3 ECTS
This course is designed as a comprehensive foundation course introducing and explaining the key concepts of banking and financial markets and covering regulatory, supervisory and transactional areas from Latvian and European perspective providing an insight into the interaction between financial law and business practice. While an emphasis is placed on a step-by-step review of each subject-matter, the theoretical part is supplemented with practical exercises enabling students to strengthen their legal skills in selecting, interpreting and applying respective legal acts and norms.
Teacher: Jaroslaw Beldowski
3 ECTS
Today environmental issues are a
matter of topical debate as well as pivotal pillar of the EU policies based on
the Green Deal for a sustainable growth and green transition. The course
“Environmental Law and Policy” allows postgraduate students to gather a sound
understanding of the law and policy issues related to the area of environmental
protection as stems from EU and international law. Environmental law is not a
straightforward subject to either study or practice. There is much to think
about in relation to how environmental problems are understood, and what
solutions are offered to address them through legal frameworks, and how those
frameworks apply to a particular environmental problem. The course will focus
on the EU legal order established for the environmental protection, including Treaty
principles, the adopted legislation and the EU court practice in the area environmental
law. The course will survey the fundamentals of EU environmental law, as well
as the most relevant legal measures that help to implement, enforce and apply
it at EU-level and where relevant at national level for exemplifying. The
course will pursue a balanced approach between discussions on theory and practice
focusing on the case law of the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU)
and national courts whenever relevant.
3 ECTS
The course examines international standards and implementation and monitoring activities related to business and human rights. Special attention will be paid to the work of the UN Special Representative on business and human rights and the UN Working Group on the issue of human rights and multinational corporations (MNC). In addition, it analyses issues of legal personality of MNCs under international law, judicial and quasi-judicial responses to liability of MNCs for human rights violations, and the human rights of companies.
Teacher: Jernej Letnar Černič
Teacher: George Ulrich
3ECTS
The course offers a combination of criminological and socio-legal analysis of cybercrime together with a wider understanding of important cybersecurity issues. Initially, the course will focus on cybercrime and will provide an in depth understanding of the different types of cybercrime and online deviance from hacking and hacktivism to cyberstalking, online fraud and online piracy. During these sessions, we will discuss cybercriminal practices and techniques, relevant legal developments and practical challenges in terms of dealing with these crimes. Moreover, the course will look at the practical and ethical principles relating to digital forensic investigations that relate to the uncovering and prosecuting of cybercrimes and other crimes involving digital evidence.
Subsequently the course will focus on important cybersecurity issues such as organisational risk management and incident response mechanisms and will also offer an analysis of the phenomenon of cyberwarfare, which is has generated heated discussions in terms of attribution of cyberattacks and also regarding the mitigation of the impact of such attacks. Finally, the course will close with a forward-looking overview of the future of digital crime, as it will be facilitated by the development of the Internet of Things, where extensive interconnectivity of a multitude of device and the immediate processing of huge amounts of data will change the ways crime is committed and policed.
Teacher: Vasileios Karagiannopoulos
3 ECTS
We start with the principles of Markowitz theory, i.e. discuss the benefits and limitations of financial risk diversification and prepare the ground for the Value-at-Risk concept which is introduced in the second part of the course.
Using the no arbitrage argument, the complexity of financial
markets will be explained, followed by technical means to insure against a
“bad” development of the currency exchange rate. The first part of the lecture
closes with the theory of comparative cost advantages and some conclusions
which can be derived for Latvia.
We continue to analyse the risk exposure in the Global and
European financial markets, followed by the description of the complexity of
risk management in the financial industry. We follow the historic development
of the Basel-Regime and drill down risk management techniques to the 4 sectors
of the financial industry: banking, insurance, asset management and real
estate.
Teacher: Dirk Linowski
3ECTS
This course is about challenges and opportunities posed by digital technologies. The 20th Century brought about three main technological changes: first, computerization – the drive to put a computer on every person, in every classroom, in every home, and in every office. Second, digitization and the move from things made of atoms to things made of bits; and second, the convergence among digital devices. The 21st Century has brought about a third technological change: datafication: the process of turning data into something of value. Understandably, these digital developments have created challenges, problems, and opportunities. This class addresses all three of these.
Teacher: Mark Leiser
This course provides students with an introduction to core topics of international criminal law by offering a critical analysis of its guiding principles, actors, theories and practice.
The course in particular addresses the origins and evolution of international criminal law until the establishment of the International Criminal Court, the key features both of international crimes and ad hoc and hybrid tribunals, the position of victims and the relation between retributive and restorative justice. The current debate surrounding penology of mass atrocities is covered too. Due attention is paid to issues of particular topicality such as gender based crimes and child soldiers.
The course is articulated in lectures which are designed as the combination of teacher-centred teaching and student-centred group discussions. During the lectures the module convenor will introduce a particular subject of international criminal law. Then the students will have group discussions and interactive activities to discuss the topics that were introduced by the lecturer. This will enable students to strengthen their understanding and to develop an individual and critical perspective towards the topic. For this reason, students are strongly encouraged to actively participate in lectures come prepared to make informed contributions in each meeting. Students are expected to prepare in advance for classes relying on the detailed list of weekly readings provided (both mandatory and suggested).
Teacher: Gizem Guney
3 ECTS
To describe and analyse the EU in the context of economic integration. The European project’s two main features in the context of economic integration are the Single Market (Internal Market) and the Single Currency (the Economic and Monetary Union/the Eurozone). These may be seen as facilitating the idea of “one” Europe: One market, one currency. The course aims at analysing the benefits and drawbacks of these ideas, not least in the context of imperfect integration. The main focus will be on the economics of the EU but the course will add a political dimension, too.
Teacher: Olga Lielkalne
