LJS 345 - Mass Atrocity, Human Rights, and International Law

FDR: HU
Credits: 4

Prerequisite: Junior or senior standing. This course is designed to benefit students with an interest in law school and/or international relations and also those with no plans to pursue law school or international relations work but who are keen to catch a view of both of these areas. This interdisciplinary course reflects upon the place of law and justice in societies that have endured or inflicted systemic human-rights violations. Among the examples we study are Germany, the former Yugoslavia, Japan, Czech Republic, Poland, Rwanda, Sudan, Iraq, Uganda, Cambodia, Syria, South Africa, Congo, ISIS, Sierra Leone, and the United States. A related aim is to consider what sorts of legal responses are suitable to deal with perpetrators of mass atrocity. Individuals commit the acts that cumulatively lead to mass atrocity, but the connived nature of the violence implicates questions of collective responsibility. While our instinct may be to prosecute guilty individuals, are other responses more appropriate? What do victims and their families want? Mark Drumbl.