Ruth Wedgwood, Director The International Law and Organizations Program seeks to provide a working knowledge of the general principles of international law, covering the capacities of multilateral organizations, and the particular regimes that govern international human rights, international arms control, the limits and use of military force, the law of the sea, regulation of the environment, international health problems, investment and trade. International law should be of interest to students specializing in security studies, international economics and regional studies, as well as those who wish to understand a distinctive mode of thought. The attempt to craft a realistic international law must reconcile what states say and what states do in practice. It must reconcile the formal equality of states with the asymmetry of military power in the world. It must be framed by the realities of international politics, as much as idealism. International law thus is also a proper calling for those who aspire to Machiavellian virtues. International law is a language and method for dispute resolution in controversies between states, in civil war conflicts and in post-conflict recovery, as well as in overseas economic transactions and investment, trade, environmental remediation and other areas. International law influences how nations justify their claims, rebuff their adversaries, build coalitions and negotiate workable compromises. In addition, it is the legal framework that creates and defines the powers of international organizations, allowing a multilateral response to shared problems. The International Relations degree with an International Law and Organizations concentration prepares graduates to work in supporting human rights, strengthening the rule of law, post-conflict reconstruction, environmental cooperation, protection of international investment, negotiation of international trade agreements, protection of humane standards regarding the law of armed conflict, and other areas handled by multilateral organizations and nongovernmental organizations. Students who ultimately wish to practice law as a member of the organized legal bar can apply for a joint degree with a prominent American law school. Campus Options Students studying at the Bologna Center may concentrate in International Law and Organizations. Internships SAIS students have held internships at the U.N. Human Rights Committee in New York and Geneva, the U.N. Department of Peacekeeping Operations, the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda, the U.N. Foundation, and various development organizations and human rights NGOs, including the Foundation for Human Rights Initiatives in Uganda. The program director’s work at the U.N. Human Rights Committee provides a broad network of human rights organizations in developing countries. The program has some financial resources for internship placements and supports its students in seeking supplemental funding. Co-curricular Activities The International Law and Organizations Program has an active luncheon speaker series, featuring policymakers, diplomats and international lawyers involved in current negotiations. The program sponsors an annual student trip to the United Nations in New York for high-level briefings, as well as small-group visits in Washington to the U.S. Supreme Court to hear oral arguments and to the U.S. State Department Legal Adviser’s office. Students have access to the American Society of International Law and its annual Washington, D.C., meeting and the American Bar Association Committee on Law and National Security, which hosts speakers on the law of armed conflict, arms control and counterterrorism. The United States Institute of Peace, the Brookings Institution and the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, all in close proximity to the SAIS campus, also present programs on the United Nations. Ph.D. Program The International Law and Organizations Program occasionally accepts Ph.D. students.
Typical International Law and Organizations Courses
(Click here for the full list of courses) - Comparative Law: The Islamic Legal System
- Foreign Affairs Powers Under the U.S. Constitution
- Global Constitutionalism
- International Environmental Law
- International Health Policy
- International Investment Law
- International Protection of Human Rights
- International Trade Law
- International Trafficking in Persons
- Introduction to International Law
- Law of Armed Conflict and War Crimes
- Law of the European Union
- Legal Problems in the Arab-Israeli Peace Process
- Economic Migrants, Refugees and Human Security
- Philip C. Jessup International Moot Court Competition
- Russian Law and the International System
- United Nations and International Security
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