ASTK15458U COURSE: Glocal Environmental Governance
"Elective in the specialization "International Political Economy
Bachelorlevel: 10 ECTS
Masterlevel: 7,5 ECTS
In 2010 James Lovelock, globally respected environmental thinker and independent scientist, concluded that humans are too stupid to prevent climate change from radically impacting on our lives over the coming decades. The failures and successes of human attempts to govern accelerating environmental change is the political challenge of our era. The course will examine the theoretical, empirical and normative aspects of glocal environmental governance. The course will first consider the dominant paradigms, theories and concepts of glocal environmental governance. Second, the analytical tools developed in the introduction will be used to examine a series of cases in glocal environmental governance, including lifestyle/consumption, pollution mitigation, biodiversity maintenance, and climate change. The course concludes by returning to Lovelock’s assertion and asking whether and how humans are able to engage in glocal environmental governance capable of averting ecotastrophe.
Preliminary plan:
Introduction:
1. Understanding glocal environmental governance
Consumption
2. overview – Our Promised Land
3. cases in (over) consumption
Pollution
4. overview – Wall-E’s World
5. cases in pollution management
Biodiversity
6. overview – the Avatar of Biodiversity
7. cases in biodiversity maintenance
Climate Change
8. overview – Today is the Day After Tomorrow
9. cases in climate change mitigation
The seminar consists of nine 3-hour sessions placing a heavy emphasis on active learning through case study work. The seminar begins by introducing the differing understandings of glocal environmental governance, in particular market liberal, institutional, bioenvironmental, and deep ecological views. The main emphasis of the course will be on four differing dimensions of glocal environmental governance – consumption, pollution, biodiversity, and climate change. In each of these areas the seminar will first explore the broad developments and discourses of glocal environmental governance. Second, in each area students will engage with selected case studies in order to explore both the theoretical and policy details.
Questions raised in the course include more empirical issues such as what are the predominant challenges of glocal environmental governance? How can we best understand different approaches to glocal environmental governance? How are the challenges of consumption, pollution, biodiversity, and climate change represented in popular culture? What are the differing paths to a green world? Are humans too stupid to govern climate change?
The aim of the seminar is to enable the student to:
Describe how glocal, environmental, and governance are deeply interdependent
Present central theoretical perspectives of market liberalism, institutionalism, bioenvironmentalism, and deep ecology.
Understand the role of consumption and sustainable lifestyles in glocal environmental governance.
Understand the role of pollution and precautionary behaviour in glocal environmental governance.
Understand the role of biodiversity and ecosystem services in glocal environmental governance.
Understand the role of climate change and adaption in glocal environmental governance.
Bulkeley, Harriet, and Peter Newell, Governing Climate Change, 2nd edn. (London: Routledge,
2015).
Chasek, Pamela, and David Downie, Global Environmental Politics, 7th edn. (Boulder:
Westview Press, 2016).
Christoff, Peter, and Robyn Eckersley, Globalization and the Environment (Rowman and Littlefield,
2013).
Clapp, Jennifer, and Peter Dauvergne (2011) Paths to a Green World: The Political Economy of the
Global Environment, 2nd edn. (Boston: MIT Press).
Conca, Ken, and Geoffrey D. Dabelko (eds.) Green Planet Blues: Critical Perspectives on Global
Environmental Politics, 5th edn. (Boulder: Westview Press, 2014).
Crow, Deserai, and Maxwell Boykoff (eds.) Culture, Politics and Climate Change: How Information
Shapes our Common Future (London: Routledge, 2014).
Gupta, Aarti, and Michael Mason (eds.) Transparency in Global Environmental Governance: Critical
Perspectives (Boston: MIT Press, 2014).
Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, Climate Change 2013 – The Physical Science Basis:
Working Group I Contribution to the Fifth Assessment Report (Cambridge: Cambridge University
Press, 2014).
Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, Climate Change 2014 – Impacts, Adaptation, and
Vulnerability: Working Group II Contribution to the Fifth Assessment Report (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2014).
Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, Climate Change 2014 – Mitigation of Climate Change:
Working Group III Contribution to the Fifth Assessment Report (Cambridge: Cambridge University
Press, 2015).
Klein, Naomi, This Changes Everything: Capitalism vs. the Climate (New York: Simon and Schuster, 2015).
Lovelock, James, The Vanishing Face of Gaia: A Final Warning (Basic Books, 2010).
Morin, Jean-Frédric, and Amandine Orsini (eds.) Essential Concepts of Global Environmental
Governance (London: Routledge, 2014).
Maslin, Mark, Climate Change: A Very Short Introduction, 3rd edn. (Oxford: OUP, 2014).
Stern, Nicholas, Why are We Waiting? The Logic, Urgency, and Promise of Tackling Climate Change (Cambridge MA: MIT Press, 2015).
A detailed list of required readings will be provided during the seminar.
- Category
- Hours
- Class Instruction
- 28
- Total
- 28
- Credit
- 7,5 ECTS
- Type of assessment
- Written examinationWritten
- Exam registration requirements
A condition for passing the seminar is that the student has actively participated in the seminar, i.e. min. 75% attendance and active participation
- Marking scale
- 7-point grading scale
- Censorship form
- External censorship
Criteria for exam assesment
- Grade 12 is given for an outstanding performance: the student lives up to the course's goal description in an independent and convincing manner with no or few and minor shortcomings
- Grade 7 is given for a good performance: the student is confidently able to live up to the goal description, albeit with several shortcomings
- Grade 02 is given for an adequate performance: the minimum acceptable performance in which the student is only able to live up to the goal description in an insecure and incomplete manner
Course information
- Language
- English
- Course code
- ASTK15458U
- Credit
- 7,5 ECTS
- Level
- Full Degree MasterBachelor
- Duration
- 1 block
- Placement
- Block 4
- Schedule
- .
- Continuing and further education
- Study board
- Department of Political Science, Study Council
Contracting department
- Department of Political Science
Course responsibles
- Ian James Manners (11-536b7838576b78786f7c7d4a73707d38757f386e75)