3 ECTS
This course introduces students to contracting in the information technology field. We will adopt a practical approach to exploring the fundamentals of how contracts are concluded; issues in cross-border contracting; main types of ICT transactions (distribution, licensing and services agreements); smart contracts and the Blockchain; intellectual property in ICT contracting, non-disclosure and confidentiality clauses, inkless contracts, and contract enforcement.
- Teacher: Agnese Gerharde
3 ECTS
The course provides an overview of international and European human rights regimes, including the main standards and protection mechanisms. The course is structured in two parts. The first part introduces UN human rights system and examines the two Covenants and mechanisms for the protection and promotion of human rights. It discusses in detail selected economic, social and cultural rights, such as the right to health, as well as civil and political rights, such as freedom of expression. It then outlines the regional human rights systems, with a particular focus on the European system. Lastly, it introduces philosophical underpinnings of human rights and addresses some contemporary challenges to human rights.
The second part of the course focuses on the examination of the substantive human rights law, offering a comparative perspective involving a number of human rights protection instruments, with a special focus on the ICCPR and ECHR. It discusses the understanding of the obligation to protect human rights, including jurisdictional aspects and the application of human rights in times of emergency. Further, it considers such rights as the right to life, prohibition of inhumane or degrading treatment, or torture, the right to liberty and security, the right to fair trial as well as the right to private life, especially taking into account the contemporary challenges associated with armed conflicts and security threats. It also discusses the challenges regarding the compliance with the decisions of the human right judicial bodies and the redress to the victims of human rights violations.
- Teacher: Daina Celma
- Teacher: George Ulrich
3 ECTS
Finance course represents the combination of two sets of knowledge: reading financial statements and decision making in a company. While holding its high ambitions to cover those broad areas during one course, Finance keeps its strong focus on the management perspective of the user of the information while keeping the high pace and intensity of the lectures.
The course starts with the basics of the conceptual framework of accounting and the preparation of financial statements: a balance sheet and an income statement. The course further develops the aspect of the analysis of the financial statements by adding the third financial statement- the cash flow statement as well as ratio analysis. The second part of the course shifts the focus on decisions the company is making on its financing as well as its new projects
- Teacher: Nataļja Točelovska
3 ECTS
This course focuses on the Common Foreign and Security Policy (CFSP), which by its development throughout the treaties enhanced the EU’s global actorness. The CFSP is often approached as one of the most contested policy fields: some analysts speak about ‘diplomacy without state’, others argue that the Common Foreign and Security Policy is neither common, nor can it be called a foreign policy’. In the field, however, the implementation of the CFSP has resulted in a number of concrete missions conducted in diverse locations on the world map. These military and civilian missions, which fall under the Common Security and Defence Policy (CSDP) do not always receive extensive media attention, but they largely contribute to the EU’s status of International Actor.
Since 2016, the Common Foreign and Security Policy has received a new incentive with the new Global Security Strategy of the EU (EUGS). The permanent Structured Cooperation (PESCO), foreseen in the Lisbon treaty, was activated and 25 countries decided to enter in a structured and binding cooperation framework to increase and rationalize their defence spendings.
In order to understand the dynamics of the CFSP, this course addresses three main aspects of the Common Foreign and Security Policy – (1) actors, (2) policy instruments and (3) actions.
- Teacher: Kurt Engelen
- Teacher: Rodolphe van Hövell