LLIR9508 Issues in Energy and Environmental Security

2017

4.5

1 Admission into MLAWILIR-Master of Laws (International Law and International Relations)
1a Admission into BLAWLPRH-Bachelor of Laws and Legal Practice (Honours)
1b Admission into BLAWLPRGH-Bachelor of Laws and Legal Practice (Graduate Entry) (Honours)
1c Admission into MLAWILR-Master of Laws (International Law and International Relations)
1d Admission into MLAWILIRA-Master of Laws (International Law and International Relations) [1.5 years]
1e Admission into JD-Juris Doctor
Must Satisfy: ((1 or 1a or 1b or 1c or 1d or 1e))

This topic surveys the multiple and overlapping aspects of energy security and environmental security. This topic is concerned with the security dilemmas being generated by the renewed emphasis that governments are now giving to energy security as an objective of national policy. The gives primary attention to the oil market, but also to the revival in nuclear energy and (to a lesser extent) gas and coal. It looks at the broad range of national policies that are now being adopted in the name of energy security, and at the often acute problems of harmonisation and externalisation created through the interaction of many such national policies. It concludes by investigating the potential for 'strategies of legalisation' to civilise these new energy-based security dilemmas, and the moves that need to be made to begin realising this potential. Interacting with issues of energy security are two regimes in international law. Firstly, international environmental law has been a key part of international law and international relations since the early 1970s. The topic will discuss ways of avoiding and dealing with environmental harm to states and in the commons. Students will be also introduced to specific principles of environmental law relating to these matters, such as the precautionary principle and polluter pays principle. Treaties and cases relevant to Australia will be examined, including the Nuclear Tests cases, and the World Heritage and Ramsar Conventions and the Antarctica Protocol. Finally, this topic will review resource issues concerning the Law of the Sea and the exploitation of resources within the sea bed and the controversies concerning which nations have access to various areas of the sea.

This topic aims to acquaint students with contemporary debates about energy security policies, the security dilemmas that can arise from them, and the prospects for cooperative, legalised solutions to these dilemmas. The student will also become acquainted with international environmental law and the law of the sea both legal regimes that interact with energy security.

On completion of this topic students will be able to:

• exhibit a broad understanding of the current world energy scene

• demonstrate an understanding of the way in which the interactions of national energy policies can be a source of security dilemmas

• demonstrate an appreciation of the interaction between the international relations energy security issue and the international legal regimes of the law of the sea and international environmental law