ASTK18396U 50 Years of Global Environmental Governance

Volume 2022/2023
Education

MSc in Political Science

MSc in Social Science

MSc in Security Risk Management

Bachelor in Political Science

 

From spring 2023 the course is also offered to students at the
 

- Master Programme in Social Data Science

- Bachelor and Master Programmes in Economics

- Master programme in Security Risk Management

- Master programme in Global Development

 

Enrolled students register the course through the Selfservice. Please contact the study administration at each programme for questions regarding registration.

 

Notice: It is only possible to enroll for one course having a 3-day compulsory written take-home assignment exam due to coincident exam periods.

Content

In 2022, the United Nations marked the 50th anniversary of the 1972 Stockholm Conference on the Human Environment, the first global conference on the environment. In this course, students will reflect on how the institutions, issues, actors, and practices of global environmental governance have evolved over the past half-century. In addition, we will explore the potential of current environmental governance systems to accelerate the social, economic, political, and ecological transformations for a sustainable future.

 

Topics:

  1. History of Global Environmental Governance
  2. Theoretical Perspectives

Actors

  1. North-South Relations and the Rise of China
  2. Non-state Actors
  3. Local actors

Issues

  1. Reconceptualising ‘Environmental’ Issues
  2. Linkages to Other Issues in World Politics
  3. Environmental Justice
  4. The Anthropocene

Approaches to Governance

  1. Transnational Governance
  2. Hybrid Multilateralism
  3. The Complex Architecture of Global Environmental Governance
  4. Effectiveness
  5. Transitions and Transformation
Learning Outcome

Knowledge:

  • Give an account of how the global environmental governance arena has evolved over the past 50 years
  • Identify some of the major achievements and challenges encountered in addressing global environmental problems
  • Understand and reflect on how understandings of what global environmental governance entails have evolved and the subsequent consequences for global environmental politics.
 

Skills:

  • Identify and assess different theoretical and methodological approaches used in the study of global environmental governance
  • Apply theoretical and methodological approaches to conduct empirical analysis of global environmental governance in specific issues.
 

Competences:

  • Critical thinking
  • Independent working
  • Oral communication and writing

(Illustrative)

  • Andonova, L.B. and Mitchell, R.B., 2010. The rescaling of global environmental politics. Annual Review of Environment and Resources, 35, pp.255-282. [28 pp]
  • Bäckstrand, K., Kuyper, J.W., Linnér, B.O. and Lövbrand, E., 2017. Non-state actors in global climate governance: from Copenhagen to Paris and beyond. Environmental Politics, 26(4): 561-579. [19 pp]
  • Betsill, M.M. 2014. Transnational Actors in International Environmental Politics. In Advances in International Environmental Politics (M. Betsill, K. Hochstetled, and D. Stevis, eds.), Basingstoke: Palgrave, pp. 185-210. [26 pp]
  • Boas, I., Kloppenburg, S., van Leeuwen, J. and Lamers, M., 2018. Environmental mobilities: An alternative lens to global environmental governance. Global Environmental Politics, 18(4), pp.107-126. [20 pp]
  • Clapp, J. and P. Dauvergne. 2015. Brief History of International Environmental Cooperation. In Global Environmental Politics: From Person to Planet (S. Nicholson and P. Wapner, eds.), Boulder, CO: Paradigm Press, pp. 121-136. [16 pp]
  • Gereke, M. and Brühl, T., 2019. Unpacking the unequal representation of Northern and Southern NGOs in international climate change politics. Third World Quarterly, 40(5), pp.870-889. [30 pp]
  • Hickmann, T. and Stehle, F., 2019. The embeddedness of urban climate politics in multilevel governance: A case study of South Africa’s major cities. The Journal of Environment & Development, 28(1), pp.54-77. [24 pp]
  • Inoue, C.Y.A. and Moreira, P.F., 2017. Many worlds, many nature (s), one planet: indigenous knowledge in the Anthropocene. Revista Brasileira de Política Internacional, 59(2) e009 [19 pp]
  • Liebenguth, J., 2020. Conceptions of Security in Global Environmental Discourses: Exploring the Water-Energy-Food Security Nexus. Critical Studies on Security, 8(3), pp.189-202. [14 pp]
  • Lövbrand, E., Mobjörk, M. and Söder, R., 2020. The Anthropocene and the geo-political imagination: Re-writing Earth as political space. Earth System Governance, 4, p.100051. [8 pp]
  • Morin, J.F. and Orsini, A. eds., 2020. Essential concepts of global environmental governance, 2nd edition. Routledge.
  • Nedopil, C. 2021. Green finance for soft power: An analysis of China's green policy signals and investments in the Belt and Road Initiative. Environmental Policy and Governance. 1-13 [14 pp]
  • Okereke, C. 2019. North-South Inequity and Global Environmental Governance in Routledge Handbook of Global Sustainability Governance (A. Kalfagianni, D. Fuchs and A. Hayden, eds.). London: Routledge, pp. 167-179. [13 pp]
  • O'Neill, K., 2017. The environment and international relations 2nd edition. Cambridge University Press.
  • Pattberg, P., Widerberg, O. and Kok, M.T., 2019. Towards a global biodiversity action agenda. Global Policy, 10(3), pp.385-390. [6 pp]
  • Sanderink, L, and Nasiritousi, N. 2020. How Institutional Interactions Can Strengthen Effectiveness: The Case of Multi-·         Stakeholder Partnerships for Renewable Energy. Energy Policy 141: 111447. [11 pp].
  • Schlosberg, D. and Collins, L.B., 2014. From environmental to climate justice: climate change and the discourse of environmental justice. Wiley Interdisciplinary Reviews: Climate Change, 5(3), pp.359-374. [16 pp]
  • Scoones, I., Stirling, A., Abrol, D., Atela, J., Charli-Joseph, L., Eakin, H., Ely, A., Olsson, P., Pereira, L., Priya, R. and van Zwanenberg, P., 2020. Transformations to sustainability: combining structural, systemic and enabling approaches. Current Opinion in Environmental Sustainability, 42, pp.65-75. [11 pp]
  • Vanhulst, J. and Beling, A.E., 2014. Buen vivir: Emergent discourse within or beyond sustainable development? Ecological Economics, 101, pp.54-63. [10 pp]
  • Widerberg, Oscar (2016). Mapping Institutional Complexity in the Anthropocene. A Network Approach. In Environmental politics and governance in the anthropocene: institutions and legitimacy in a complex world (P. Pattberg and F. Zelli, eds.), London: Routledge, pp. 81-102. [32 pp]
  • Witter, R., Marion Suiseeya, K.R., Gruby, R.L., Hitchner, S., Maclin, E.M., Bourque, M. and Brosius, J.P. 2015. Moments of influence in global environmental governance. Environmental Politics, 24(6): 894-912. [19 pp] 
  • Stakeholder Partnerships for Renewable Energy. Energy Policy 141: 111447. [11 pp].
  • Schlosberg, D. and Collins, L.B., 2014. From environmental to climate justice: climate change and the discourse of environmental justice. Wiley Interdisciplinary Reviews: Climate Change, 5(3), pp.359-374. [16 pp]
  • Scoones, I., Stirling, A., Abrol, D., Atela, J., Charli-Joseph, L., Eakin, H., Ely, A., Olsson, P., Pereira, L., Priya, R. and van Zwanenberg, P., 2020. Transformations to sustainability: combining structural, systemic and enabling approaches. Current Opinion in Environmental Sustainability, 42, pp.65-75. [11 pp]
  • Vanhulst, J. and Beling, A.E., 2014. Buen vivir: Emergent discourse within or beyond sustainable development? Ecological Economics, 101, pp.54-63. [10 pp]
  • Widerberg, Oscar (2016). Mapping Institutional Complexity in the Anthropocene. A Network Approach. In Environmental politics and governance in the anthropocene: institutions and legitimacy in a complex world (P. Pattberg and F. Zelli, eds.), London: Routledge, pp. 81-102. [32 pp]
  • Witter, R., Marion Suiseeya, K.R., Gruby, R.L., Hitchner, S., Maclin, E.M., Bourque, M. and Brosius, J.P. 2015. Moments of influence in global environmental governance. Environmental Politics, 24(6): 894-912. [19 pp] 
Classes will be interactive. They will combine group work, discussion and lecture-style elements. They will actively engage with a variety of texts.
  • Category
  • Hours
  • Class Instruction
  • 28
  • Total
  • 28
Written
Continuous feedback during the course
Feedback by final exam (In addition to the grade)
Credit
7,5 ECTS
Type of assessment
Written examination
Type of assessment details
Written assignment
Three-day compulsory written take-home assignment
Marking scale
7-point grading scale
Censorship form
No external censorship
Re-exam

- In the semester where the course takes place: Three-day compulsory written take-home assignment

- In subsequent semesters: Free written assignment

Criteria for exam assesment

 

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.