Not available in 2013/14
LL4A6 Half Unit
Climate Change and International Law
This information is for the 2013/14 session.
Teacher responsible
Dr Stephen Humphreys NAB5.12
Availability
This course is available on the MSc in Environment and Development, MSc in Environmental Economics and Climate Change, MSc in Human Rights, MSc in International Relations, MSc in International Relations (LSE and Sciences Po), MSc in International Relations (Research), Master of Laws and Master of Laws (extended part-time study). This course is available with permission as an outside option to students on other programmes where regulations permit.
This course is capped at 30 students. Students must apply through Graduate Course Choice on LSEforYou.
Course content
This course covers the international law dealing with climate change with a view to assessing how the harms associated with climate change are governed and allocated in different legal regimes. The course adopts the stance that the political and legal questions raised by climate change cannot be addressed by reference to climate change law or international environmental law as a whole. Climate change gives rise to a series of profound problems touching upon a range of bodies of law (international economic law, human rights law, the transnational governance of energy and resources, and state responsibility inter alia) in a complex political and ethical environment. In approaching climate change as a concrete concern relevant to these various bodies of law and practice, the course will address the normative and/or ethical bases for choosing between actions designed to prevent and/or manage climate change and its consequences, the development imperatives in much of the world, and the theoretical concerns raised by the 'fragmented' nature of international law. Projected seminars include: climate change science; politics; ethics; theory of international law; international environmental law; trade and investment law; human rights law; climate technology diffusion; food security.
Teaching
20 hours of seminars in the MT. 2 hours of seminars in the ST.
Formative coursework
One 2,000 word essay.
Indicative reading
Rosemary Rayfuse and Shirley Scott (eds.), International Law in the Era of Climate Change, Edward Elgar (2011) Stephen Gardiner, Simon Caney, Dale Jamieson and Henry Shue (Eds.), Climate Ethics: Essential Readings, Oxford University Press (2010); Nicholas Stern, The Economics of Climate Change: The Stern Review, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press (2007); IPCC, Fourth Assessment Report, Cambridge University Press (2007); Stephen Humphreys (ed.), Climate Change and Human Rights, Cambridge University Press (2009); Larry Lohmann, Carbon Trading, Dag Hammerskjöld Foundation (2006); Lavanya Rajamani, Differential Treatment in International Environmental Law, Oxford University Press (2006); Margaret Young (ed.), Regime Interaction in International Law: Facing Fragmentation, Cambridge University Press (2012).
Assessment
Exam (100%, duration: 2 hours) in the main exam period.
Key facts
Department: Law
Total students 2012/13: 11
Average class size 2012/13: 14
Value: Half Unit
Personal development skills
- Communication
- Specialist skills