Module LAWM114 for 2017/8
- Overview
- Aims and Learning Outcomes
- Module Content
- Indicative Reading List
- Assessment
Postgraduate Module Descriptor
LAWM114: Post-Conflict Governance, Rule of Law and Justice
This module descriptor refers to the 2017/8 academic year.
Module Aims
You will gain a deeper understanding of post-conflict governance, security and justice, including an increased awareness of current developments and areas of disagreement. The course offers a highly practical insight into how international law is applied in post-conflict/crisis and transitional environments, which is aimed at stimulation of a vibrant discussion of key contemporary challenges in the context of international development.
| On successfully completing the programme you will be able to: | |
|---|---|
| Module-Specific Skills | 1. Demonstrate comprehensive knowledge of the rules of international law governing the post-conflict/crisis rule of law, security and governance, including detailed knowledge of the core legal concepts applicable in this area and their contextual/social/political implications. 2. Demonstrate critical understanding of the contemporary challenges facing the stabilization and peacebuilding in young democracies. |
| Discipline-Specific Skills | 3. Develop, apply and critically assess international legal arguments, using a wide range of appropriate primary materials and advanced scholarship. 4. Demonstrate critical understanding of the relationship between the different branches and sources of rules of law, including potential norm conflicts, and between legal and non-legal considerations impacting on legal argument and advice. |
| Personal and Key Skills | 5. Identify, retrieve and use efficiently and autonomously a range of library-based and electronic resources. 6. Identify, retrieve and use efficiently and autonomously a range of library-based and electronic resources. 7. Communicate and engage in debate effectively and accurately, orally and in writing, in a manner appropriate to the discipline. |
Module Content
Syllabus Plan
Whilst the module’s precise content may vary from year to year, it is envisaged that the syllabus will cover some or all of the following topics:
- Introduction to the concept of stabilisation operations and its legal underpinnings in post- crisis and transitional environments;
- Safe and secure environment in integrated military-civil effort- legal challenges;
- Rule of Law and post-conflict judiciary, law enforcement and prison administration;
- Transitional justice and dealing with conflict- related crimes,
- Right of return and post-conflict resettlement;
- Stable governance: involving legal aspects of the creation and functioning of effective State institutions encompassing legislative, executive and judicial division of powers,
- Going forward: regulation of free and responsible media, fair and independent elections and robust civil society;
- Law and sustainable economy;
- Vulnerable groups: legal protection of minorities; ensuring access to justice for women;
- Role of international, regional and national organisations in advancement of rule of law, in peace building process and stabilisation effort.
Learning and Teaching
This table provides an overview of how your hours of study for this module are allocated:
| Scheduled Learning and Teaching Activities | Guided independent study | Placement / study abroad |
|---|---|---|
| 33 | 267 |
...and this table provides a more detailed breakdown of the hours allocated to various study activities:
| Category | Hours of study time | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Scheduled Learning and Teaching Activity | 30 | Seminars (10 x 3 hours) |
| Scheduled Learning and Teaching Activity | 3 | Exercise: this activity will take place over two days and simulate a command post exercise to provide you with an opportunity to apply your knowledge in a practical setting. |
| Guided Independent Study | 24 | Preparation of seminar essay paper: for each seminar at least one student will research and write a paper on the seminar topic, presenting it to the rest of the group. |
| Guided Independent Study | 200 | Assigned seminar readings (including for the seminar paper). |
| Guided Independent Study | 40 | Preparation of the assessed/summative essay. |
| Guided Independent Study | 3 | Preparation for the exercise. |
Online Resources
This module has online resources available via ELE (the Exeter Learning Environment).
Lawfare (blog): https://www.lawfareblog.com/
Just Security (blog): https://www.justsecurity.org/
Opinio Juris (blog): http://opiniojuris.org/
How this Module is Assessed
In the tables below, you will see reference to 'ILO's. An ILO is an Intended Learning Outcome - see Aims and Learning Outcomes for details of the ILOs for this module.
Formative Assessment
A formative assessment is designed to give you feedback on your understanding of the module content but it will not count towards your mark for the module.
| Form of assessment | Size of the assessment (eg length / duration) | ILOs assessed | Feedback method |
|---|---|---|---|
| Seminar essay forming the basis of a presentation to the group, which is formatively assessed and does not count towards the end-of-module summative assessment | 1,000 words | 1-7 | Individual written and collective oral feedback from the module convenor and the seminar group. |
| Individual oral seminar presentation to the seminar group on the basis of the seminar paper as prepared and submitted to the class | 15-30 minutes | 1-7 | Individual and collective oral feedback from the module convenor and the seminar group. |
| Individual and group work forming part of a simulated command post exercise | 1,000 words | 1-7 | Individual and collective oral feedback from the module convenor and the exercise participants. |
Summative Assessment
A summative assessment counts towards your mark for the module. The table below tells you what percentage of your mark will come from which type of assessment.
| Coursework | Written exams | Practical exams |
|---|---|---|
| 100 | 0 | 0 |
...and this table provides further details on the summative assessments for this module.
| Form of assessment | % of credit | Size of the assessment (eg length / duration) | ILOs assessed | Feedback method |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Written essay | 100 | 7,500 words | 1-7 | Written with percentage grade |
Re-assessment
Re-assessment takes place when the summative assessment has not been completed by the original deadline, and the student has been allowed to refer or defer it to a later date (this only happens following certain criteria and is always subject to exam board approval). For obvious reasons, re-assessments cannot be the same as the original assessment and so these alternatives are set. In cases where the form of assessment is the same, the content will nevertheless be different.
| Original form of assessment | Form of re-assessment | ILOs re-assessed | Timescale for re-assessment |
|---|---|---|---|
| Written essay | Essay (7,500 words) | 1-7 | August/September re-assessment period |
Re-assessment notes
Students resubmitting their essay will have to choose a different topic and/or title from the essay(s) that they submitted originally.
Indicative Reading List
This reading list is indicative - i.e. it provides an idea of texts that may be useful to you on this module, but it is not considered to be a confirmed or compulsory reading list for this module.
T. Bingham, The Rule of Law (2010)
J. Raz, ‘The Rule of Law and Its Virtue’, Law Quarterly Review 93 (1977), 195-211
R Buchanan & P.Zumbasen (Eds.), Law in Transition (2016, paperback)
DFID, FCO& MOD: Building Stability Overseas Strategy ( 2011)
MOD, Shaping a Stable World: the Military Contribution, Joint Doctrine Publication 05 (JDP 05), March 2016
UN Report of Secretary- General on the Rule of Law and Transitional Justice in Conflict and Post-Conflict Societies, UN Doc S/2004/616 (2004)
OECD Development Assistance Committee Guidelines: International Support to Post-Conflict Transition, (2012)
