International Environmental Policy
Code: 104479 ECTS Credits: 6| Degree | Type | Year | Semester |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2503778 International Relations | OT | 4 | 0 |
Contact
- Name:
- Oriol Costa Fernández
- Email:
- Oriol.Costa@uab.cat
Use of Languages
- Principal working language:
- english (eng)
- Some groups entirely in English:
- Yes
- Some groups entirely in Catalan:
- No
- Some groups entirely in Spanish:
- No
Teachers
- Oriol Costa Fernández
External teachers
- Ana Karla Perea
Prerequisites
None
Objectives and Contextualisation
The environment has been a major topic in international relations for nearly half a century now. Typically of a cross-border nature, environmental problems have been identified as a quintessential policy area for international cooperation –interests, ideas and institutions play out at the international arena that shape the who gets what in this domain. This has been particularly so since the 1972 UN Conference on the Human Environment (Stockholm), which usually taken as the first significant instance of global environmental diplomacy. Since then, states, intergovernmental organizations, businesses, NGOs and scientists all have deployed considerable resources to foster, influence or derail negotiations on international agreements regarding climate change, biodiversity, bio-safety, acid rain, stratospheric ozone, desertification, trade in endangered species, hazardous wastes, whales, the Antarctic, or marine pollution, among other environmental issues.
This course addresses both the analytical and empirical components of international environmental politics. Sessions are designed to link the analytical and conceptual discussion (the study of actors, power, interests, institutions, ideas, etc.) with the presentation of specific international negotiations, conferences and regimes.
Competences
- Act with ethical responsibility and respect for fundamental rights and duties, diversity and democratic values.
- Analyse international society and its structure and understand its importance for real-life problems and professional practice.
- Analyse the behaviour of international actors, both state and non-state.
- Analyse the production and implementation of public policies related to the international sphere, in particular foreign policy and security and defence policy.
- Analyse, establish and argue the legal rules applicable to international phenomena.
- Apply knowledge of the structure and operation of international institutions to problems and/or practical cases, either real or simulated.
- Apply quantitative and qualitative analysis techniques in research processes.
- Identify data sources and carry out rigorous bibliographical and documentary searches.
- Identify the main theories of international relations and their different fields (international theory, conflicts and security, international politics, etc.) to apply them in professional practice.
- Make changes to methods and processes in the area of knowledge in order to provide innovative responses to society's needs and demands.
- Produce and prepare the presentation of intervention reports and/or proposals.
- Students must be capable of applying their knowledge to their work or vocation in a professional way and they should have building arguments and problem resolution skills within their area of study.
- Students must be capable of collecting and interpreting relevant data (usually within their area of study) in order to make statements that reflect social, scientific or ethical relevant issues.
- Students must be capable of communicating information, ideas, problems and solutions to both specialised and non-specialised audiences.
- Students must develop the necessary learning skills to undertake further training with a high degree of autonomy.
- Students must have and understand knowledge of an area of study built on the basis of general secondary education, and while it relies on some advanced textbooks it also includes some aspects coming from the forefront of its field of study.
- Take account of social, economic and environmental impacts when operating within one's own area of knowledge.
- Take sex- or gender-based inequalities into consideration when operating within one's own area of knowledge.
- Use metatheoretical data to argue and establish plausible relation of causality and establish ways of validating or rejecting them.
Learning Outcomes
- Analyse and explain the international agenda management in areas of human rights, environment and cooperation for development and humanitarian aid, and the role of the different actors in it.
- Analyse and explain the role of different actors in the implementation of actions and public policies in areas of human rights, environment and cooperation for development and humanitarian aid.
- Analyse how the operational rules of international society apply to topics related to human rights, environment and cooperation for development and humanitarian aid.
- Analyse the indicators of sustainability of academic and professional activities in the areas of knowledge, integrating social, economic and environmental dimensions.
- Analyse the operation of the main international institutions in areas related to human rights, environment and cooperation for development and humanitarian aid and the application of the respective regimes and regulations.
- Analyse the sex- or gender-based inequalities and the gender biases present in one's own area of knowledge.
- Apply quantitative and qualitative analysis techniques in research processes.
- Apply the bases of international theories and their different focuses to problems related to human rights, cooperation for development, humanitarian aid and international policies for the environment.
- Communicate using language that is not sexist or discriminatory.
- Consider how gender stereotypes and roles impinge on the exercise of the profession.
- Critically analyse the principles, values and procedures that govern the exercise of the profession.
- Evaluate the impact of topics related to human rights, environment, cooperation for development and humanitarian aid in foreign policies and public policies of the main states.
- Evaluate the impact on the policies and actions of the main states and international actors of the main treaties and legal rulings, of different types, which regulate areas of human rights, environment, cooperation for development and humanitarian aid.
- Explain the explicit or implicit code of practice of one's own area of knowledge.
- Identify data sources and carry out rigorous bibliographical and documentary searches.
- Identify the principal forms of sex- or gender-based inequality and discrimination present in society.
- Identify the social, economic and environmental implications of academic and professional activities within the area of your own knowledge.
- Produce and prepare the presentation of intervention reports and/or proposals.
- Propose new experience-based methods or alternative solutions.
- Propose new ways to measure success or failure when implementing ground-breaking proposals or ideas.
- Propose projects and actions in accordance with the principles of ethical responsibility and respect for fundamental rights, diversity and democratic values.
- Propose projects and actions that incorporate the gender perspective.
- Propose viable projects and actions that promote social, economic and environmental benefits.
- Propose ways to evaluate projects and actions for improving sustainability.
- Students must be capable of applying their knowledge to their work or vocation in a professional way and they should have building arguments and problem resolution skills within their area of study.
- Students must be capable of collecting and interpreting relevant data (usually within their area of study) in order to make statements that reflect social, scientific or ethical relevant issues.
- Students must be capable of communicating information, ideas, problems and solutions to both specialised and non-specialised audiences.
- Students must develop the necessary learning skills to undertake further training with a high degree of autonomy.
- Students must have and understand knowledge of an area of study built on the basis of general secondary education, and while it relies on some advanced textbooks it also includes some aspects coming from the forefront of its field of study.
- Use analytical tools for international regimes for problems such as human rights, environment and cooperation for development and humanitarian aid.
- Use metatheoretical data to argue and establish plausible relation of causality and establish ways of validating or rejecting them.
- Weigh up the impact of any long- or short-term difficulty, harm or discrimination that could be caused to certain persons or groups by the actions or projects.
- Weigh up the risks and opportunities of one's own ideas for improvement and proposals made by others.
Content
At the end of the course students will be familiar with the basic analytical tools and empirics of international environmental politics. More to the point, first, students will develop a critical understanding of key areas of international environmental politics, in terms of the outcomes of negotiations, the objectives of actors, their motives, the resources they are able to mobilize, alliances, and the interests at play. In addition, the course also helps students develop the capacity to understand, discuss and use some of the most relevant analytical and conceptual approaches to the study of international environmental politics, which are often specific variations on broader approaches to global governance more generally.
Block 1
Block 1 revises the agenda, actors and consequences of the 4 big UN conferences on the environment, namely the UN Conference on the Human Environment (Stockholm, 1972), the UN Conference on Environment and Development (Rio, 1992), the World Summit on Sustainable Development (Johannesburg, 2002) and the UN Conference on Sustainable Development (Rio+20, 2012), under the understanding that they are (particularly the first two of them) good illustrations of different phases in international environmental politics.
Block 2
Block 2 explores the causes, consequences and design of international regimes on the environment. When do regimes emerge to manage environmental problems, which functions do they perform and which consequences can they have? When can they be expected to have an impact or, alternatively, to remain as dead letter agreements? What do different IR schools of thought think about this? This block also addresses the debate on the need to build a World Environmental Organization. Which countries have been for and against an IGO on the environment? What would be the reasons for and against the creation of a World Environment Organization? What are the key features of the different proposals on a WEO? How would each of them contribute to enhanceglobal environmental governance?
Block 3
Block 3 is a who is who of international environmental politics. We pay attention at different actors, their resources, their roles and their influence in international environmental politics. More to the point, we look at:
-States. Power, powers and emerging powers.
-Non-governmental organizations. Voice and access.
-Companies and private authorities
-Subnational/local governments, transgovernmental networks
-the European Union
Block 4
Block 4 pays attention at specific negotiations in international environmental politics. Some of the negotiations we can pay attention to are the following ones:
-Climate change
-Ozone
-Acid Rain
-Biodiversity
-International trade in GMOs
-Dessertification
-Whales
-Antarctic Treaty System
Methodology
See table above
Annotation: Within the schedule set by the centre or degree programme, 15 minutes of one class will be reserved for students to evaluate their lecturers and their courses or modules through questionnaires.
Activities
| Title | Hours | ECTS | Learning Outcomes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Type: Directed | |||
| Lectures | 30 | 1.2 | 5, 3, 2, 1, 8, 20, 29, 28, 30, 32, 12, 13 |
| Seminars | 20 | 0.8 | 5, 3, 2, 1, 7, 31, 9, 18, 15, 33, 20, 28, 27, 26, 12, 13 |
| Type: Supervised | |||
| Office-hours in small groups (final paper) | 4 | 0.16 | 5, 3, 2, 1, 7, 31, 9, 18, 15, 33, 20, 28, 27, 26, 12, 13 |
| Type: Autonomous | |||
| Student-led preparation of final paper | 40 | 1.6 | 5, 3, 11, 4, 2, 1, 7, 9, 18, 14, 15, 17, 33, 24, 19, 20, 23, 29, 27, 25, 26, 30, 32, 12, 13 |
| Student-led study | 50 | 2 | 5, 3, 4, 2, 1, 8, 31, 15, 17, 24, 20, 23, 29, 28, 25, 26, 30, 12, 13 |
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mid-term exam (open book) | 20 | 3 | 0.12 | 5, 3, 11, 4, 2, 1, 8, 31, 9, 14, 21, 29, 28, 27, 25, 26, 30, 32, 12, 13 |
| Open book final exam | 40 | 3 | 0.12 | 5, 3, 11, 2, 1, 8, 31, 9, 14, 17, 21, 29, 28, 27, 25, 26, 30, 32, 12, 13 |
| Paper on climate negotiations (groups of 3 max) | 40 | 0 | 0 | 5, 3, 11, 4, 2, 1, 6, 7, 31, 9, 18, 14, 15, 17, 16, 33, 24, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 28, 27, 26, 30, 10, 32, 12, 13 |
Bibliography
Software
No software in particular