Admission requirements
Only students of the MSc Crisis and Security Management can take this course.
Students will participate on a ‘first come come served’ bases, with a maximum number of participants of 30. At least 8 students must enroll for the course to take place
Description
Security and crisis management without the rule of law puts democratically ruled states at risk. This because social control, including the legitimate monopoly over the use of force, requires proper checks and balances. Yet what constitutes the legal framework for governing security? What are the different roles and responsibilities of institutions that enforce the law, provide for security, ensure safety or tackle crises in a democratic society? And, have (inter)national approaches to security governance significantly changed over the last decade? Practises such as targeted governance, anticipatory justice and risk management increasingly affect how state accountability and human rights compliance is ensured.
This course introduces students to the rule of law framework. From a political and legal-sociological perspective it addresses how political and legal institutions - should - govern security, guarantee safety or handle crises, while simultaneously protecting the rule of law in a democratic society. The students are familiarized with basic concepts and theory used in mainstream socio-legal and security governance literature. Such lines of thought are than expanded to cover the functioning of the rule of law in the field of security and crisis management.
Key theoretical topics include the concept of law and legal systems, the organization of law, access to justice, law making, social control and (alternative) dispute resolution. Students apply the acquired theoretical knowledge to case studies about security governance dilemmas including the distinct roles of law enforcement - and intelligence agencies, incident- and risk management, the development of the information government (i-government) versus surveillance society(s) and the effect of security measures on minority communities.
Course objectives
After the course
- Students will obtain advanced knowledge and understanding of essential concepts of the rule of law in the context of crisis and security management from a theoretical perspective, such as law and legal systems, the organization of law, law making, social control and dispute resolution, in order to define, compare, and analyse the construction of different forms of laws, rules and legal systems,
- Students will obtain advanced knowledge and understanding of the socio-legal studies (social control, social change) about the impact of the rule of law on crisis and security governance in order to identify how conflict is resolved from a legal and non-legal perspective or how different national and international actors use the rule of law to address crisis and security challenges.
- Students will be able to apply knowledge of socio-legal theory to case studies about security governance dilemmas including the distinct roles of law enforcement - and intelligence agencies, incident- and risk management, the development of the information government (i-government) versus the surveillance society and the impact of security measures on minority communities.
- Students will be able to critically evaluate and reflect on empirical studies about rule of law in the context of crisis management and security governance in order to analyse and assess what civil rights and human rights constitute and assess these norms, values and discourse related to security threats and crises.
- Students will be able to form and communicate (legal) arguments by participating in a debate simulation in order to develop presentation and writing skills.
- Students will be able to analyze and apply legal knowledge (such as how a criminal trial in an inquisitorial or adversarial systems functions) to contemporary crisis and security challenges such as the trials of whistle-blowers, alleged extremists, political activists etc by applying these concepts to fictitious case studies.
Timetable
On the right hand side of the programme’s front page of the E-guide you will find links to the website and timetables, uSis and Blackboard.
Mode of instruction
Seven seminars (potentially including guest lectures) and a class debate.
Participation in seminars, discussions and exercises is required in order to obtain a grade. One lecture may be missed. Being absent more than once may likely lead to expulsion from the course.
Course Load
Total study load 140 hours:
contact hours: 21
self-study hours: reading, preparing (guest)lectures, assignments:119
Assessment method
Written Assignment (equals 20% of the total grade).
Written exam (equals 80% of the total grade).
Compensation rule: Only assessments with the weight of 30% and lower are compensable. This means that one does not have to pass an assessment if it weighs less than 30% in order to pass the course, if the average of all assessments combined is at least a 5.5. In addition, assignments with less than 30% are not re-sitable, meaning that if one failed an assessment of less than 30%, one is not allowed to redo it. The resit exam takes the same form.
Blackboard
The corresponding Blackboard course will become available one week prior to the first seminar.
Reading list
A selection of book and articles. To be announced on Blackboard.
Registration
Use both uSis and Blackboard to register for every course.
Register for every course and workgroup via uSis. Some courses and workgroups have a limited number of participants, so register on time (before the course starts). In uSis you can access your personal schedule and view your results. Registration in uSis is possible from four weeks before the start of the course.
Also register for every course in Blackboard. Important information about the course is posted there.
Contact
Dr. E. de Busser block 1 (contact hours after class)