851-0735-11L  Environmental Regulation: Law and Policy

SemesterSpring Semester 2017
LecturersJ. van Zeben
Periodicityyearly recurring course
Language of instructionEnglish
CommentNumber of participants limited to 15.

Particularly suitable for students of D-USYS


AbstractThe aim of this course is to make students with a technical scientific background aware of the legal and political context of environmental policy in order to place technical solutions in their regulatory context.
ObjectiveThe aim of this course is to equip students with a legal and regulatory skill-set that allows them to translate their technical knowledge into a policy brief directed at legally trained regulators. More generally, it aims to inform students with a technical scientific background of the legal and political context of environmental policy. The focus of the course will be on international and European issues and regulatory frameworks - where relevant, the position of Switzerland within these international networks will also be discussed.
ContentTopics covered in lectures:

(1) Environmental Regulation
a. Perspectives
b. Regulatory Challenges of Environment Problems
c. Regulatory Tools
(2) Law: International, European and national laws
a. International law
b. European law
c. National law
(3) Policy: Case studies

Assessment:
(i) Class participation (25%): Students will be expected to contribute to class discussions and prepare short memos on class readings.
(ii) Exam (75%) consisting of three parts:
a. Policy brief - a maximum of 2 pages (including graphs and tables);
b. Background document to the policy brief - this document sets out a more detailed and academic overview of the topic (maximum 8 pages including graphs and tables);
c. Presentation of the policy brief: presentations can use a maximum of 5 slides and can last 7 minutes.
Lecture notesThe course is taught as a small interactive seminar and significant participation is expected from the students. Participation will be capped at 15 in order to maintain the interactive nature of the classes. All classes, readings, and assignments, are in English.

Teaching will take place over two weeks in September and October. The exam date will be in December.

During the second week of the teaching period, students will have individual 30-minute meetings with the lecturer to discuss their project.
LiteratureAn electronic copy of relevant readings will be provided to the students at no cost before the start of the lectures.
Prerequisites / NoticeNo specific pre-existing legal knowledge is required, however all students must have successfully completed Grundzüge des Rechts (851-0708-00 V) or an equivalent course.

The course is (inter)related to materials discussed in Politikwissenschaft: Grundlagen (851-0577-00 V), Ressourcen- und Umweltökonomie (751-1551-00 V), Umweltrecht: Konzepte und Rechtsgebiete (851-0705-01 V), Rechtlicher Umgang mit natürlichen Ressourcen (701-0743-01 V), Environmental Governance (701-1651-00 G), Policy and Economics of Ecosystem Services (701-1653-00 G), International Environmental Politics: Part I (851-0594-00 V).