This seminar is only open to students in the SPRING International Human Rights Clinic.
Co-requisite Clinic: International Human Rights Clinic (2-4 Spring credits). Students must first enroll in the clinic before attempting to enroll in this class.
Early Add/Drop Deadline: January 18, 2013.
LLM Students: This class and its clinic is open to LLM students through an application process.
Over the past 150 years, certain weapons have caused so much human suffering that the international community has taken steps to regulate or ban them. The most important method of disarmament has been treaty law although judicial opinions and national measures have played a role as well. This seminar introduces students to different approaches to disarmament and various means to achieve them.
The seminar begins by identifying the kinds of problems posed by weapons and the need for weapons-specific treaties. It then analyzes three main approaches to disarmament: traditional disarmament, which is driven by national security interests; arms control, especially as it relates to nuclear weapons; and humanitarian disarmament, which focuses on civilian concerns. The seminar considers how to achieve disarmament by discussing different treaty-making processes, strategies for promoting regulations or bans, the intricacies of crafting a convention, and the steps needed to fulfill an adopted treaty's promise. To conclude, the seminar examines new disarmament challenges, asking what types of weapons should be dealt with in the future and how.
In addition to being exposed to the substance and strategies of disarmament, students participate in skills-building exercises, including a fact-finding role play and a treaty negotiation simulation.
A spring clinical practice component is required of all students. Clinical placements are with the International Human Rights Clinic.