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Lecturer(s)
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Dušek Vlastimil, Mgr. PhD.
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Course content
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The course will be divided into the following thematic areas: 1. Legality of the use of force under the UN Charter: What wars are prohibited under the UN Charter? What is aggression? When and why can the Security Council decide about the use force? When can States invoke self-defence? Can a State defend itself against an act of self-defence? 2. Legality and legitimacy of the use of force outside the UN Charter framework: Can a State attack another State as a preventive measure or to punish it? Can a State be attacked in order to protect its population from human rights violations (humanitarian intervention)? Can such actions be legal? Can they be legitimate? 3. Protection of persons in war: When and why is it permissible to kill soldiers in war? Is killing civilians always a crime? Can it be justified in any way? Do members of both the attacking and the attacked party enjoy the same level of protection? Why is this so? 4. Ethics of war: Why did our ancestors consider some wars to be just? Can they be considered just now? What is the relevance of just war ethics to contemporary international law? Can it be used to justify aggression? What other ethical criteria can be used to judge what is good or bad in relation to war?
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Learning activities and teaching methods
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Lecture supplemented with a discussion, Textual studies
- Contact hours
- 26 hours per semester
- Preparation for an examination (30-60)
- 52 hours per semester
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| prerequisite |
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| Knowledge |
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| Students must have a good command of English in order to understand the texts we will be working with in class. |
| Competences |
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| N/A |
| N/A |
| N/A |
| N/A |
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| learning outcomes |
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| Knowledge |
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| The course will enable students to become familiar with the international law governing the use of force, to apply the norms to historical and contemporary wars, to reflect on the ethical issues related to the use of force, and to gain an overview of the armed conflicts that surround us. |
| Competences |
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| N/A |
| N/A |
| N/A |
| teaching methods |
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| Knowledge |
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| Lecture |
| Seminar |
| Textual studies |
| Skills |
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| Lecture |
| Seminar |
| Textual studies |
| Competences |
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| Lecture |
| Seminar |
| Textual studies |
| assessment methods |
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| Knowledge |
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| Oral exam |
| Continuous assessment |
| Skills |
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| Oral exam |
| Continuous assessment |
| Competences |
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| Oral exam |
| Continuous assessment |
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Recommended literature
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Dinstein, D. War, Aggression and Self-Defence. 6. vyd.. Cambridge University Press, 2017.
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Frowe, H. The Ethics of War and Peace. An Introduction.. Routledge, 2023.
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Lazar, S.,Frowe, H. (eds.). The Oxford Handbook of Ethics of War. Oxford University, 2021.
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Weller, M. (ed.). The Oxford Handbook of the Use of Force in International Law.. Oxford University Press, 2017.
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