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Unit of study_
LAWS6119: The State and Global Governance
2025 unit information
How has the COVID-19 pandemic transformed the international order? How is the conflict in Ukraine affecting international law and international relations? How does social media challenge the traditional role of states and international organisations? How would a return of Donald Trump to the US presidency affect the international legal system? These questions all raise issues of global governance, that is, how international affairs are governed on a global scale. They also raise questions about the roles and capacities of individual states within the global order. This unit explores how current systems of global governance operate, the place of states within those systems, and the significance of law to those systems. In doing so, it introduces students to historical and contemporary approaches to understanding the role of law in international affairs, and allows students to consider these in relation to current events of global import. The sorts of questions with which the unit is concerned may include the following: Are systems of global governance lawful? Are they democratic? What is the role of violence in the contemporary global order? How does/should international law seek to address pressing transnational issues, such as poverty, environmental degradation, global health threats and human rights abuses? Refer to Sydney Law School timetable - https://canvas.sydney.edu.au/courses/4533/pages/postgraduate-lecture-timetable
Unit details and rules
Managing faculty or University school:
Sydney Law School
| Study level | Postgraduate |
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| Academic unit | Law |
| Credit points | 6 |
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Prerequisites:
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None |
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Corequisites:
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None |
| Prohibitions:
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None |
| Assumed knowledge:
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None |
At the completion of this unit, you should be able to:
- LO1. explore the governance of international affairs and critically analyse the importance of international law in global governance.
- LO2. critically evaluate the roles and capabilities of states within the context of global governance.
- LO3. analyse assigned texts, including their concerns, arguments, and theoretical strategies, and identify and describe to an advanced level their interconnections.
- LO4. critique assigned texts and present precise evaluations and commentary in written form.
- LO5. construct advanced legal arguments based on primary and secondary sources and communicate them effectively in oral and written form.
- LO6. independently apply relevant legal research methodologies to investigate and present findings from a significance question in global governance theory.
Unit availability
This section lists the session, attendance modes and locations the unit is available in. There is a unit outline for each of the unit availabilities, which gives you information about the unit including assessment details and a schedule of weekly activities.
The outline is published 2 weeks before the first day of teaching. You can look at previous outlines for a guide to the details of a unit.
| Session | MoA ? | Location | Outline ? |
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Intensive November 2025
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Block mode | Camperdown/Darlington, Sydney |
Outline unavailable
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There are no availabilities for previous years.
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Modes of attendance (MoA)
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