Legal Studies

This course explores the ongoing negotiation of rights and responsibilities in the modern Western world as represented in both fiction and nonfiction works. It teaches how to evaluate and interpret texts using the standard conventions of literary analysis (a solid thesis statement, textual evidence, attribution of citations); identify and discuss strategies used in literary and rhetorical texts to comment upon and find meaning in the world; identify and discuss strategies that are used in literary and rhetorical texts to enact change in the world; and compare the discursive strategies used by thinkers from diverse disciplines to ask questions, interpret evidence, make arguments, and express emotions.

Surveillance is an ever-expanding practice, that criminologists need to be equipped to address and assess. This course explores the many dimensions of surveillance in the management of populations, including crime control. It walks through key surveillance theories, moving from classic models to more recent understandings that take into account new surveillance technologies, as well as practices of resistance to surveillance. Core themes include the relation between the surveillant and the surveilled; different forms of surveillance in many contexts, as well as the actors and tools involved; surveillance as crime control and how it influences police work; and the societal effects and the politics of surveillance. Each session combines theoretical concepts and relevant empirical case studies of surveillance practices and considers readings from criminology, critical security studies, media studies, as well as science and technology studies.

The course critically reviews the prominent contemporary debates over the concepts of the essence and protection of human rights. It looks at the theory, practical determinations, and limitations of these debates. 

This course engages students with international affairs through the study of the legal frameworks which govern them, situating those frameworks within the material and cultural context of international politics. Focusing on controversial and significant issues in contemporary international politics, including recent examples of the use of force, international economic integration and the promotion and protection of human rights and the environment, students actively engage in these topics through key readings, role-plays, and question and answer sessions. Students study the structure and operation of the international legal order, having explored focused case studies including the war on terror, the international legal prohibition against torture, and the use of force in Iraq, Libya, and Syria.

This course examines the basic theoretical knowledge of the legal norms and ethical norms of news dissemination, carries out research on important legal and ethical issues that have emerged in the current practice of news communication in China through a combination of theories and case studies, helps students to learn, use, and obey news laws and ethics, so that they can not only conform to the characteristics of the Internet era, but also use relevant theoretical knowledge to analyze practical problems. Through the course, students will be trained and improve their legal literacy; maintain the right of news dissemination; fulfill the obligation of news dissemination; and observe the professional ethics of journalism.

This course includes the following topics: legal basis and legal thinking; overview of Chinese and foreign news communication laws and regulations; news communication activities and national security; news communication activities and social order; administrative management of news communication; news infringement; news communication activities and reputation protection; news communication activities and privacy protection; advertising message release and management; overview of news ethics; internet rumors and internet governance in China; internet governance and freedom of expression; internet and copyright infringement; Internet and personal information rights protection; Internet industry innovation and compliance research; financial information disclosure misrepresentation and insider trading, etc. ; maintain the authenticity of news; "hidden interviews"; prohibit news sensation, hype, and vulgarity; supervision of public opinion and "news trials"; prohibit "paid news", "paid negligence" and news blackmail.