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 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 analyses 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 moot court simulations 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, extremists, political activists etc by applying these concepts to fictitious case studies.
Timetable
On the Public Administration front page of the E-guide you will find links to the website and timetables, uSis and Blackboard.
Mode of instruction
Seven seminars including guest lectures and a Moot Court.
Attendance is compulsory.
Course Load
Total study load 140 hours
contact hours: 21
self-study hours: reading, preparing (guest)lectures, assignments:119
Assessment method
Quality of participation during classes and the written Moot Court Assignment (equals 20% of the total grade).
Written exam (equals 80% of the total grade).
Failed partial grades weighing less than 30% should be compensated by a passed partial grade weighing more than 30%. The calculated grade must be at least 5,50 in order to pass the course.
You can find more information about assessments and the timetable exams on the website.
Details for submitting papers (deadlines) are posted on Blackboard.
On the Public Administration front page of the E-guide you will find links to the website, uSis and Blackboard.
The resit exam takes the same form.
Resit
Students will be permitted to resit an examination if they have a mark lower than 5.5 or with permission of the Board of Examiners.
Resit written exam
Students that want to take part in a resit for a written exam, are required to register via uSis. Use the activity number that can be found on the ‘timetable exams’.
Blackboard
Yes, course will be available one week in advance.
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 here.
Contact
q.a.m.eijkman@fgga.leidenuniv.nl
(contact hours after class)