International Law (II) focuses on the institutional framework, operational mechanisms, and case studies in the post–World War II era. Specifically, the course focuses on three broad issue areas, including economics, human rights, and sovereignty. Each issue area covers three or four topics, and with which a guest speaker is invited to share his/her professional experiences in litigation or business execution. The purpose of this course is to broaden students’ understanding of international laws and know its limitation in the contemporary international relations.

Students are expected to develop a critical thinking on the nature and evolution of international law, and how it is related to the changing international relations. This course focus on how and why international law is possibly functioning without a world government instead of its format and content of legality. Empirical case studies will be offered throughout the course to assess how effective of international law in different realms across trade, human rights, sovereignty, etc.

There are three requirements for enrolled students. First, weekly attendance is required, and it accounts for 10% of the final grade. Two unexcused absences are allowed without discounting the grade. Second, a personal essay (40%, within 5 pages) is required by the end of Week 16 (Jun 14). Third, the final group project (50%) will be due by the end of Week 16 (Jun 14 in both forms of oral presentation (ppt required) and written essay (within 10 pages). The maximum number of group members is five.

1 hour

Week 1 International Law under the United Nations Regime •Besson, S. (2012). Sovereignty. In Rüdiger Wolfrum (Ed.) Max Planck Encyclopedia of Public International Law, I-X (Oxford University Press), pp.366-391. Week 2 Taiwan and WTO (Economics) •Hsieh, P. L. (2005). Facing China: Taiwan’s Status as a Separate Customs Territory in the World Trade Organization. Journal of World Trade, 39(6): 1195-1221. Week 3 Intellectual Property Rights (Economics) •Burley, J. S. (Ed.) (2023). Introduction to the International Intellectual Property Legal Framework. WIPO: World Intellectual Property Organization. Week 4 Trade, Sanction, Tariff (Economics) •Colussi, I. A. (2016). International Trade Sanctions Related to Dual-Use Goods and Technologies. Athens Journal of Law, 2(4): 237-252. •Low, P., and Riddell, G. (2025). Trump’s Trade Policy and the World Trade Organization. World Trade Review, 24(4): 489-497. Week 5 Climate Change (UNFCCC) and Carbon Tax (Economics) •Bodansky, D., Brunnée, J., and Rajamani, L. (2017). Climate Change and International Law (Chapter 2, pp.35-71) in their International Climate Change Law (Oxford: Oxford University Press). Week 6 Human Rights and International Law (Human Rights) •Oraá, J. O. (2009). The Universal Declaration of Human Rights in Felipe Gomez Isa and Koen de Feyter (Eds.) International Human Rights Law in a Global Context, pp.163-235. (Bilbao: University of Deusto) Week 7 Refugees and Human Trafficking (Human Rights) •Goodwin-Gill, G. S., McAdam, J., and Dunlop, E. (2021). Introduction (Chapter 1) in their The Refugee in International Law, Fourth Edition, pp. 1-11. (Oxford: Oxford University Press) •United Nations Human Rights Office of the High Commissioner. (2014). Human Rights and Human Trafficking. Factsheet, No. 36. Week 8 Extrajudicial Killing (Human Rights) •Aceves, W. J. (2018). When Death Becomes Murder: A Primer on Extrajudicial Killing, Columbia Human Rights Law Review, 50(1): 116-184. Week 9 China Legal Exceptionalism •Zhang, A. H. (2021). Cassese, A. (2012). Introduction in her Chinese Antitrust Exceptionalism: How the Rise of China Challenges Global Regulation, pp. 1-16. (Oxford: Oxford University Press). Week 10 Sovereignty and International Law (Sovereignty) •Koh, H. H. (2017). The Trump Administration and International Law. Washburn Law Journal, 56(3): 413-469. Week 11 International Space Law and UNCLOS (Sovereignty) •United Nations Office for Outer Space Affairs. (2017). International Space Law: United Nations Instruments. United Nations. •United Nations. (1982). United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea. •Durkee, M. J. (2023). Space Law as Twenty-First Century International Law. Journal of Law and Innovation, 6(1): 12-32. •Nguyen, L. A. T., and Vu, H. D. (Eds.) (2025). Introduction and Chapter 1-3 in Viability of UNCLOS amid Emerging Global Maritime Challenges, pp. v-x, 3-38. Week 12 The Right to Data Protection (Economics & Human Rights) •Poscher, R. (2022). Artificial Intelligence and the Right to Data Protection. In Voeneky S, Kellmeyer P, Mueller O, Burgard W, (Eds.) The Cambridge Handbook of Responsible Artificial Intelligence: Interdisciplinary Perspectives, pp. 281-289. (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press). Week 13 Universal Declaration of Human Rights (Sovereignty) •Isa and Koen de Feyter (Eds.) (2009). International Human Rights Law in a Global Context, pp.237-292. (Bilbao: University of Deusto)