Climate Change and the Rule of Law
Despite three decades of legal development, existing systems of law fail to provide effective foundations for limiting climate change. The inadequacy of existing systems of law is thrown into relief and compounded by ongoing debates centered around who we are, and how we should relate to one another as national and international citizens. Even as climate law emerges and evolves based on notions of shared responsibility, and intra- and inter-generational equity, these norms are challenged by swelling populist and nationalist movements worldwide. This presentation explores the relationship between ongoing efforts to address climate change and evolving discourse on political identity and the rule of law focusing on two background questions, these being the degree to which there exists an 'international community', as such, that underlies and advances collective climate goals; and the extent to which shared understandings of the meaning and substantive content of the rule of law provide a foundation for addressing climate change.