Short Course: War in Ukraine in Context: History, Politics and Law

Course Details

The course offers interdisciplinary overview of prerequisites, current trends and future scenarios of the War in Ukraine. The course will enable participants to understand the reasons of the conflict and to find political and legal solutions to combat its consequences and to restore trust in international law and justice. Over the course of five sessions, participants will gain knowledge about the history of Ukraine as an independent nation, understand the foundations of the political and legal systems of Ukraine since 1991, its relations with the international community including the UK, EU, NATO and Russia, character of warfare from perspective of international law and its consequences for international legal order.

By the end of the course participants will:

• Acquire the fundamentals of the history of Ukraine before and after its independence in 1991;
• Have a knowledge of political and legal systems of modern Ukraine;
• Gain an understanding of Ukraine's external relations, including bilateral relations with Russia, the EU and the UK;
• Comprehend prerequisites of Russian annexation of Crimea and war in the East of Ukraine in 2014 and consequent invasion of Ukraine in 2022;
• Clarify the character of warfare (hot and hybrid) in Ukraine, its consequence for international law and security, to project future formats of international responsibility and justice for international crimes committed in Ukraine.

 
Indicative course topics:

• Historical context of Russia's invasion of Ukraine. Fundamentals of Ukraine's political and legal systems, evolution of legal reforms in Ukraine;
  
• Relevant external relations including:
  o Ukraine-EU / Russia-EU
  o Ukraine-NATO / Russia-NATO;
  o Ukraine-UK / Russia-UK;

• Aggression, invasion, hybrid warfare and lawfare: Legal and political aspects of Russia's war against Ukraine from 2014 till recent;
  
• Ukraine's international justice responses to Russia's aggression;
• Ukraine's domestic justice responses to Russia's aggression.

Download the programme 

Course leaders

Prof. Roman Petrov, British Academy Research Fellow, BIICL and Dr. Kateryna Busol, British Academy Research Fellow, BIICL

Who is the course for?

This course is ideal for those working in law, policy and practice relevant to the war in Ukraine including civil servants, legal practitioner, those working in NGOs and civil society organisations, journalists and media representatives as well as independent experts and students.

Course format

The virtual course format will consist of a series of 5 sessions in which live (synchronous) teaching is offered via Zoom. Participants will be able to interact with the tutors and amongst themselves on screen.

Testimonials from past attendees

"The course did an exceptional job of covering the most relevant part of the war's context in great detail.""
Thank you for such a brilliant course!"

Participants at BIICL short courses are also invited to join exclusive events for trainees following completion of the course.

 Pricing and Registration

The course cost is £300 per person.

Course Discounts

Member discount: 15% discount for individual members of BIICL
Details of individual memberships at BIICL 

Group discounts:

• 15% discount for groups of 3 or more attendees from NGO organisations or staff of government
• 15% discount for groups of 5 or more attendees from commercial organisations

To apply for any of the discounted rates, please Contact Us.

Training scholarships

The British Institute of International and Comparative Law is committed to equality and opportunity in the legal profession and to support greater engagement of under-represented groups in the legal profession.

In our efforts in this regard we are delighted to offer 3 scholarships for each of our short courses to participants from communities and backgrounds currently under-represented in the legal community.

Applications for training scholarships must be received at least three weeks ahead of the course start date (3 April 2024).

Find out more about training scholarships 

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