Admission requirements
Required course(s):
- Introduction to Socio-legal Studies
Description
While the rise of human rights regimes across the world is evident, the extent to which these regimes are accessible and effective is less clear. This course examines issues concerning the proliferation, practice, and effectiveness of human rights, access to justice, and the translation and appropriation of human rights by various actors. What do human rights mean to people in practice? Who can and who cannot invoke them? What type of obstacles do practitioners and policy makers face in promoting human rights compliance? What type of strategies can we think of to overcome these obstacles? A large proportion of the course is dedicated to understanding the practical dilemmas associated with human rights programming – especially in contexts marked by weak rule of law, insecurity, low legal literacy or widespread discrimination – and how these might be overcome. Building on socio-legal theories, we seek to understand under what conditions and in what ways human rights can become effective tools for citizens to improve their lives. In order to develop concrete practical solutions, students willl develop a policy paper that addresses a concrete human rights issue and proposes a solution to this problem.
Course Objectives
At the end of this course, you should be able to:
Explain the evolution of human rights, and the interaction of processes in norm-setting,
compliance and enforcement at the local, national and supranational levels;Explain the roles played by human rights in different social contexts, notably in societies
where customary and religious law are important;Illustrate how access to justice tools and approaches can be used to promote human
rights and overcome obstacles to realizing human rights;Assess strengths and weaknesses of strategies to promote social justice via the casting
of social and political problems into human rights language;Devise strategies for promoting particular human rights, including by drawing on different
theories of diffusion or uptake.
You will gain the following practical skills from taking this course:
Oral advocacy skills
Ability to organize and chair a debate
Academic paper writing
Ability to work effectively in a group
Timetable
Timetables for courses offered at Leiden University College in 2025-2026 will be published on this page of the e-Prospectus.
Mode of instruction
This course will be based on a combination of short lectures, group discussions and group presentations. The course will take place synchronously during bi-weekly seminars.
Assessment Method
15% In-class participation
10% 2 short response papers
10% 1 mini-essay (in class)
20% Pitch of policy paper (group)
30% Final policy paper and reflection (60% group + 40% individual critical reflection)
Reading list
Marks, Stephen M. 2016. Human Rights: A Brief Introduction.
Merry, S.E., 2008. Transnational Human Rights and Local Activism: Mapping the Middle. American Anthropologist 108, 38–51.
Mutua, Makau. 2001. “Savages, Victims, and Saviors: The Metaphor of Human Rights.” Harvard International Law Journal 42: 201.
Picq, M. L. 2012. Between the dock and a hard place: Hazards and opportunities of legal pluralism for indigenous women in Ecuador. Latin American Politics and Society, 54(2), 1-33.
Risse, T., Sikkink, K., 1999. Human rights norms into domestic practices: introduction, in: The Power of Human Rights: International Norms and Domestic Change. Cambridge University Press.
Registration
Courses offered at Leiden University College (LUC) are usually only open to LUC students and LUC exchange students. Leiden University students who participate in one of the university’s Honours tracks or programmes may register for one LUC course, if availability permits. Registration is coordinated by the Education Coordinator, course.administration@luc.leidenuniv.nl.
Contact
Dr. Lisa Harms, l.harms@law.leidenuniv.nl
Remarks
The reading list is indicative. A complete list of readings will be provided with the syllabus shortly before the beginning of the course.