This class will introduce you to the foundations of public international law, including its subjects, sources, principles and measures of implementation. It will address how this body of law has evolved over time to address the needs of environmental protection in transboundary and global settings.  

It will also provide you with a solid understanding of how compliance and dispute settlement operate in international environmental law, with special focus on the environmental case law of the International Court of Justice, which also builds on course staff’s personal involvement before the Court.

This module appraises the operation of environmental law from a ‘global’ perspective.  

Accordingly, seminars will assess the interactions and mutual influences between international, regional, national and sub-national legal processes (including the customary laws of indigenous peoples and local communities, and law-making by other non-state actors). This module also lends itself to explore and discuss critically theories, methods, and challenges of comparative environmental law in a genuinely global perspective. In so doing, it attempts to contribute toward decolonising the curriculum of environmental law teaching, emphasising current and historical injustice at the root of environmental conflicts throughout the world. 

In the past half-century, the scope of international law has increased dramatically. From a tool dedicated to the regulation of formal diplomacy, international law has expanded to deal with the most varied kinds of international activity, from trade to environmental protection, and from human rights to scientific and technological cooperation. Most of this expansion has taken place through international treaties and institutions. International environmental treaties provide a case in point, both in terms of their relationship with other fields of international law (e.g., international trade law) and in terms of the relationship between its constituent parts (i.e. the various geographically and functionally limited regimes that make up its corpus).  

This module will provide an overview of global and regional environmental treaty regimes. It will explore the causes, manifestations, and implications of this deficit, and the ways in which policy coherence, mutual supportiveness, and synergies in implementation can be promoted. 

This is an extended project of enquiry into an area of your own choice. You'll create knowledge in answer to a question which really intrigues you.

While you'll be very much in the driving seat, your work is nurtured and guided by a member of our academic staff team. You'll be guided by some of the world’s foremost experts.

60 credits

This module supports students writing an enhanced research proposal, with a view to supporting their transition into PGR study (PhD/MPhil studies) and creating an early research supervision relationship with a prospective supervisor.

60 credits

This module gives students the opportunity to apply to pursue an internship in a national or international organisation relevant to their course. The internship allows students to be placed in a relevant host organisation for a specified number of hours agreed with the Strathclyde tutor. The student will be responsible for producing an internship report which will include an account of the knowledge and skills attained applying theoretical concepts and with reference to discipline specific literature as well as an in-context self-reflective analysis of the experience, the organisation and the work undertaken enabling broader critical reflections on the student’s place in the professional world.

Please note that enrolment in the Professional Project and Professional Internship modules is by application and is not guaranteed.

60 credits

This module gives students to apply to do independent work in the final semester of their LLM/MSc. Students will be required to identify and co-design the project supported by their Strathclyde mentor. The project report includes the response to the research question co-designed with a relevant host organisation as well as an in-context self-reflective analysis of the project, the organisation and the student’s experience in executing the work enabling broader critical reflections on the student’s place in the professional world.

The Blue Economy is a pervasive but contested concept in contemporary ocean governance.

On the one hand, it's a term used to describe the sectoral and cross-sectoral economic activities which are based on, or related to, the oceans, seas, and coasts.

On the other hand, it also signals a sustainability-oriented paradigm shift in the way in which these activities are planned, managed, and conducted.

Crucially, the legal dimensions of the Blue Economy remain underexplored.

This module aims to fill this gap. Students will discuss mainstream and critical understandings of the Blue Economy, explore sectoral and geographical case studies, and examine law’s role in promoting integrated and equitable approaches to marine and coastal management.

The world is experiencing climate breakdown in the context of a global society that does not seem capable of moving away from the drivers of increased unsustainable growth.

Against this background, this module will explore the evolving nature and distinctive components of the international legal framework on climate change.

You'll discuss the evolution and implementation of the Paris Agreement, but with a critical eye to ways in which non-state actors can play an increasing role both therein and in alternative multilateral climate change forums.

This module explores key academic and policy debates around sustainable ocean governance.

Special attention is paid to the environmental provisions of the 1982 UN Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS), its three implementing agreements, and associated global, regional, and sectoral instruments.

Consideration is also given to ongoing law-making processes of relevance to the marine environment.

The topics selected for discussion include, without being limited to the:

• conservation of marine species and habitats
• sustainable exploitation of marine living and non-living resources
• regulation of different sources of marine pollution
• the evolving relationship between the ocean, climate change, and human rights regimes

This module explores the legal aspects of international fisheries governance.

More specifically, the module examines how law can be used to promote the sustainability of marine food systems and strengthen their role in addressing global challenges such as food security, poverty alleviation, and environmental protection.

You'll be introduced to relevant law-making and implementation practices spanning multiple regimes, including the law of the sea, international biodiversity law, international climate change law, and international human rights law.

You'll also tackle questions of compliance and enforcement, given that illegal, unreported, and unregulated (IUU) fishing is one of the greatest threats facing the sustainability of marine food systems.