HUMR5131 – Human Rights in History, Philosophy and Politics
Course description
Schedule, syllabus and examination date
Course content
This course provides an introduction to the history, philosophy and politics of human rights. It offers a presentation of the historical evolution of the modern human rights system and examines philosophical positions and debates about the concept of human rights and the legitimacy and justification of universal human rights, as well as critiques from philosophical and social sciences perspectives.
The students will examine human rights commitment, compliance and contestation in international relations, discuss human rights practices in different regime types, and explore the grounding of human rights in different cultures and normative traditions.
Learning outcome
After having completed this course the student will have acquired detailed knowledge about:
- the historical evolution of the modern human rights system
- the most important debates in the philosophy of human rights, including debates about different concepts of human rights, about the justification of human rights and about the legitimacy of human rights
- the status, functions and uses of human rights in international relations
- the implementation and promotion of human rights in today’s nation-states
After having completed this course the student will have the skills to:
- evaluate the strengths and weaknesses of different theories of human rights
- Justify human right claims and critically assess proposed justifications of human rights
- Assess the legitimacy of human right institutions
- analyse and understand the variation in human rights compliance across the world
- identify the main challenges in promoting and implementing human rights in different countries and regions as well as in different societal sectors
- understand the strong and weak sides of solving societal problems through human rights analysis and implementation
Having completed this course the student will have the general competence to:
- Critically assess and use academic literature on human rights from philosophy and social science
Admission to the course
The course is reserved for students enrolled in the master programme Theory and Practice of Human Rights. This course is not available for single course students.
Students who are admitted to study programmes at UiO must each semester register which courses and exams they wish to sign up for in Studentweb.
Recommended previous knowledge
Students with no background in human rights studies are strongly advised to prepare in advance the recommended readings.
Overlapping courses
- 10 credits overlap with HUMR4140 – Introduction to Human Rights Law (discontinued).
- 10 credits overlap with HUMR5130 – Introduction to the History, Philosophy and Politics of Human Rights (discontinued).
Teaching
Lectures and seminars with active student participation.
Examination
Students are graded on the basis of a written home exam and a written midterm exam submission.
Maximum length for written home exam is 4000 words. Maximum length for written midterm exam is 2500 words. Front page, contents page (optional) and bibliography are not included. If footnotes are used in the text (at the bottom of each page), they are included in the word limits.
Papers that exceed the word limit will not be accepted.
You must familiarize yourself with the rules that apply to exam support materials, and the use of sources and citations. If you violate these rules, you may be suspected of cheating or attempted cheating. You can read about what the university considers cheating, and the consequences of cheating here.
Examination support material
All available exam resources are allowed when answering this exam. Rules for source referencing are crucial for determining whether the use of resources is permitted.
Your exam paper must be an independent work. Exam candidates are not permitted to communicate with other persons about the exam question(s) or distribute draft answers or exam answers.
Language of examination
The examination text is given in English, and you submit your response in English.
Grading scale
Home exam: Grades are awarded on a scale from A to F, where A is the best grade and F is a fail. Read more about the grading system.
Midterm exam: Grades are awarded on a pass/fail scale. Read more about the grading system.
Marking criteria
This guide is used by examiners for grading this course.
Resit an examination
It is possible to take this exam up to 3 times. If you withdraw from the exam after the deadline or during the exam, this will be counted as an examination attempt. Students who wish to retake the exam in a later semester are not guaranteed that the course is ever repeated with a similar reading list, nor that the exam arrangement will be the same.
More about examinations at UiO
- Use of sources and citations
- Special exam arrangements due to individual needs
- Withdrawal from an exam
- Illness at exams / postponed exams
- Explanation of grades and appeals
- Resitting an exam
- Cheating/attempted cheating
You will find further guides and resources at the web page on examinations at UiO.