IR464 Half Unit
The Politics of International Human Rights
This information is for the 2025/26 session.
Course Convenor
Sinja Graf
Availability
This course is available on the MSc in China in Comparative Perspective, MSc in Human Rights, MSc in Human Rights and Politics, MSc in International Relations, MSc in International Relations (LSE and Sciences Po), MSc in International Relations (Research), MSc in Political Science (Global Politics) and MSc in Theory and History of International Relations. This course is not available as an outside option to students on other programmes. This course uses controlled access as part of the course selection process.
All International Relations (IR4) optional courses at LSE are Controlled Access and require an application via LfY. Students must include a statement in their LfY application of no more than 200 words explaining their interest in the course and its relevance to their academic and career goals.
Application deadline: 12:00 noon, Friday 26 September 2025.
Notification of outcome: by 12:00 noon, Monday 29 September 2025.
After this date, students should consult the MSc Course Availability Spreadsheet for remaining spaces on IR4-level courses.
For further details, see the LSE Selecting Courses webpage in the first instance or contact IR.Programmes@lse.ac.uk only if necessary.
Course content
Human rights remain a hegemonic global vocabulary with which to criticize political and social problems across the fields of diplomacy, journalism, activism, policy making and warfare. At the same time, the ideas and histories animating human rights and the consequences of their implementation remain embroiled in dispute. This theory-focused module engages with scholarly critiques of key issues relating to human rights. This course examines the ideational foundations and historical origins of human rights and explores critiques of common themes in human rights discourse. The course also studies human rights in relation to, respectively, gender, racialization, humanitarianism and Third World Approaches to International Law. The course also engages questions arising from the relationship between human rights and international criminal law and from current debates about colonial reparations.
Teaching
15 hours of seminars and 10 hours of lectures in the Winter Term.
This course has a reading week in Week 6 of Winter Term.
Formative assessment
Essay outline of 1500-2000 words with annotated bibliography in the WT. The formative essay outline provides students with an opportunity to write an essay outline and receive feedback to support their preparation for the summative essay.
Indicative reading
- Forsythe, David. Human Rights in International Relations. 4th edn. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2018.
- Kapur, Ratna. Gender, Alterity and Human Rights: Freedom in a Fishbowl. Cheltenham: Edward Elgar, 2018
- Kinsella, Helen. The Image before the Weapon. A Critical History of the Distinction between Combatant and Civilian. Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 2011
- Orford, Anna (ed). International Law and Its Others. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2006
- Moyn, Samuel. The Last Utopia. Human Rights in History. Boston: Harvard University Press, 2010
- Anghie, Antony. Imperialism, Sovereignty, and the Making of International Law. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2005
- Fassin, Didier. Humanitarian Reason: A Moral History of the Present Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2012
Assessment
Essay (100%, 4000 words)
Key facts
Department: International Relations
Course Study Period: Winter Term
Unit value: Half unit
FHEQ Level: Level 7
CEFR Level: Null
Total students 2024/25: Unavailable
Average class size 2024/25: Unavailable
Controlled access 2024/25: NoCourse selection videos
Some departments have produced short videos to introduce their courses. Please refer to the course selection videos index page for further information.
Personal development skills
- Self-management
- Team working
- Application of information skills
- Communication
- Specialist skills