the U.S. political leadership. The
movie, starred by Kevin Costner, Bruce Greenwood, and Steven Culp, is highly captivating
and intriguing and comprises the reality of the escalation of events in those “thirteen days”,
which involved the most important public figures of that time. The director tells this event
from the perspectives of the three most crucial central characters in the White House – the
President, J.F. Kennedy, his brother, and Attorney General, Bob, and Kenneth O’Donnell,
the President’s Private Secretary.

5. Backstabbing for Beginners (2018)

This powerful political thriller directed by Per Fly is based on the memoirs of Michael
Soussan, the main character of the movie, played by Theo James. This movie tells the real
story of the corruption scandal in the U.N. Oil-for-Food Program (OFFP), established in
1995, was created to allow Iraq to sell oil on the world market in exchange for food, medicine,
and humanitarian aids in general without allowing the oil sales to boost Saddam Hussain and
his regime. However, the program quickly failed.

6. The Whistleblower (2010)

A drama based on the experiences of Kathryn Bolkovac, a Nebraska cop who served as a
peacekeeper in post-war Bosnia and outed the U.N. for covering up a sex trafficking scandal.
 Blogs:
1. Opinio Juris – https://opiniojuris.org
2. International Law & the Global South - https://internationallawandtheglobalsouth.com
3. Blog of the European Journal of International Law - https://www.ejiltalk.org
4. American Society of International Law (ASIL) Insights - https://www.asil.org/insights
5. Harvard International Law Journal Blogs - https://harvardilj.org
6. International Law Blog - https://internationallaw.blog

Podcast:
1. Borderline Jurisprudence
https://podcasts.apple.com/be/podcast/borderline-jurisprudence/id1561575704
2. Jus Cogens: The International Law Podcast & Blog
https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/jus-cogens-the-international-law-
podcast/id1432684061
3. EJIL: The Podcast!
https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/ejil-the-podcast/id1508367340

Prepared by

ADITHYA VARIATH
Assistant Professor of Law
Coordinator, Centre for Research in Air and Space Law, MNLU Mumbai
Research Fellow, University of Milan, Italy