School of Law, Politics and Sociology
The disciplines of law, politics and sociology are relevant to SDG 16 Peace, Justice and Strong Institutions and SDG 17 Partnerships for the Goals. Justice and peace are central to law studies, with all LLB Law and ‘Law with’ students taking a Justice, Equality and Society module in their first year. Similar modules are currently offered on the Law Elective Pathway, which most non-law single honours students at Sussex can choose after registration. Pathways do change each year; registered students can find out the current menu of pathways when they join the university.
Further, law modules that specialise in particular types of law practice, such as environmental law and international human rights law, bring focus to many other SDGs, for example looking at how national and international laws shape the management of natural areas and natural resources.
Modules in the Politics department look at the role of governance in international development, as well as issues of corruption in governance. For example, the module Political Governance: Modern Germany looks at the norms and values that underpin politics; linking to peace.
Modules in the Sociology department look at power, justice and equality, with sustainability relevant topics including social justice, social inequalities, education, healthcare, and migration.
Current sustainability related Undergraduate modules in Law, Politics, and Sociology include:
- Justice, equality and society
- Foundations of environmental law
- Advanced topics in environmental law
- Land, property and the environment
- Global Business Law and Regulation
- Gendering the Life Course
- Law and Development
The availability of the above modules depends on your chosen course of study. Please follow the module links to see which degree courses offer this module and look at your course prospectus to see whether modules are core or optional.
Case study: Sussex Clinical Legal Education Programme
The Law department runs several legal clinics through its Clinical Legal Education Programme. The Employment Law, Family Law, Housing Law, Criminal Justice, Migration Law, Mediation, Citizens Advice, and Environmental Justice Law clinics each provide free legal advice to local people in the Brighton and Hove area. This provides legal advice to those who may otherwise be unable to access it, helping them to receive justice in their cases.
Law students involved in the project work directly with clients to provide free legal advice. The students receive dedicated training for this and get the opportunity to apply the legal knowledge they have learned in the degrees.
The Citizens Advice Project, which is part of the Clinical Legal Education Programme, was named Advice Project of the Year at the 2018 Citizens Advice Annual conference.
One of the new clinics, the Environmental Justice Clinic, has been set up in partnership with the Environmental Law Foundation charity. Students have provided advice on issues such as noise pollution and protecting the ecology and amenity of sites affected by housing developments.