UE History of Human Rights: From Domestic to International Protection of the Individual

This course provides students with basic knowledge about the history of rights protection. It focuses on the following topics: the invention of the concept of “natural rights” in the 17th century; the way this concept was used to legitimize political revolutions in England, North American British colonies and France; rights protection in modern constitutions (and the development of different national traditions); the crisis of “domestic rights”; the socialist conception of rights protection; the genesis of international human rights law and of regional human rights systems.
Classes will consist of lecture presentations, with questions and discussions by students strongly encouraged. During each class, a group of students will make an oral presentation on a topic chosen from a list given by the teacher during the first class.
Assessment will be based on an oral presentation made in class (50 %) and a final oral examination on a subject drawn by lot (50 %).