MA Environmental Law and Sustainable Development

This course aims at giving students a solid and comprehensive foundation of key concepts of environmental law and a grounding in some of the most topical and foundational debates. These include the role of justice frameworks in relation to environmental law, as well as key debates in environmental legal regulation. The aim is to provide a platform from which to better appreciate some of the central tensions and dynamics in the study of environmental law generally. The course will introduce environmental law in its North-South context, in historical perspective, in a domestic, comparative and regional context. It will cover the context for environmental regulation, principles and regulatory techniques from a theoretical and practical perspective.

This course aims at giving students a solid and comprehensive foundation of key concepts of environmental law and a grounding in some of the most topical and foundational debates. These include the role of justice frameworks in relation to environmental law, as well as key debates in environmental legal regulation. The aim is to provide a platform from which to better appreciate some of the central tensions and dynamics in the study of environmental law generally. The course will introduce environmental law in its North-South context, in historical perspective, in a domestic, comparative and regional context. It will cover the context for environmental regulation, principles and regulatory techniques from a theoretical and practical perspective.

This module examines international, regional and national legal and institutional arrangements concerning the conservation and use of natural resources. It introduces legal principles relevant to the conservation and use of natural resources in international and national law. This module focuses on the international law aspects of natural resource use and conservation, the North-South dimension and on individual developing country case studies.

This module examines ‘water justice’ in the global South from a combined Law and Development Studies perspective. The course discusses examples from Asia, Africa and Latin America, and selected examples from the global North.

This course focuses on global commons, in other words all the resources that are beyond state sovereignty either because they do not fall under their jurisdiction or because they have not been appropriated for legal or other reasons. It addresses some of the main global commons that are recognised and regulated, explores issues concerning global commons whose regulation is lacking and reflects on the consequences of appropriation, as happened in the case of seeds that were recognised as a common heritage of humankind until the 1980s.

This course focuses on global commons, in other words all the resources that are beyond state sovereignty either because they do not fall under their jurisdiction or because they have not been appropriated for legal or other reasons. It addresses some of the main global commons that are recognised and regulated, explores issues concerning global commons whose regulation is lacking and reflects on the consequences of appropriation, as happened in the case of seeds that were recognised as a common heritage of humankind until the 1980s.

This module is concerned in the broadest sense with nature protection and concerns around the sixth mass extinction. It addresses specifically law and policy around the broad themes of biodiversity, wildlife and habitats.

This module examines the relation between water law and development in the broader context of the governance framework that is increasingly influenced by conflicts over the resource. It seeks to provide students with a broad understanding of the multi-faceted issues arising in the water sector from the local to the international level.

This module examines the relation between water law and development in the broader context of the governance framework that is increasingly influenced by conflicts over the resource. It seeks to provide students with a broad understanding of the multi-faceted issues arising in the water sector from the local to the international level.

The course examines the main international legal instruments that constitute international climate law and policy within their broader context. This includes an examination of the underlying principles of climate change law and policy, an introduction to the UN Convention on Climate Change and the Paris Agreement, a focus on specific legal issues arising in the context of the UN regime, such as carbon trading, as well as an analysis of more specific problems such as regional approaches and relations between climate change law and other areas of law such as trade law.

This module offers an introduction to law on armed conflict, including collective security, the use of force, international humanitarian law and counter-terrorism. These are studied alongside legal reforms in response to contemporary understandings of the relationship between war and gender.

Students on this module study the post-conflict legal mechanisms governing peacekeeping, peacebuilding, peace agreements, transitional justice and women, peace and security from a gender perspective. Students explore the role of transnational feminist protest, law reform and activism to examine the legal regulation of post-conflict communities and the shift from war to peace.

Human Rights of Women.

The course consists of a critical examination of the role of law and lawyers in relation to issues commonly arising in post-conflict societies, and in particular to ways of dealing with a legacy of conflict and human rights violations, including issues of accountability for past human rights abuses, redress for victims, reconciliation, and reconstruction of the legal order.

This module aims to introduce students to the many ways in which law, religion and the state interact in the subcontinent. We seek to do so by using, as far as possible, authors from the region, and focus on issues that continue to hold contemporary relevance.

This module critically explores the different theoretical perspectives of the relationship between Human Rights and Islamic law and examines the practices of some relevant Muslim-majority States in that regard.

This course examines the theory and practice of arbitration from an international perspective with particular focus on the core geographical regions of SOAS (Africa, Asia and Middle East). The course covers issues on both international commercial and investment arbitration. It focuses on the core legal knowledge and basis of international arbitration through an examination of the legal theories that underpin arbitration as a dispute resolution process set within international transactions and relevant relationships.

This module aims at conceptualising a new law and development initiative for Africa by critically engaging with the traditional “law and development movement” and identifying its methodological shortcomings with respect to Africa. It examines the scope and limitations of law as an instrument of development and explores what contributions can law, legal theory and legal institutions make towards the realisation of human, economic and socio-political development in Africa.

This module introduces students to the range of international laws which govern war and armed conflict. International law on the use of force forms the core content. Each seminar will introduce students to mainstream approaches and debates on the use of force before contrasting these with topical and controversial views on the law on the use of force. Students will be encouraged to follow current developments and practice while being introduced to the Charter system for collective security and the role of state justifications on the use of force.

The module provides important introductory material for students who do not have a background in international law and wish to take other international law units at SOAS.

This half unit module provides an introduction to the law of armed conflict (international humanitarian law).  It will examine the history and sources of international humanitarian law, its relationship with the jus ad bellum, and the basic principles that have governed its development .

The module aims to explore historical and contemporary dimensions of the relationship between international law and colonialism.

The module consists of a critical examination of the role of law and lawyers in relation to issues commonly arising in post-conflict societies, and in particular to ways of dealing with a legacy of conflict and human rights violations, including issues of accountability for past human rights abuses, redress for victims, reconciliation, and reconstruction of the legal order.

This module “de-colonizes” comparative constitutional law: It introduces students to critical approaches to comparative law; it de-centres the “role model” constitutions; it critiques mainstream liberal theories that idealise these constitutions; and it sheds light on often marginalised constitutional histories and systems.

This course begins with an interrogation of where and what is Southeast Asia and whether it is meaningful as a subject of legal inquiry. The readings for the course will introduce students to a variety of theories and approaches used by legal scholars to understand law in Southeast Asia.

This offers an investigation into the theories and key texts that inform several other courses currently being offered, such as Indigenous Land Rights; Colonialism, Empire and International Law; Law and Society in South Asia; and others. This course does not overlap but provides part of the groundwork that will complement these courses.

This subject will provide a comprehensive overview of the emerging discipline of international criminal law. The discipline will be approached historically, theoretically, and critically. First, the course will examine the historical origins of the fundamental principle of international criminal law – individual criminal responsibility – and trace the evolution of the international criminal tribunals that apply that principle. Second, the course will explain the core theoretical assumptions of the subject, focusing in particular on the rationales for punishment (retribution, creating a historical record, promoting peace and reconciliation, etc.) and for the creation and operation of international criminal tribunals. Third, the course will take a critical look at the discipline’s core theoretical assumptions, asking whether alternatives to international trials might better achieve the discipline’s stated goals.

This half course aims to examine the substantive bodies of law and procedure and the legal systems in operation in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region in modern times, in particular regard to their treatment of and interaction with gender, women's rights and normative claims and practices in society. Further context is given by consideration of the increasing reach of international legal instruments governing a broad spectrum of legal activities implicated in the study of gender, law and society.

The objective of this module is to enable students to apply knowledge of feminist legal theory and the study of gender and sexuality to a series of legal problems. The module will provide an in-depth study of one, two or three issues relevant to gender and sexuality law reform primarily in the Global South.

The objective of this course is to enable students to become well versed in the field of feminist legal theory and the study of gender and sexaulity in relation to law, with specific attention to the relevance and meaning within non-Western states.

This module examines the nature of international investment and its legal regimes; the impact of foreign and domestic investment on the economic development of states; the protections afforded investors and their interpretations, the role of states and the impact of investment law on their regulatory powers; and the ICSID dispute resolution mechanism for investment related disputes between foreign investors and states. This module aims to equip students with a clear understanding and critical engagement of these issues from a legal perspective and particularly as it relates to developing and capital importing states.

In this module we examine theories about the relationship between law, rights and social change, using country and thematic case studies to illuminate and deepen our understanding of both the potential and the limits of what may be achieved through the language and architecture of law and rights. With a special focus on some of the countries in the SOAS mandate, we explore the possibilities for human agency for change through law and rights, identifying national and international constraints, in relation to issues and situations that pose some of the greatest challenges to the concept of rights as a valuable tool for social change.

The course will provide an in-depth introduction to international migration law. It covers key areas forming part of the broader field of what has been referred to as international migration law. This includes core concepts, such as sovereignty, nationality and statelessness; regional arrangements; migration control; trafficking and smuggling; the rights of migrants, with a particular focus on migrant workers; and broader questions of global migration law and policy. It also explores cross-cutting issues, such as race, gender, age, and intersectionality that are of increasing importance in the field of international migration law. The course builds on a range of theoretical perspectives that enable students to critically interrogate the genesis of, and current developments in international migration law.

The course will provide an in-depth introduction to international refugee law. It covers core concepts, the historical development of international refugee law, the Refugee Convention, particularly its definition, regional refugee treaties, particularly in Africa, refugee law and practice worldwide, the relationship between refugee law and human rights law, and broader questions of global refugee law and policy. It also explores cross-cutting issues, such as race, gender, age, and intersectionality, which have been of increasing importance in the field of international refugee law. The course builds on a range of theoretical perspectives that enable students to critically interrogate the genesis of, and current developments in international refugee law. Students will engage with case law and policy documents, as well as key academic texts to acquire both sound knowledge of the law and critical awareness of the biases, gaps and challenges in the current system.

The course provides an anatomy of torture as a human rights violation and the prohibition of torture in international and national law.  It combines an interdisciplinary, critical, intersectional approach on the history, nature, methods and impact of torture situated within the broader human rights framework with an in-depth legal analysis and an examination of institutional mechanisms and strategies employed to prevent and combat torture.

This module provides a comprehensive, interdisciplinary study of the business and legal organisation of multi-national enterprises (MNEs), as well as the regulatory framework within which they exist and operate.

This module provides a comprehensive, interdisciplinary study of the business and legal organisation of multi-national enterprises (MNEs), as well as the regulatory framework within which they exist and operate.

This module considers the emergence of Business and Human Rights as field of practice and academic inquiry. Constituted by jurists (broadly defined) who aim to ensure both that corporations respect human rights and victims secure remedies for corporate human rights abuses, Business and Human Rights poses both a challenge and an opportunity.

This module will examine legal aspects of an English company, including its formation, management, financing and if insolvent, its rescue and/or liquidation. The similarities and differences of the same aspects of a company formed in Germany, being a civil law jurisdiction, will be explored.

The course offers a critical appraisal of the role of international law in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. In Part I, we will explore the international legal history of the conflict from the Balfour Declaration 1917 to the UN Partition Plan 1947 to the Occupation in 1967. In Part II we take a critical look at the law of occupation with a particular focus on the indeterminacies of the law of occupation, the application of human rights to occupied territory, the Wall, and Food Security. In Part III, we turn to the international law of self- determination and an analysis of the Oslo peace process. The course will close with an assessed class research conference.

What is the relation between law and resistance? This course takes the question of Palestine as an emblematic case study for the examination of the potentialities and limitations of human rights and legal discourse in empowering the oppressed and constraining the powerful in situations of gross asymmetry of power. It thus examines the question of Palestine from the perspective of legal discourse discourse, and examines law from the vantage point of the question of Palestine.

The course approaches the development of ADR (principally mediation) from both a practical and historical perspective and examines the processes of negotiation and mediation within the ADR spectrum. This first half-unit examines the professional practice of ADR from the point of view of the disputants and others whose interests may be affected by disputes. The course starts with an examination of the nature and processs of negotiaiton and builds on this to examine the way that 3rd party facilitation changes the these processes and the ways in which the style and form of mediation vary according to legal context. This first (half) unit introduces students to the processes and principles of dispute resolution and civil justice reform including: debates surrounding informal justice and the role of courts; typologies of dispute process; negotiation; mediation; adjudication and its variant forms; hybrid forms; and the role of lawyers in dispute resolution. Practical mediation skills will be developed by way of role plays and simulations.

The module will be a foundational, compulsory module for students on the MA/LLM human rights programme who have no prior experience in international human rights law. It will provide an in-depth introduction to international human rights law, particularly its historical development, major theoretical debates, the main legal framework within the broader international law setting, the global and regional (especially the African, Inter-American and European system) institutional machinery for enforcement, as well as an introduction to the main bodies of rights (civil and political, economic, social and cultural rights, collective rights). The module also explores cross-cutting issues, such as race, gender, age and intersectionality, and their salience in the field of human rights law.

This module provides a detailed examination of Islamic family law, covering the laws of marriage, dissolution of marriages, guardianship and child custody. These are examined in light of classical rules of Islamic jurisprudence and recent family law reforms in different parts of the Muslim world and also with relevant examples from UK cases. Taking the different areas of family law in turn, we examine the development of positions in the different jurisprudential schools (including the sources on which the classical schools relied) before considering later (colonial and post colonial) treatment of and approaches to these areas of law in states' courts and codes. A focus on codification and the modern state's identity as legislator is highlighted. Approaches to reform of particular areas of law by different social actors are considered, including the use they make of classical and post-classical sources.

This module presents, from a comparative legal perspective, an overview of Islamic law in its theoretical, historical and jurisprudential evolution. Islamic legal theory (Usul al-Fiqh) is considered from a comparative perspective with a critical analysis of its history, development and application in contemporary jurisdictions. An overview of the historical and jurisprudential themes includes the relationship between sacred texts and human reason in the development of the law, dissent and consensus in the articulation of the law, law and morality and normative pluralism.

The module deals with the Actors, Norms, Institutions, Market-led Processes and Legal Conflicts in transnational law. Case studies, taken out of legal practice in financial, technological, and socio-legal contexts, provide an opportunity to explore complex, border-crossing problems that involve jurisdictions and transnational legal developments originating in the Global South and beyond.

The module deals with the Actors, Norms, Institutions, Market-led Processes and Legal Conflicts in transnational law. Case studies, taken out of legal practice in financial, technological, and socio-legal contexts, provide an opportunity to explore complex, border-crossing problems that involve jurisdictions and transnational legal developments originating in the Global South and beyond.

This groundbreaking module explores the relationship between international law and materiality, specifically in the context of the geography and history of the city of London in which SOAS is based. The module begins in the classroom, with an introduction to the cutting-edge, burgeoning literature on the material representation of international law.

The module examines the substantive bodies of law and procedure and the legal systems in operation in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region in modern times, including in their relationship with regional and international normative systems.