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School of Sociology, Politics and International Studies | Currently funded projects. MOOCs - All courses. Open Online Courses - Study Anywhere. Penn Open Learning – World-class online education. Public Privacy Course. Course Description “For the internet to remain global and open, it is imperative that countries, including those currently lacking capacity to adequately deal with security concerns, to adopt a growth- and freedom-oriented, participative, bottom-up perspective on security that has human rights at its core.” (Joint Governmental Statement at UN Human Rights Council in June 2013) Arguably, the internet poses severe challenges to state sovereignty and governmental legitimacy.

Governments around the world find it increasingly difficult to control, regulate or monitor the massive flow of data within the cyber-world and uphold human rights and fundamental freedoms at the same time. Since the former NSA contractor, Edward Snowden, released a variety of confidential documents we all know of PRISM, TEMPORA and other programs and their massive privacy infringements.

Learning Outcomes Course Structure Chapter 1: An Introduction to Public Privacy, Cyber Space and Human Rights Course Format. Constitutional Law by Coursera | Reviews and Ratings. Course Description This course is designed to introduce you to one of the most important texts in human history-the United States Constitution.

Why and how did this document come into existence in the 1780s? How and why has it been amended over the years? Who decides what it means? What are the ground rules for proper constitutional interpretation? This course will run from January 27 through early May (we are likely to provide you time after the release of the final lectures [April 21 - 25] to complete your final writing assignment). Weeks 1 - 6 will cover material from the book America's Constitution: A Biography. Each writing assignment will have 3 options; you should choose one option to submit.

Week 1 Monday, January 27: "In The Beginning" video lectures released Wednesday, January 29: "In The Beginning" bonus content released Wednesday, January 29: "New Rules for a New World" video lectures released Friday, January 31: "New Rules for a New World" bonus content released Week 2 Week 3. English Common Law: Structure and Principles by Coursera | Reviews and Ratings.

Course Description The Common Law of England and Wales is one of the major global legal traditions. In order to understand the common law, we need to deal with its history, and the development of its characteristic institutions like the jury, judge made law, parliamentary sovereignty and due process. We also need to ask some critical questions. What role does democracy play in the development of the common law? To what extent are human rights central to the modern common law? How does the common law of England and Wales relate to the law of the European Union?

Answering these questions will give us insights into the current challenges the law faces and its possible futures. This course does not require any existing legal knowledge. Constitutional Struggles in the Muslim World by Coursera | Reviews and Ratings. Course Description Since 2009 there has been a renewed wave of popular unrest sweeping throughout much of the Muslim world. Secular, but generally repressive and inefficient autocracies have come under pressure or been swept aside entirely.

At the same, the various Islamic Republics have not fared much better, but been convulsed by internal unrest, economic and social decline. Throughout the Muslim lands, existing constitutional arrangements are being challenged, often very violently. This course is a survey of the constitutional ideas and institutions that have developed since the mid 19th century throughout predominantly Muslim countries, but its focus will lie on the actors that have dominated this discourse and shaped its outcomes.

Three common themes will characterise the course: We privilege the study of the legal and social reality and seek to highlight where it is at odds with dogmatic stipulations, be they religious or constitutional. Week 1: Presenting the Course (Overview) The Law of the European Union: An Introduction - Universiteit Leiden | Coursera. About the Course In 2012, the EU received the Nobel Peace Prize for its decades-long contribution to the advancement of peace and reconciliation, democracy and human rights in Europe.

War has become virtually unthinkable in the EU. When the first steps towards supranational cooperation - primarily targeted at preventing the rearmament of Germany - were made in the aftermath of World War Two, the Founding Fathers of the European integration construct could never have imagined this outcome in their wildest dreams. Over the years, the supranational cooperation would widen - from the original European Communities consisting of 6 Member States to the current Union of 27 Members – and deepen – from the originally almost purely economically inspired Communities to the current Union with a say in almost all areas of national competence. At the same time, problems with the Euro have plunged the EU in one of the biggest crises since its inception. 1. 2.

No. 3. 4. 5. International Human Rights Law: Prospects and Challenges - Duke University | Coursera. About the Course This course analyzes the international and domestic laws and institutions that protect the fundamental rights of all human beings. The course also describes and evaluates the principal mechanisms and strategies for holding governments accountable for violating those rights. Students engage with thought-provoking issues that arise at the intersection of human dignity, state sovereignty, and international justice. Cutting-edge topics include: genocide and humanitarian intervention, the right to life and capital punishment, the right to health and HIV-AIDS, counterterrorism, and LGBT rights.

Students also learn about the international, regional and national mechanisms for monitoring government conduct and redressing violations of human rights, such as United Nations political and expert bodies, international courts, domestic criminal prosecutions, and truth commissions. Course Syllabus Week 1 – What are human rights? Week 3 – How are human rights implemented and enforced? Q. Penn Open Learning – World-class online education. Revolutionary Ideas: An Introduction to Legal and Political Philosophy. About the Course What is the purpose of government? Why should we have a State? What kind of State should we have? Even within a political community, there may be sharp disagreements about the role and purpose of government. Some want an active, involved government, seeing legal and political institutions as the means to solve our most pressing problems, and to help bring about peace, equality, justice, happiness, and to protect individual liberty.

Others want a more minimal government, motivated, perhaps, by some of the disastrous political experiments of the 20th Century, and the thought that political power is often just a step away from tyranny. All political and legal institutions are built on foundational ideas. Course Syllabus Overview We will begin by thinking about four core values, values that we either want our political institutions to respect or to help us bring about: happiness, Justice, equality, and freedom. Module One: Why should we have a State? Recommended Background. LearnSocial - Instructor led and Online Courses from top experts.

8 Online Courses to Build Your Intellect | Askmeoneducation. Intellectual character is formed from a set of attributes that distinguish an individual as capable of clear, effective thought. Building your intellectual character is not something you will learn at school. But it consists of innate characteristics that can be improved on. Here are some online courses that will help you discover your intellectual character, build it and use it well. To Spark Your Curiosity The Einstein Revolution: This course traces Einstein’s engagement with relativity, quantum mechanics, Nazism, philosophy, arts and technology. The Science of Happiness: This course will introduce you to the science-based principles around leading a happier and more meaningful life, with enriched growth and development.

To Seek Truth and Better Understanding Introduction to Probability: Also called ‘The Science of Uncertainty’, this course uses basic, practical examples to explain probability. Leaders of Learning: To Strategise Better Communicating Strategically: Becoming a Resilient Person: University for Peace Distance Education. Peace Journalism 2 credits / 6 weeks weeks20 Apr 2015 - 29 May 2015 Professor Julia Hoffmann The destructive role that media can play has been amply demonstrated during conflicts in Nazi Germany to that in Rwanda in the 1990s. Their (potentially) more constructive role when it comes to fostering a culture of peace, preventing escalation or adding to processes of reconciliation and peace-building, however, has received comparatively scarce scholarly attention. This course seeks to introduce students to the main theories and practice pertaining to the role journalists, and media more generally, (ought to) play in such processes.

It will focus on the critiques against contemporary mainstream media coverage, leveled mainly against ‘Western’ media coverage of conflicts in the Global South, and the call for reconsidering the dominant paradigm of what is called ‘War Journalism’. Click here for the professor's bio Julia Hoffmann Assistant Professor, in Human Rights, Media and Peace.