MIR 640 International Law and International Relations examines the role of international law in
international relations (IR), largely to demystify the operation of international law today. This
course highlights the natural law origins of international law, how international law touches
entities beyond the state, and the sense that international law provides the vocabulary for IR. In
this course, students also learn the relationship between international and domestic law and
politics, and the tensions that might exist between IR and international law in areas such as
human rights, environmental concerns, and armed conflicts.
