Environmental Institutions and Policies in the International Context
Code: 102814 ECTS Credits: 6| Degree | Type | Year | Semester |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2501915 Environmental Sciences | OT | 4 | 0 |
Contact
- Name:
- Oriol Costa Fernández
- Email:
- Oriol.Costa@uab.cat
Use of Languages
- Principal working language:
- catalan (cat)
- Some groups entirely in English:
- No
- Some groups entirely in Catalan:
- Yes
- Some groups entirely in Spanish:
- No
Prerequisites
None.
Objectives and Contextualisation
This class will expose students to the key actors, interests and institutions that take part in international environmental politics. This implies paying attention to the following issues:
1) the general features of the international system (which includes a crash course on International Relations as a discipline);
2) they key actors and political forces of the international arena, inasmuch as they are relevant for environmental matters;
3) the interactions between such actors, the evolution of the sysm and the ways in which actors react to that evolution;
4) the rules, regimes and norms established to facilitate cooperation on environmental matters, particularly as regards international negotiations;
5) the international institutions (both formal and informal) that have been created in order to uphold such norms and rules; and
6) some of the key factors and problems associated with the ways in which the environment can be at the root of violent conficts.
Competences
- Adequately convey information verbally, written and graphic, including the use of new communication and information technologies.
- Analyze and use information critically.
- Demonstrate adequate knowledge and use the tools and concepts of the most relevant social science environment.
- Demonstrate concern for quality and praxis.
- Demonstrate initiative and adapt to new situations and problems.
- Information from texts written in foreign languages.
- Teaming developing personal values regarding social skills and teamwork.
- Work autonomously
Learning Outcomes
- Adequately convey information verbally, written and graphic, including the use of new communication and information technologies.
- Analyze and critically assess the functioning of the various state political institutions.
- Analyze and use information critically.
- Analyze problems arising from the implementation of public policies and conflict situations recognizing the complexity of social phenomena and policy decisions that affect democracy, human rights, social justice and sustainable development.
- Demonstrate concern for quality and praxis.
- Demonstrate initiative and adapt to new situations and problems.
- Describe the main elements of the political process: socialization, attitudes and political ideologies.
- Information from texts written in foreign languages.
- Make a diagnosis of the problems of conflict and cooperation to the countries, regions and areas of the international system as it takes.
- Make a diagnosis of the problems of security and development to countries, regions and areas of the international system as it takes.
- Political actors describe and critically evaluate the political behavior in different socio-political and historical contexts.
- Show whether these policies cause conflicts or respond to a consensus.
- Teaming developing personal values regarding social skills and teamwork.
- Use this demonstration to be interpreted as embodying a political decision.
- Work autonomously
Content
BLOCK I. INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS AND THE ENVIRONMENT
1. Introduction to international environmental politics: the evolution of environmental issues in international relations. Stockholm (1972), Río (1992), Johannesburg (2002) and Río (2012)
2. IR as reality and as discipline: a crash course.
BLOCK II. ACTORS
3. Actors: general definition and specificity of the concept for IEP.
4. States and IEP.
5. Intergovernmental Organizationa and IEP.
6. Corporations, NGOs and IEP.
BLOCK III. COOPERATION AND CONFLICT IN IEP
7. International regimes on the environment. Case studies: climate change, air pollution, ozone, whales, hazardous waste, endangered species, biodiversity, desertification.
8. Conflicts with environmental roots and environmental security.
Methodology
See the table.
Activities
| Title | Hours | ECTS | Learning Outcomes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Type: Directed | |||
| Lectures | 30 | 1.2 | 2, 4, 11, 7, 9 |
| Small group practical work at class | 10 | 0.4 | 3, 4, 14 |
| Small group seminars | 10 | 0.4 | 3, 6, 5, 12, 9, 8, 1, 15, 13, 14 |
| Type: Supervised | |||
| Office hours in small groups (final paper) | 4 | 0.16 | 3, 4, 7, 15, 13, 14 |
| Type: Autonomous | |||
| Student-led preparation of final paper | 40 | 1.6 | |
| Student-led study | 50 | 2 | 3, 2, 4, 11, 7, 9, 10, 8, 15 |
Assessment
The final paper will look at negotiations taking place at the yearly Conference of the Parties. We will following negotiations in quite some detail at class.
If one of the exams, or both, gets less than 5, the student will be able to take a re-sit exam if he or she has taken part in assessment activities equivalent to 60% of the final grade.
Assessment Activities
| Title | Weighting | Hours | ECTS | Learning Outcomes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Final exam (open book) | 40% | 3 | 0.12 | 2, 4, 12, 11, 7, 9, 10, 14 |
| Final paper on climate negotiations (groups, max 3 people) | 40% | 0 | 0 | 3, 6, 5, 8, 1, 15, 13 |
| Mid-term exam (open book) | 20% | 3 | 0.12 | 2, 4, 12, 11, 7, 9, 10, 14 |
Bibliography
Readings on the key elements of the class will be available at campus virtual.
Block 1.
Barbé, Esther (2007), Relaciones Internacionales (3a edición), Madrid: Tecnos
Chasek, Pamela S. (2001), Earth Negotiations: Analyzing Thirty Years of Environmental Diplomacy, Nueva York (etc): United Nations University Press.
Oberthür, Sebastian and Thomas Gehring (2004), Reforming International Environmental Governance: An Institutionalist Critique of the Proposal for a World Environment Organisation”, International Environmental Agreements: Politics, Law and Economics, 4, 359–381
Seyfang, Gill (2003), “Environmental mega-conferences -from Stockholm to Johannesburg and beyond”, Global Environmental Change, 13, 223-228
Block 2.
Andresen, Steinar and Shardul, Agrawala (2002), “Leaders, ushers and laggards in the making of the climate regime”, Global Environmental Change, 12, 41-51.
Haas, Peter M. (2004), “Science policy for multilateral environmental governance”, in Norichika Kanie and Peter M. Haas (eds), Emerging Forces in Environmental Governance, Tokyo/New York/Paris: United Nations University Press.
Kauffman, Joanne M. (1997), “Domestic and International Linkages in Global Environmental Politics: a case-study of the Montreal Protocol”, in Miranda A. Schreurs and Elizabeth C. Economy (eds), The Internationalization of Environmental Protection, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 74-96.
Lidskog, Rolf and Sundqvist, Goran (2002), “The Role of Science in Environmental Regimes: the Case of LRTAP”, European Journal of International Relations, 8,77-101.
Najam, Adil (2004), Dynamics of the Southern Collective: Developing Countries in DesertificationNegotiations, Global Environmental Politics, 4(3), 128-154.
Peterson, MJ (1992), “Whalers, Cetologists, Environmentalists, and the International Management of Whaling”, International Organization, 46, 147-186.
Schreurs, Miranda and Tiberghien, Yves (2007), “Multi-level reinforcment: explaining Euroepan Union leadership in climate change mitigation”, Global Environmental Politics, 7, 19-46.
Sprinz, Detlef and Vaahtoranta, Tapan (1994), “The interest-based explanation of international environmental policy”, International Organization, 48, 77-105.
Block 3.
Barnett, Jon (2000), “Destabilizing the environment-conflict thesis”, Review of International Studies, 26, 271-288.
Haas, Peter M, Keohane, Robert O, and Levy, Marc A. (eds.) (1993), Institutions for the Earth: sources of effective international environmental protection, Cambridge, MA: The MIT Press.
Homer-Dixon, Thomas (1994), “Environmental Scarcities and Violent Conflict: Evidence from Cases”, International Security, 19, 5-40.
Porter, Gareth, Brown, Janet Welsh and Chasek, Pamela S. (2013), Global EnvironmentalPolitics, Boulder, CO: Westview Press, 2013