University of Ghana School of Law
Doctor of Philosophy of Law
The Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) is a research-intensive degree and the most advanced degree offered by the University of Ghana School of Law. The rationale for the PhD programme is to provide advanced training for scholars to deepen and broaden their understanding of Law. The programme is designed to transform these scholars into producers of knowledge, capable of expanding the frontiers of the law to achieve policy goals and sustainable development. While the programme is aimed at developing important transferable academic skills, it also responds to the need to produce high calibre teachers for the various law Faculties in Ghana.
OBJECTIVES
The objective of the PhD programme is to:
(a) To enable students to acquire critical thinking and research skills to become producers of knowledge in their area of specialization.
(b) Prepare students for opportunities in teaching, research, and policy development.
(c) Facilitate the acquisition of substantive knowledge in a given field of law.
(d) Expose students to a range of methodological approaches to legal research.
(e) Contribute significantly to the teaching and research pedigree of the University of Ghana.
The PhD courses run by the School are as follows:
• FLAW 701 - Philosophical Approaches to the Study of Law
• FLAW 702 - Comparative and Interdisciplinary Perspectives on the Study of Law and Society
• FLAW 703 - Advanced Legal Research Methodologies
• FLAW 704 - Legal Aspects of Regional Integration in Africa
• FLAW 705 - Law and Development in Africa
• FLAW 706 - Trends in Legal Pedagogy
• FLAW 707 - Legal Traditions of the World
• FLAW 708 - Gender and International Legal Studies
• FLAW 709 - Advanced Constitutional Law
• FLAW 712 - Advanced International Commercial Arbitration
BRIEF DETAILS ON EACH OF THE PhD COURSES:
FLAW 701: Philosophical Approaches to the Study of Law
This course aims to provide students with the opportunity to undertake a detailed study of the philosophical approaches to the study of law. This course provides students with a selective overview of major developments in legal theory through the 20th and into the 21st century. It is intended to provide grounding for further jurisprudential work by students during their studies. Topics include legal realism, utilitarianism, feminism, post-modernism, and structuralism, among other theories of law.
FLAW 702: Comparative and Interdisciplinary Perspectives on the Study of Law and Society
This course seeks to provide an overview of a range of approaches to comparative and interdisciplinary research in law. It introduces students to a wide range of interdisciplinary, critical, and socio-legal scholarship. Additionally, it enables students to engage with the law from several distinct disciplinary perspectives including economics, geography, philosophy, sociology, and political science. The course will also explore the multiple ways in which theory and method are intertwined in legal research. Topics include Law and Economics, Law and Geography, Legal Pluralism, and Law and Society.
FLAW 703: Advanced Legal Research Methodologies
This course is designed to give students a detailed insight into a variety of theoretical approaches to legal research and to the methods and methodologies used in academic legal research. This course is intended to improve skills in research methodology, and qualitative and quantitative analyses. Specific topics include hypothesis testing; techniques of effective proposal writing; approaches to legal research; and the ethics of legal research.
FLAW 704: Legal Aspects of Regional Integration in Africa
This course will focus on the legal dimensions of regional economic, social, and political integration in Africa. The course employs a relational framework as the fulcrum of analyses to address the problems of integration and thus aid Africa’s long-term political and economic growth. Topics include the theories of integration, the political economy of regional integration, and the fundamental obstacles to regional integration in Africa
FLAW 705: Law and Development in Africa
This course examines the scope, strengths, and limitations of law as an instrument of development and explores how law can be consciously used to aid human, socio-political, and economic development in Africa. Focusing on the national, regional, and international perspectives on the issues in question, the course explores the contributions that law, legal theory, and legal institutions can make toward the realisation of development in Africa. The course thus draws on other disciplines such as Economics, Sociology, and Political Science. Topics include Theories of Law and Development, Political Governance in Arica, Corruption, Mismanagement of Resources, and Poverty in Africa.
FLAW 706: Trends in Legal Pedagogy
This course provides opportunities for students to discuss various methods employed in law teaching. Some of the approaches include the Socratic methods, experiential learning techniques, the clinical teaching method, and the multi-disciplinary and trans-systemic legal pedagogy. Topics include Pedagogy vs Andragogy, Technology, and Experiential learning.
FLAW 707: Legal Traditions of the World
This is a comparative study of the legal traditions of the World. The course affords an opportunity to study the major legal traditions that have influenced the world. Topics include the origins, geographic locations, and the main tenets of the common law legal tradition, the civil law legal tradition, the Islamic legal tradition, and the indigenous legal tradition.
FLAW 708: Gender and International Legal Studies
Gender and International Legal Studies uses gendered theory to engage with systems and institutions of political, social, economic, legal, and cultural power. The course examines gender roles and relations as a form of power to organize society, institutions, rights, responsibilities, and access to resources. Topics taught include Feminist Theory and Masculinity, Gender and International Security, and Gender and Disability.
FLAW 709: Advanced Constitutional Law
This course provides a comprehensive understanding of the different purposes and functions of the Constitution of Ghana. While the focus of the course is the Ghanaian constitutional system, the course will draw on insights from other jurisdictions, thus, providing an introduction to the field of comparative constitutional law. The course also examines a range of rights-related features of the Ghanaian Constitution and investigates issues such as the effectiveness of constitutions at protecting human rights and democratic government. Topics include the role of the Supreme Court in the growth of the 1992 Constitution and understanding the electoral systems of major jurisdictions of the world.
FLAW 712: Advanced International Commercial Arbitration
This course undertakes an in-depth study of specific topics in international commercial arbitration from both a theoretical and practical perspective. It also provides a critical analysis of the principles and law of international commercial arbitration, including the legal foundation for international arbitration, the international soft law applicable to the conduct of international arbitrations, and the various legal issues that arise in the recognition and enforcement of international arbitration agreements and the resulting arbitral awards.