Nathan Cooper

I am an academic lawyer – I work at the interface of environmental law and human rights law, and in particular on questions around the compatibility of ‘rights claims’ with ecologically sustainable governance. I am interested in the way that formal law shapes norms and interacts with other norms, and in the role of ‘vernacular law’ and law-like emanations, in pursuing (ecosystems) solidarity, and in achieving (ecological) justice and (ecocentric) welfare.

I am very interested in Marx’s critique of political economy and in the ways that critiques of ‘class’ and capitalism can translate beyond anthropocentric confines, towards re-imagined configurations of law, and practical action. For this I study works across academic disciplines including political science, economics and social geography, drawing on Antonio Gramsci, Antonio Negri, and David Harvey amongst others. Furthermore I am interested by the philosophical insights of Michel Foucault on power and hierarchy, and by the implications of this for law and theology, as alluded to by Bonhoeffer and Derrida, and elucidated by John Caputo.

My current focus is on the governance of socio-economic necessities – in particular on water governance – through international human rights law, domestic constitutions, development goals, and grass-roots organisation. I am also interested in re-imagining the concept of property in the Anthropocene.