THE UNIVERSITY of EDINBURGH

DEGREE REGULATIONS & PROGRAMMES OF STUDY 2021/2022

Information in the Degree Programme Tables may still be subject to change in response to Covid-19

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DRPS : Course Catalogue : School of Law : Law

Postgraduate Course: Economic and Social Rights (LAWS11452)

Course Outline
SchoolSchool of Law CollegeCollege of Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences
Credit level (Normal year taken)SCQF Level 11 (Postgraduate) AvailabilityNot available to visiting students
SCQF Credits20 ECTS Credits10
SummaryThis course will provide students with an advanced introduction to the evolving uses of economic and social rights. It will examine debates about the nature of these rights and examine their recent constitutionalisation in some states. The course will examine the impact of economic and social rights jurisprudence and adjudication, and ask whether the legal language of economic and social rights can address contemporary problems of distributive justice, inequality and the retreat of systems of national welfare.
Course description This course will cover the following:

1) The contemporary challenge of economic and social rights
2) Historical antecedents
3) Conceptual debates about the nature of economic and social rights: economists v lawyers?
4) The Covenant on Economic Social and Cultural Rights and its interpretation: core framework
5) Constitutionalisation of Economic and Social Rights: South Africa
6) Constitutionalisation of Economic and Social Rights: India
7) Constitutionalisation of Economic and Social Rights: Latin America
8) International Institutions and Economic and Social Rights
9) Extraterritorial application of economic and social rights and globalization
10) Economic and Social Rights and Inequality
Entry Requirements (not applicable to Visiting Students)
Pre-requisites Co-requisites
Prohibited Combinations Other requirements None
Course Delivery Information
Academic year 2021/22, Not available to visiting students (SS1) Quota:  25
Course Start Semester 2
Timetable Timetable
Learning and Teaching activities (Further Info) Total Hours: 200 ( Seminar/Tutorial Hours 20, Programme Level Learning and Teaching Hours 4, Directed Learning and Independent Learning Hours 176 )
Assessment (Further Info) Written Exam 0 %, Coursework 100 %, Practical Exam 0 %
Additional Information (Assessment) Formative Assessment:«br /»
Students will receive feedback from the seminar leader on a 15-minute presentation delivered in class on one of the core readings for the week.«br /»
«br /»
Summative Assessment:«br /»
The assessment for the course will comprise a 1,000 word reaction paper or essay concerning the reading presented in class (20%); and a 4,000 word essay (80%).
Feedback Feedback on the formative assessment may be provided in various formats, for example, to include written, oral, video, face-to-face, whole class, or individual. The course organiser will decide which format is most appropriate in relation to the nature of the assessment.

Feedback on both formative and summative in-course assessed work will be provided in time to be of use in subsequent assessments within the course.

Feedback on the summative assessment will be provided in written form via Learn, the University of Edinburgh's Virtual Learning Environment (VLE).
No Exam Information
Learning Outcomes
On completion of this course, the student will be able to:
  1. Demonstrate a strong grounding in the state of the art concerning the interpretation, application and institutionalisation of economic and social rights in a comparative context.
  2. Conduct independent research in this specialised field of human rights by exposing them to a range of contemporary sources.
  3. Form sophisticated arguments drawing on these sources.
  4. Apply their theoretical and historical understandings to particular examples through the use of case studies.
Reading List
Indicative Bibliography:

Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights

General Comments of the Committee on Economic and Social Rights

K Young, Constituting Economic and Social Rights (2012)

K Young (ed), The Future of Economic and Social Rights (2019)

David Landau, 'The Reality of Economic and Social Rights,' Harvard International Law Journal (2012)

Samuel Moyn, Not Enough (2018)
Additional Information
Graduate Attributes and Skills Skills and Abilities in Research and Enquiry
The course will enable students to conduct independent research in this specialized field of human rights by exposing them to a range of contemporary sources, and also enable to form sophisticated arguments drawing on these sources.

Skills and Abilities in Communication
The classes will run as an interactive seminars and so communication with peers is crucial.

Skills and Abilities in Personal Effectiveness
A focus on a number of case studies will enable students to apply their theoretical and historical understandings to particular examples.
KeywordsLaw,Postgraduate,Level 11,Economics,Social
Contacts
Course organiserDr Dimitri Van Den Meerssche
Tel:
Email: d.van.den.meerssche@ed.ac.uk
Course secretaryMiss Chloe Culross
Tel: (0131 6)50 9588
Email: Chloe.Culross@ed.ac.uk
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