Course

Public international law (PIL) is composed of a dynamic combination of law and politics, and is an extremely important discipline and tool through which to we think about – and act upon – the most important issues facing the world. The course aims to present a panorama of public international law, which covers principles and rules that govern the relations between States and their interactions with other international actors, including international organisations. The course is designed to give students a general understanding of the rules governing international relations and, ultimately, provide them with practical skills in legal reasoning and arguing, research and writing on international issues. 

The course will start with an introduction to the international legal order, including an illustration of the specificities of international law as compared to domestic law. It will then focus on core areas of public international law which involve the following questions: Who are the actors in the international legal system and to whom does international law apply? What is the significance of ‘statehood’ under international law and how is it defined? How is international law created and where can it be found? What are the fundamental principles governing international peace and security? Finally, in case of breaches of international rules, how does international law react to such breaches?  

The course will also focus on many key global challenges and how international law is capable or limited in addressing them: the use of force and laws governing armed conflicts, the protection of human rights, accountability for mass atrocities and war crimes, terrorism, climate change and protection of the environment, and new frontiers such outer space, cyberspace and artificial intelligence. The role of international organisations, in particular the United Nations, will be closely analysed. 

The course will be taught by Associate Professor Kevin Chang (JD, LLM, MA, GradDipIntLaw, GradDipLegPrac, BSc), who is a senior advisor on international law and who brings more than 20 years’ experience as a lawyer, advocate and practitioner with the United Nations, the International Committee of the Red Cross, the Australian Government and other organisations. Professor Chang is a Lawyer of the Supreme Court of the Australian Capital Territory. He also teaches at the University of Sydney and the Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies in Geneva. 

The course will adopt a practical, rather than theoretical focus, so that students learn to understand and apply international law on global challenges through research, advocacy and policy-making.  

The first half of the course will be conducted in-person on campus, the second online. Students will be expected to read the prescribed reading material in advance, submit reflection notes and participate in class discussions. The course assumes students will already have a solid appreciation of international politics. Due to the nature of legal concepts and lexicon, this course is suitable for students who have an advanced level of English proficiency.

Our seminars offer multi-disciplinary perspectives both on institutions and jurisprudences, addressing controversial issues and important debates. Our aim is to bridge international and national dialogues and encourage students to observe conflicting interests.

This course is co-organized by the College of Law and the Department of Political Science, with Prof. Yao-ming Hsu and Prof. Vivianne Weng taking turns hosting each seminar. In view of students’ pragmatic needs for their future careers, Chinese Mandarin will be used as a supporting language for our discussions.

Today our world is constantly becoming more interconnected and globalized. Public health issues, such as infectious diseases, non-communicable diseases, accidents, are therefore no longer be purely national or regional problems; instead, they have been dealt with under a more global, integrated, multidisciplinary approach.

This course is designed to empower students, the future policy-makers and practitioners, how to analyze and deal with issues of global health. Each week, a topic related to global health governance, such as medicine access and patent protection, health data and privacy, health system and primary care, international health law, and health organization, are been introduced by the instructor(s) or guest speaker(s).  

By the end of this course, in the last two weeks, the course will execute a simulated public health emergency under the World Health Organization framework (WHO Simulation). The simulation will include students from this class and invite outside experts, civil society, and journalists to participate in. Students will be divided into four to five countries and assigned roles as key legal, policy, and public health decision-makers to respond to each scenario of the simulation. This simulation will help students to organize what they learn from each class and topic, and to learn cooperating with people with different backgrounds and positions. It shall help students to prepare the knowledge and skills in the globalization era.

“Global Issues in Asia” offers undergraduate students an exploration of major global issues within the framework of Asian studies and anthropology. Our journey will delve into the emergence of global issues within Asian societies and the diverse responses to key challenges such as inequality, precarity, anxiety, ethnic encounters, education, pop culture, information technology, pandemics, and sustainable development. Throughout the course, we will engage with foundational dialogues and emerging themes in Asian studies, examining contemporary ethnographies that trace the evolution of these conversations and concerns. Expect a reading-intensive experience complemented by interactive ethnographic practices during class sessions.

Recent advances in computing may place us at the threshold of a unique turning point in human history. Soon we are likely to entrust management of our environment, economy, security, infrastructure, food production, healthcare, and to a large degree even our personal activities, to artificially intelligent computer systems.

The prospect of “turning over the keys” to increasingly autonomous systems raises many complex and troubling questions. How will society respond as versatile robots and machine-learning systems displace an ever-expanding spectrum of blue- and white-collar workers? Will the benefits of this technological revolution be broadly distributed or accrue to a lucky few? How can we ensure that these systems respect our ethical principles when they make decisions at speeds and for rationales that exceed our ability to comprehend? What, if any, legal rights and responsibilities should we grant them? And should we regard them merely as sophisticated tools or as a newly emerging form of life?

Recent advances in computing may place us at the threshold of a unique turning point in human history. Soon we are likely to entrust management of our environment, economy, security, infrastructure, food production, healthcare, and to a large degree even our personal activities, to artificially intelligent computer systems.

The prospect of “turning over the keys” to increasingly autonomous systems raises many complex and troubling questions. How will society respond as versatile robots and machine-learning systems displace an ever-expanding spectrum of blue- and white-collar workers? Will the benefits of this technological revolution be broadly distributed or accrue to a lucky few? How can we ensure that these systems respect our ethical principles when they make decisions at speeds and for rationales that exceed our ability to comprehend? What, if any, legal rights and responsibilities should we grant them? And should we regard them merely as sophisticated tools or as a newly emerging form of life?