From the climate crisis to mass extinction and marine plastic pollution: environmental issues have become increasingly urgent and salient, and today are at the top of international political agendas. But how has the environment gained so much attention? Does this apply to all environmental issues? Why do we need international responses to most environmental problems, and how effective are they? Who governs the environment, and how?
This course introduces students to global environmental politics. We first learn about the history of international environmental politics, and then zoom in on different approaches, actors, and aspects of environmental politics. While in-class discussions will focus on climate change, students will work in groups to apply the concepts and approaches discussed in class to specific environmental problems, such as (marine) biodiversity loss, marine plastic pollution or overfishing.
Regular attendance and active participation, as well as preparation (by reading assigned texts for each session) are expected.
The course has six double-sessions of 4 hours each.
session 1 : Introduction and background
1.1: Introduction : the state of the environment
1.2: history of global environmental politics
session 2 : causes and solutions
2.1: causes of environmental problems
2.2: different approaches to solving environmental problems
session 3 : actors and strategies I : states
3.1: states and multilateral environmental agreements
3.2: different environmental performance across states
session 4 : actors and strategies II : non-state actors
4.1: non-state actors
4.2: climate anxiety and what can I do ? (Tammy Mayer – TBC)
session 5 : climate negotiations simulation
5.1: introduction to UNFCCC negotiations
5.2: World Climate simulation
session 6 : conclusions and outlook
6.1: poster presentations
6.2: conclusions and outlook
Tammy MAYER,Carola KLOECK
Séminaire
English
None
Spring 2022-2023
assessment consists of three elements : a short reflection paper after the climate simulation (30%) ; a group poster (50%) and active participation (20%).
seminar with different interactive discussions and exercises
Pamela S. Chasek, David L. Downie, 2020. Global Environmental Politics. Routledge.
Jean-Frederic Morin, Amandine Orsini, Sikina Jinnah, 2020. Global Environmental Politics: Understanding the Governance of the Earth. Oxford: Oxford University Press.