Self-determination and Minority Rights (GED70033)

General information

Type:	OP	Curs:	4	Period:	S semester
ECTS Credits:	5 ECTS

Teaching Staff:

Group	Teacher	Department	Language
	Núria González Campañá	Derecho	ENG

Constitutional Law and International Public Law

Constitutional Law and International Public Law

Workload distribution:
Activities:
- In-class activities: 50%
- Independent study: 50%

This course explores the evolution of the concepts of self-determination and minority rights from the nineteenth century to the present. The focus is on changing legal norms, including interpretation of the principle of self-determination by the League of Nations and United Nations and the protection of the rights of ethnic, religious, and linguistic minorities. The seminar will also adopt a case-study perspective.

Specifically, this course contributes to Bachelor in Law students' development in two ways:

a) Furthering their knowledge of Constitutional Law. The comparative method allows students to improve their understanding of their own system's foundations and traits;
b) Giving a greater understanding of the self-determination processes in the last century.

The student will be capable of:

1) Understanding the evolution of concepts such as self-determination and minority rights;
2) Familiarising themselves with the use of comparative law techniques in the constitutional law sector;
2) Analysing from a legal-constitutional point a range of self-determination processes.

19. Teamwork and collaboration

25. Change management

1. Syllabus 1. The right to self-determination under international law: a. Self-determination during the era of the League of Nations; b. The role of the United Nations in transforming a political principle into a rule of law; c. Process of decolonization. Case study: Hong Kong; d. Does the right of self-determination include the right of secession? Link between human rights and self-determination. Case studies: Northern Ireland and Kosovo; e. How constitutional law has adopted the right to self-determination. Case studies: Ethiopia and Canada. 2. Minority rights: a. Equal citizenship; b. Non-discrimination and equality of opportunity in economic and social activities; c. Right to enjoy one¿s own culture and practice one¿s own religion; d. Political representation and participation; e. Case studies: Israeli-Palestinians in Israel and multinational federations. 3. Is there a right to self-determination under EU law? Case studies: Scotland and Catalonia

The first part of the course will be focusing on exploring specific concepts.

Then, the decisive element of the class will be discussions of case studies analysis previously submitted to the class together with (should it be necessary) a series of readings that help undertake the case study analysis.

ASSESSMENT BREAKDOWN

- Hurst Hannum and Eileen F. Babbitt (ed.), Negotiating Self-determination, 2006, Lexington Books.

- Allen Buchanan, Secession: the Morality of Political Divorce from Fort Sumter to Lithuania and Quebec, 1991, Westview Press.

- Hurst Hannum, Autonomy, Sovereignty, and Self-determination. The accomodation of conflicting rights, 1996, University of Pennsylvania Press.

- David Haljan, Constitutionalising secession, 2014, Hart Publishing.

Group	Teacher	Department
	Núria González Campañá	Derecho